Unfortunately, dear reader, the answer is "Yes!" Even opinions about things I know little or nothing. Which covers a lot of territory. For instance, Heath Ledger. What really can I add of substance or gravity? Well, I'm still flabbergasted (it's not an uncommon state) that a young 28 year old man, sensitive and talented, (I never saw "Brokeback Mountain," but I did see "Cassanova" and I thought he was very good), dies in bed, with 6 different prescription drugs in his system. Proof positive that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Seems you mix these drugs together and you get a very unfortunate result.
The brand names are so friendly-sounding: Oxycontin, Ambien, Valium, Vicodin, Xanax, Restoril, plus an over the counter "sleeping pill." Yes, well there is sleep and then there's the "Big Sleep." The actual ingredients sound a little more ominous: oxycodene, hydrocodene, diazepam, alpraszolam, temazepam, doxylamine. Now all of these were prescribed by a doctor or doctors, and well, is there a witch doctor in there somewhere? Maybe this talented, sensitive dude was a little "over-prescribed?"
I do believe our pharmaceutical industry is a multi-billion dollar snake-oil biz. And the doctors who prescribe this shit are basically "drug-pushers," pushing shit that has short and long term consequences that no one really knows. Most of this crap is most assuredly worthless. If someone has anxiety or can't sleep, maybe putting a drug into them isn't the best medicine?
I still believe the best drugs are illegal ones. Some are less bad (I'll take pot and mushrooms over cigarettes or alcohol any day!), and the bad ones are known to be bad, and people take them knowing they are bad. At least someone smoking crack or shooting heroin isn't deluding themselves into thinking that taking the drug is good for them and is gonna cure them!
So yes, we are a drug culture and even pop culture itself sometimes seems like a drug. Some of our best music is also a history of drug intake (rock & roll and amphetamines, booze and blues, downers and heavy metal, ecstasy and rave, crack and hip hop, coke and disco, LSD and psychedelic rock, heroin and well the all star heroin roster is endless think: Charlie Parker, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Keith Richards, Jim Morrison, Miles Davis, etc.)
Drugs are us. It's a human thing, but this medicalization of drug use is a total scam! I think I'll brew up another pot of coffee. I mean there's nothing more forlorn than a caffeine freak with an empty cup! Another cup and I'm sure I can come up with another topic I can bloviate about.