I disagree with Flanigan’s argument for not requiring prescription notes. I believe that, especially in this country, without a doctor’s note, no one should be able to access prescription strength drugs or medications. Unfortunately, yes, there will be situations like Danny where the obvious solution is to allow him to get insulin without a note, but there will also be situations with hypochondriacs or drug addicts receiving prescriptions too easily. I do not feel that she addressed addiction well enough in her proposal for not requiring prescription notes. I firmly believe that all addicts can get over their addictions, but a voluntary program to get clean is not a viable option.
Her argument did not completely fall through for me – I liked the part with the ‘behind the counter’ drugs and having psychotherapeutic/analgesic medications requiring a pharmacist or doctor to sign off. I believe that if she was to have her way and some drugs did not require a doctor’s note any longer, that was she proposed was a good option to maintain somewhat of a true pharmacy feel.
I agree with you that allowing open, self medication will do more harm than benefit. Many drugs are incredible strong, and It is questionable if they should be used at all. Furthermore, allowing people to simply purchase as much of these incredibly powerful and addictive substances could create more of an addiction crisis than our country already has.
Yes, I agree with you too. Addiction is a major problem, and allowing for self-medication will just exacerbate this problem. Having drugs be easily accessible will make addiction that much harder to squash because if they are just having a bad day, they can go to their local store.