Every five minutes, another American dies from taking their prescription medicine – as prescribed. Kids as young as preschoolers are taking powerful prescription drugs, like Ritalin and antipsychotics, whose safety has never been tested in children. And doctors are on the take, feted at junkets costing thousands of dollars, paid tens of thousands to sign their names to articles written by drug company marketers, and pressured to give the newest, least tested drugs to their patients instead of cheaper, safer and effective older ones. They’ve also created new illnesses out of common human conditions – like shyness or heartburn – so they can push more drugs into the marketplace. Today, CWR co-host Francesca Rheannon speaks with Melody Petersen about her book, Our Daily Meds. The book’s subtitle says it all: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs.

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