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Free Antibiotics Do More Harm Than Good?
Filed under: In The News
The pharmacy in my local grocery store is currently offering free antibiotics as part of a health and wellness initiative. To promote the freebies, signs reading "You didn't pay for the germs. Why pay for the antibiotics?" are on display throughout the store. In fact, pharmacies across the country are offering similar promotions, and this has health experts concerned.On the surface, giving away free antibiotics during a time when many families are struggling to pay for the basics seems like a good idea. But experts worry that this type of promotion sends customers the wrong message about the proper use of antibiotics and may ultimately result our bodies becoming even more resistant to certain drugs.
Antibiotics are prescribed to fight bacterial infections and have no impact whatsoever on cold and flu viruses. And while those signs in my store don't directly connect the free drugs to fighting viruses, they are ambiguous enough that they might be misunderstood by some. And in other pharmacies across the country, free antibiotic promotions have been linked to cold and flu season as if there were a connection.
"Most of the infections during cold and flu season and most times are due to viruses and not the result of bacteria, so antibiotics don't work," said Dr. Neil Fishman of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. "This is exactly the time we don't want to encourage antibiotic use."
Not only will antibiotics not rid the body of cold and flu viruses, taking them unnecessarily can actually do some harm. "Giving away antibiotics could lead to stockpiling of drugs. We need to control antibiotic use very carefully, because more and more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics," says Dr. Anne Gershon, president of the Infectious Diseases Society.
Of course doctors know better than to prescribe antibiotics for a virus, but experts worry that these free offers will result in patients pressuring them for a prescription. "If you give antibiotics away, it sort of implies that we should use them rather freely," says Dr. Gershon.
At the urging of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some stores that were promoting free antibiotics by linking them to the cold and flu season have since revised their advertising to exclude that reference. That's all well and good, but do pharmacies who give away free drugs have a responsibility to educate patients on their proper use? Jamie Miller, public affairs manager for Giant Food, doesn't think so. "We trust that doctors will write prescriptions for antibiotics based on the best interests of their patients," he says.
What do you think?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
3-09-2009 @ 1:25PM
Sabrina said...I wouldn't think a doctor would give a patient a prescription for antibiotics unless there was some indication they needed them, so I can't see how free antibiotics would harm anyone. It's not as if you can just go in and pick some up without a written prescription, and they're highly unlikely to be sold on the black market as they don't produce a "high".
Reply
3-09-2009 @ 3:35PM
LS said...I don't condone giving away drugs. Period. Why is this any different than the crack dealer on the corner handing out free samples? Anything to get you hooked, you know . And yes, I know that antibiotics aren't "addicting", but we have become a germophobic society that overuses antibiotics. Between antibacterial wipes, antibacterial soap, and over-dosing our feed animals (cows, chickens and pigs), we have begun creating "superbugs", resistant to even the strongest of antibiotics.
Handing them out for free, even with a prescription, just compounds the problem, and paints them as a "silver bullet" or a cure-all, when they absolutely are not.
If the stores/pharmacies want to do a giveaway, how about giving away vitamins or probiotics? Both are far safer, and both promote good health, rather than popping a pill to get better.
Reply
3-10-2009 @ 12:19PM
Eduferrero said...This is America if you don't remember. If they're giving free antibiotics you still need a prescription for them.
Yes antibiotics can be abused, but for what I've seen around here since I moved from abroad, people should be using them a little more often.
3-09-2009 @ 4:17PM
Michelle said...Vitamins and probiotics are great. We use them in our house. However, once you are ill, like my son was with pneumonia for the past 2 weeks, vitamins are not going to get you healthy. A doctor prescribed antibiotic, breathing treatments, rest and me chasing him around trying to get him to eat or drink, ANYTHING are what got him healthy enough to finally return to school today. Last year, he missed 4 weeks because of pneumonia. Without these antibiotics, my child would no doubt be back in the hospital, on a respirator.
It is absolutely NOT the same as the drug dealer on the street giving away a freebie. This is a store using a brilliant marketing during these scary economic times to get customers to use their pharmacy and possibly transfer other scrips over. It's simple business: give the consumer what they need: affordable prescriptions and the business will get what it needs: consumers in their store spending money.
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3-09-2009 @ 5:21PM
LS said...I never once said that we should not use antibiotics. They are appropriate and life-saving when used properly, as evidenced by your case and millions of others.
What I don't agree with is using them as a marketing strategy. They are DRUGS. They are not candy, to be tossed about. I stand by my statement that antibiotic-anything is simply overused. We are creating bugs that are resistant to the very drugs that are supposed to save our lives. Once that happens, we are in SERIOUS trouble. And handing them out free just compounds that problem, by encouraging the mentality that they are no big deal.
3-09-2009 @ 5:36PM
Michelle said...If you have a doctor's prescription, what difference does it make if you pay 100 dollars, 10 bucks or zilch for them? It's not like they're giving them away as a gift with purchase.
If you take exception to the number of times a prescription for antibiotics is handed out, take your protest to the holder of the prescription pads, not the pharmacies trying to help out families in need and possibly help their own bottom line at the same time.
3-10-2009 @ 1:52AM
David Robinson said...A small comment. It is not our bodies that become resistant to antibiotics but the bacteria do and the overuse of antibiotics for viruses or 'just in case a secondary bacterial infection develops" is hastening the day when most bacteria will be resistant to most if not all antibiotics.
Reply
3-10-2009 @ 7:22AM
Don said...It's nice to see a grocery store trying to use another avenue to get customers in the door, however I'm not sure if this will be a huge draw for them.
If a doctor prescribes drugs just because a patient asks them to they should be thrown in front of a medical board and possibly disbarred.
When I'm sick and I've seen my doctor I usually just stop at the drug store that is
1.) On my way home from the doctors.
2.) Accepts my insurance.
After that I don't care who fills my prescriptions. They all give me the same price.
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