New York Magazine brought in their June 9 issue a feature story on New Yorkers turning to self-medication, mixing everything from Ambien to Zoloft - including the the drugs Paxil, Prozac, Percocet, Valium, Viagra and Vicodin.

“Using prescription drugs to work a little harder, sleep a little better, relax a little faster, has become a given in the city’s mainstream. A friend of mine coined the term cosmetic psychopharmacology…”

As a medicinal chemist, I can not approve of this. New York Magazine’s writer Ariel Levy makes it sound like it is ok to pop pills - according to his selection of quotes. People think it’s cool to self-adjust your moods, but I contend that there is a reason these prescription drugs aren’t OTC (over-the-counter). Besides possible drug-drug interactions in these pill cocktails, there is always the specter of addiction. And last not least, anybody that starts messing with the natural balance of their brain chemicals is certainly going to harvest one thing: a life-long alteration of your capacity to experiencing emotions. There is no going back to how it was before you started self-medicating. Read more…