A recent news item1 reported that the percentage of people in the U.S. using prescription drugs varies substantially from state to state. Before I tell you the percentages, I want you to make your own guess:
What percentage of U.S. adults obtained at least one prescription drug in 2000?Don't cheat, now. Make a guess.
Okay, prepare yourself. I was shocked, but perhaps your guess was more accurate.
The largest percentage of adult prescription-drug-takers resides in Kansas. A whopping 71 percent of Kansas's adults obtained at least one prescription drug in 2000. The wholesome, not-as-weird-as-you-thought California adults were the least dependant on prescription drugs - "only" 58 percent obtaining prescriptions. An adult in Kansas is thus over 22 percent more likely to be taking prescription drugs than the adult in California. Go figure.
Now, for the children. Here's the same question, but directed at younger population:
What percentage of U.S. children obtained at least one prescription drug in 2000?Got your guess? Okay.
Louisiana led the nation, with 64 percent of kids obtaining prescription drugs. That's almost two out of three! Arizona came in the lowest at "only" 48 percent. Children in Louisiana were nearly 33 percent more likely to be on prescription drugs than their counterparts in Arizona.
Now for the most interesting of all questions:
Was your guess higher or lower?The answer to this question reflects your expectations of what the people of this country are doing for their health. If you guessed lower, you were obviously optimistic. I was. I couldn't believe in some states, prescription drug use would include more than 70 percent of adults and almost two-thirds of children. (And some wonder why we have an "illegal" drug problem in this country!)
If you guessed higher, it couldn't have been by much. You are apparently a realist. You get high marks for being aware of just how prevalent the problem is.
While the figures weren't included, one can only expect that over-the-counter drug use approaches 90 percent or more for kids and adults. This says a lot about how Americans look at health.
These statistics also reflect the increasing challenge facing the chiropractic profession. While more people are using alternative forms of care, they are obviously "mixing" adjustments and pain pills; vitamins and decongestive alcohol syrups; and herbs and aspirin. Patients in this country seem to be exercising their political correctness in health care by including everything their shortsighted needs demand.
What about your patients?
Are they aware of the numerous potential hazards that await them, both immediate and long-term, from prescription drug use?
Or does your office have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy that restricts your interests in the health of your patients to a specific spinal segment at a specific time? Are you caring for the whole person, or the complaint?
We have an obligation to be different, not just for the sake of our patients, but for our profession.
If our patients see chiropractic as nothing more than an adjunct to medical care, how can the rest of society take us seriously? What's to distinguish us from DOs, or, worse yet - PTs?
I'm sorry, but that isn't the way I was raised to understand chiropractic.
Are we sacrificing out identity to survive? Has managed care forced us to spend so little time with our patients that we leave their health education to high school PE classes, and the ever-growing number of 60-minute prescription drug ads on television?
Every day each of us has a decision to make. Will we spread the truth about wellness, or abdicate our position as health care leaders and let the millions of advertising dollars spent by drug companies brainwash America?
Word-of-mouth is more effective and a lot cheaper than prime-time TV. But it takes a concerted effort by the 60,000-plus DCs to counteract the half-truths and empty promises of health through drugs.
Our war continues.
Reference
1. South, Midwest use more prescribed drugs. USAToday.com, January 7, 2002.
Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h)
Editor/Publisher of Dynamic Chiropractic
don@mpamedia.com
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