The Major Difference Between Over The Counter And Prescription Drugs Demand Responsibility

Medicine is a great thing, it help us to get better when we are sick

, feel better when we are in pain and help us live longer when we are afflicted with disease. But for all the advantages that medicines have, few people realize that not all medicines are the same. There is a reason why medicines are split in to two categories, prescriptions medicines and over the counter drugs. The problem is that not everyone understands that there is a major difference between the two. This confusion can often lead to serious problems with the usage of medicine.

People have a tendency to think that medicines that are sold over the counter are less powerful than similar medicines that are sold by prescription. This can often lead to them misusing the medicine or using it in ways that may lead to dependency. The truth is that these medicines are not less powerful or any less dangerous than those which are sold by prescription, it's just that the prescription medications are deemed to be in need of more stringent regulation due to the potential for intention misuse or because they are classified as narcotics. Another reason that over the counter medicines are not as highly regulated is due to the fact that regulators feel that the general public can be trusted to use them in a responsible manner in most cases.

There is of course the other side of the coin, where a user disregards the necessary precautions and special handling considerations that come with a prescription drug due to the fact the medicine is similar to a non-prescription one or is available in a non-prescription form. Many people are under the impression that the difference between a prescription and non-prescription form of a drug is the price. The truth is that many times the prescription form of a certain medicine may contain additional items that are not in the over the counter form. For instance with Tylenol 3 there is a small amount of an additional ingredient (codeine) which is a narcotic and helps to speed up the effects of the Tylenol since codeine gets into the system much faster than acetaminophen.

Some medicines that are sold by prescription are kept under tight control and available only by a doctors order due to the fact that they can be misused either for "recreational" purposes or to cause deliberate harm to others. Two examples of this are Viagra, which can be used by men suffering from impotence, but it can also be used by men who want to be able to perform more often than what they would be able to do naturally. Another example is insulin which can be used to treat diabetes for patients, but can also be used to induce a fatal heart attack in a person who does not have diabetes, and the effects are nearly undetectable. For this reason these drugs and so many more which can be misused deliberately must be regulated and their availability controlled.

As you can see over the counter drugs and prescription drugs are very different and this concept must be kept in mind at all times when you are choosing to use either type of medicine. There are major differences between these two kinds of medicine and you should make sure that you understand what those differences are and how they affect the usage of the medicine.

by: Brent McNutt.

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