The Drug Enforcement Administration - Essay Example

09 October, Should all drugs, vitamins, over-the-counter aspirin, etc. be controlledand regulated by the government? Should any medications be restricted for purchase or regulated by the DEA? Should it be legal to import drugs from other countries for personal use? Yes, public purchase of all drugs, vitamins and over-the-counter aspirin that have not been formerly prescribed by a physician should be controlled by the government. This is an attempt to ensure that people are not allowed access to medicines that are not suitable for them.

People tend to ensure sufficient intake of vitamins on daily basis to overcome any deficiency that might have developed over the time. However, they are not educated on the required limit of intake and over consciousness might cause them to develop vitamin imbalances detrimental for the body. Recently, an increase in the number of fatalities has been recorded because of the presence of a particular natural supplement called ephedra in the dietary products in USA. (OMeara, 2003). Intake of such supplements may cause an individual to develop heart attacks, coronary diseases and hormonal imbalances.

Not only this, there are drug producers that intend to increase their sale by presenting the drugs in disguise of the vitamin tablets. They deem it an appropriate way to confidently advertise their drug without being criticized for its negative impact on the users. There are supplements that cause addiction, and their validity is highly questionable. In such circumstances, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) should regulate public access to such harmful so-called “nutritious supplements” in an attempt to combat the drug producing companies in this field.

In addition to the free public access to dietary supplements, there are other issues that need to be done something about. One of such issues is the tendency of people to get the medicines they require imported from other countries in an attempt to escape the check of local DEA that might have scrutinized them given the bad health effects of the medication. In other cases, people prefer to import the medicines prescribed by their doctor simply because they may be cheaper as compared to their price in their own region.

For example, many Americans prefer purchasing medicines from Canada because the rates are much lower in the latter than in the former. There are many evils associated with such a practice. First of all, medicines available in the stores in local region complete their life and expire before a patient buys them because many potential customers fulfill their needs from foreign sources. In extreme cases, this may even impose a threat to the stability of local economy particularly in small countries.

Besides, there is very little surety that the bottle of tablets imported exactly has in it what its title says. There is no guarantee because no body in the local region can be held responsible for the lack of quality control and assurance checks on the medicine. In addition to that, one is not sure whether the pharmacist selling the medicine was qualified enough to ensure that the medicine had passed quality control checks. Furthermore, when a person imports a drug from another country, he/she takes full responsibility for the action and hence, may take wrong amount of medicine that can have deteriorating effects on the health.

Works cited: OMeara, Kelly, P. “Regulating Vitamins; Under proposed legislation dressed up as a public-safety concern, the standard for natural dietary supplements would be set far above that for highly profitable drugs being pushed by pharmaceutical giants.” 2003. Web. 9 Oct. 2010.