The Diagnosis  

By Greg Ryan and Rob Shroeder

Think you don’t fit into our medicated society?  Think again.  Odds are that the far-reaching effects of prescription drugs and health care plans have touched your life in one way or another, for better or for worse.  We applied national statistics to the local population. Although actual numbers may vary, the resulting numbers show how you may fit into our medicated society.  Of Tompkins County’s 100,018 residents, perhaps you are one of the approximately…

50,000 using prescription drugs on a daily basis
43,365 using alcohol
42,000 using at least one form of alternative therapy
41,619 having a chronic medical condition
25,000 taking multiple prescriptions
23,938 adults using tobacco products
20,000 citing the inability to pay doctors or buy prescriptions as a critical problem
14,650 having been diagnosed with ADHD
10,000 having no health insurance
8,692 senior citizens using prescription drugs
8,630 that will experience substance abuse disorders in their lifetimes
6,659 having used an illicit drug in the last month
4,240 senior citizens using more than five prescription drugs at once
2,188 high schoolers using alcohol
1,651 teenagers frequently using drugs
1,017 high schoolers using marijuana
1,000 suffering from both serious mental disorders and substance abuse
999 children taking Ritalin or Adderall
613 admitted for substance abuse treatment in the past year
500 sickened by medication errors annually
51 children using growth hormones

If you still don’t think you are a part of our medicated society, here’s what is coming out of your wallet:

-$162.4 billion is spent on prescription drugs in one year in the United States (more than $54 million in Tompkins County)
-Americans spent between $36-47 billion on alternative remedies by 2000 (between $11 million- $15 million in Tompkins County)
-$3.5 billion is spent on correcting drug errors per year in the U.S. ($1.16 million in Tompkins County)
-$3.1 billion worth of ADHD drugs are sold in the United States annually ($1.03 million in Tompkins County)
-The pharmaceutical industry contributed slightly more than $2 million to campaign donations statewide between 2001 and 2004.
-The average price of a prescription in New York State is $63.34.

The following facts further illustrate how drugs and medicine have touched every corner of our society…

-On average, prescription drug prices increased by nearly 25 percent from 2000 to 2004.
-Illegal usage of prescription drugs, especially pain relievers, continues to rise among 12 to 17-year olds.
-Abuse of pain medications between 1997 and 2001 rose among 12th graders.
-Pain medications are often prescribed loosely, making it easier for teenagers to gain access to them.
-Over-the-counter herbal remedy sales doubled from the early to mid 1990s.
-Twelve deaths of American children from 1999 to 2003 were attributed to Adderall.
-There are six different types of growth hormones.
-Members of Congress and their aides accepted $600,000 for free travel from 2000 to 2005.
-The number of children diagnosed with ADHD increased by 1.1 million from 1997 to 2002.
-Only 8.5 percent of those suffering from mental disorders and substance abuse are treated for both.
-Drug companies spend 2.5 times more on marketing than on research.
-The most recent data showing that SSRI (a type of antidepressant) use has doubled in the last decade among children and adolescents.
-Children aged 6 to 18 who were treated with antidepressants were 1.5 times more likely to attempt suicide. They were 15 times more likely to die of the attempt.
-Nearly 7,000 Americans die each year from incorrect prescriptions.