Dear Future President,

I want to ask you something. What do you have against drugs? I ask this question because many people have been taking overdoses of medication and mixing it with stuff like alcohol and many people are dying because of these drugs. OTC drugs have various medical uses and effects, treating mild pain to motion sickness. Some abuse OTC drugs to self-medicate for mental illnesses like anxiety and depression. Abusing these medications can also give users a euphoric “high” or hallucinations. Any use outside of what’s recommended is considered abuse. Like I said, I want to ban OTC medications unless a doctor prescribes them because they result in too many overdoses.

When people take overdoses of medication, they start to have a variety of side effects depending on the medication. People are also are starting to get addicted to them, and when they start taking more overdoses they will start to move on to more dangerous medications that they don’t even need. “Recreational OTC drug use can also change the brain’s chemistry over time. Eventually the user builds a tolerance to the drugs, needing more of the substance to get the previous effects. Those addicted to OTC drugs maybe also develop withdrawal symptoms when they stop using.” 

My final reason is that when people start getting addicted to prescribe medication, it becomes hard for them to stop and even harder for them to notice they have an addiction for it. “Learning to spot an OTC drug addiction can be difficult. OTC drugs like Tylenol and various cough medicines don’t carry the same dangerous image as illicit drugs like heroin. People don’t always see them as addictive, so many loved ones of people addicted to OTC drugs don’t know to look for signs of a growing problem.”

Again what I want is to ban over-the-counter medications and the ONLY exception is when doctors prescribe it to them, but only take the amount the doctor prescribe and no more overdoses. What I want for those who read this is to find someone you know and if they have an addiction to any medications is to find a doctor and try to help them to stop their addiction to the medication they have so they don’t take any overdoses. 

Sincerely,

Cesar