ABILIFY

That sounds like a presidential malapropism. The kind of thing the president says to describe his Iraqi adventure, "We're over there, uh, try'n to, uh..hee, hee...abilify the Iraqi people."

Sadly, Abilify is not just a "misstatement," but a drug being marketed with the aggressiveness of the Viagra, Cialus, and Lavetra tenacity of the past few years. I believe that I have written about this before - but I am becoming more and more concerned (ok, obsessed) with it.

Who thought it was a good idea to advertise prescription drugs on television? Probably a stupid question - Marketing companies. And pharmaceutical companies, and the FCC, and the republican party, and the democratic party, and every television network - cause who gets the money from the ads, right?

But shouldn't we question the legitimacy of a drug that has more side affects and a greater risk of death than smoking? I'm not unsympathetic to people with serious mental problems (John McCain aside) but should someone with bipolar disorder really be getting treatment suggestions from television commercials? Thats right, Abilify is for the treatment of bipolar disorder, and features a woman in her late 30's to mid 40's taking a tentative walk through a scenic mountain side, alone. To the ads credit, she does meet up with a similarly aged friend (of the same sex) at the end of her journey, they have a small verbal exchange, and continue the trek into the wilderness. This my friends is Abilifin'.

These Big Pharma commercials are totally irresponsible. They claim that the tag line "ask your doctor about..." make them responsible, but like the "I approve this message..." line in campaign commercials, they do very little. Not only that, but the list of side effects, who shouldn't take it, who should take it, when you should take it, and how many different ways these "medicines" will KILL YOU, is absurd.

Once upon a time, the networks and liquor companies agree not to produce or air liquor commercials. we have seen this agreement evaporate in the Randian 21st Century economic environment. Such is the avenue that has been created for ads for prescription drugs. So while cigarettes will never be advertised on television again, marijuana remains illegal, and the biggest advertisers for the Super Bowl are beer companies; the countries greatest moral dilemmas are same sex marriage and lapel pins?

Moral values are an important part of a functioning society. I believe that they are inherent to our survival. But they are not a one way street. It is not a question of what is legal, but what is right. Ok, I'm really messed up now, because I'm pretty sure Gov. George W. Bush said that exact thing during his 2000 campaign. So what, a stopped clock is also right twice a day (unless it's a military clock, then only once.) Just because a drug is legal, doesn't make it good. And there is real moral deficiency when it comes to anything that can generate money in this country. This is why I refer to this century as Randian, though one could also qualify it as "Gekkoist." Ayn Rand and the fictional Gordon Gekko both claim that "greed is good," But I would submit that the past 20 to 30 years have proved just the opposite. When we stop seeing each other as people, and only as consumers or potential profits; we lose our humanity.