What is something that almost every American participates in?  We often times never question whether it is right or not?  We never inquire as to if alternatives exist?  No, instead the majority of us simply go along with it.  What?  Everyone else does it.  I'm talking of course about consuming drugs produced by huge pharmaceutical companies.  These companies make both over-the-counter and prescription drugs that we encounter every day.  A lot of the time we simply assume that the drug industry obviously has our best interests in mind.  Is this truly the case?  These companies make the public aware that they are constantly spending vast sums of money in order to research and develop new drugs.  This is true, but when compared to the exponentially larger sums of money they profit each year it is almost nothing.  Not only this, these companies spend twice as much on advertising as they do on R&D.  In addition, pharmaceutical companies commonly remarket drugs whose patents have run out as completely new drugs when the changes made may be as small as a single molecule.  In the U.S. we are charged extremely high amounts for these drugs, and if you don't have health insurance it is even more.  This is why the pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable of any sector of our economy.  These practices are kept in place by controling medical schools with grants and endowments and by controling the government through huge amounts of lobbyists.  Do you believe these claims?