The news today is full of Alli, the new anti-fat weight-loss drug coming out over-the-counter. I don't know how much is hype and how much is real, but the reports I heard made it sound as if it's flying off the shelves.
All of which makes me sigh. Our society's impulse to turn to a pill for everything that ails us almost seems to create its own sickness. It makes health care increasingly expensive, that's for sure. But it also leaves us grabbing for the "easy way out." Don't exercise or improve our diets -- just take a pill. Don't take steps to reduce our stress -- just take a pill. We take a pill to sleep. To lose weight. To lower our blood pressure. To reduce our cholesterol. To stay awake. (Or maybe just caffeine, our favorite over-the-counter drug.) And, granted, some of those conditions are genetic and can't be controlled by behavior. But many of them can be.
So, instead of taking steps to make ourselves healthy, and create a society that encourates health, we make the pharmaceutical companies rich.
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