The United States is one of only two countries in the world that allows drug companies to market their products directly to consumers.

For the last 18 years, our TV airwaves have been dominated by commercials telling us that if we feel sad, if we feel sick, if we feel anything at all – then we need to take a magic pill from Big Pharma to make all of our worries melt away. A magic, by the way, pill that has been marked up by as much as twenty thousand percent.

Direct to consumer advertising has been a huge cash cow for the drug industry. Drug companies in the U.S. are now pulling in around $300 billion dollars every year, and this massive haul is all thanks to their marketing. Twenty percent of the country now takes at least five prescription drugs per month.