Ryan Bridge: Will pill popping really help with our deeper issues?

If you've got a health problem, if you've got a mental problem, if you can't sleep, if you're fat, enormous, obese, don't worry. 

All your problems can be solved with a pill, an injection. a prescription - or even no prescription. 

That's the clear message we've been getting from regulators. 

From Tuesday, the Hollywood weight-loss drug Weygovey, like Ozempic, will be available here, not for diabetes, but to shift weight. 

People aren't being told to not get fat, they're being told once they get too big, a drug will make them small again. 

Melatonin will now be available over-the-counter for those who can't sleep. Forget counting sheep, or wearing yourself out with exercise, pop a pill and go to sleep. 

You can now get an ADHD diagnosis from your GP or nurse practitioner - usually, you'd need to see a psychiatrist. 

We're prescribing ten times the amount of meds than we were 15-odd years ago. 

We spoke to a guy this week on the show with ADHD who said the law change is a good thing, but he also warned about TikTok - lots of young people are getting diagnosed by TikTok and running around telling everyone they've got a neuro disorder when, actually, they're just spending too much time on their phones and hunting for likes.

The question is whether as a society, as a species, all this pill popping medication is evolution or insanity. 

Is the fact we've we're wealthy enough to eat ourselves half to death then fix it all with a simple twice-weekly injection a sign we're smart, or incredibly stupid?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you have a health problem, if you've got a
mental problem, if you can't sleep, if you're obese, don't worry,
settle down. Everything will be fine. All your problems can
be solved with a pill, with an injection, with a prescription,
or even no prescription. That's the clear message that we've
been getting this week from our regulators and from our government.
From Tuesday, the Hollywood Weight Loss Drug wag GOVI, like Ozmpic,

(00:23):
will be available here, not for diabetes, but to shift weight.
People aren't being told not to get obese, they're being
told that once they do get too big, a drug
will make them small again. Malatonin will now be available
over the counter for those who can't sleep. Forget counting
sheep or wearing yourself out with exercise, Pop a pill

(00:44):
and off you go. No nice. You can now get
an ADHD diagnosis from your GP or from a nurse practitioner.
Usually you need to see a psychiatrist for this. We're
prescribing ten times the amount of meds than we were
fifteen odd years ago for eighty eight in this country.
We spoke to a guy this week on the show
with ADHD who said the law change is actually a

(01:05):
good thing. But he also warned about TikTok because apparently
lots of young people are getting diagnosed by TikTok and
they're running around telling everyone they've got a neuro disorder,
when actually they're just spending too much time on their
phones and hunting for likes. The question is whether, as
a society, as a species, even all this pill popping,

(01:27):
all this medication is evolution or insanity. Just the fact
that we're wealthy enough to eat ourselves half to death
then fix it all with a simple twice weekly injection
a sign that we're incredibly smart or incredibly stupid. I
genuinely don't know the answer to that question at this point.

(01:48):
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