When I type up a new blog, on the same page where I type there is a section entitled, “Tags.” Key words. If someone is looking for an article or blog on a subject like “drugs,” they type in (somewhere) the word “drugs,” and somewhere, my blog will pop up. Maybe in a list of potential blogs that talk about drugs. I’ve not been on the reading/searching end of things, so I can’t tell you exactly what that process is.

But obviously, people are looking up information on “drugs.” Apparently, a couple wonderful people I don’t know read my blog on drugs — the silly diatribe about buying meds that contain pseudoephedrine — and they liked it, or at least thought it was interesting.

That makes me feel good, even if the information they wanted wasn’t quite what they expected. I shall do the same with this blog, and someone will surf their way here and read about how “tags” work. Most will probably already know.

So hi, all you people interested in drugs! How are you today?

I’m grateful for certain drugs. I’m not quite so grateful that some of them are hugely expensive. When you don’t have medical insurance, the prices of some of these are so incredibly expensive that you’d swear they must contain pure gold and other highly expensive materials.

I wonder how much it really costs to research, develop, manufacture, market and distribute a drug? I really would love to know where every dollar goes. I suppose there will be a few who don’t want me to know.

Maybe it’s better that I don’t.

One thing is certain: they have their place. Their value depends on how necessary they are for one’s well-being. Fortunately, there are resources that make one’s ability to obtain pharmaceuticals at a lower price, for those who are unable to afford them. Even though I can moan and groan about the pharmaceutical state of affairs in the USA, I can also be grateful for the help that’s available to us if we know how to look for it.

And we don’t even have to move to Canada.

I wrote to a friend about this a while back. She’d advised that I take an antihistamine. Here’s my response:

“The unclehistamine that works well for me is Claritin D. Of course, you’ve gotta go to the counter and get it and swear on a stack of bibles and give up your life and make a pact with the devil that you will not use it for making meth. You also have to show your driver’s license; leave a tooth impression; have them take your finger, toe and elbow prints; sign, seal and deliver your honor in blood; cross your fingers 13 times while saying, ‘There’s no place like home,’ present a copy of your birth certificate; give your mother’s maiden name or that of your favorite pet; recite your social security number backwards; send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the charity of your choice (what they’ll do with it I have no clue); play three bars of ‘I’ve Been Working on the Railroad’ on your cell phone; take lessons on how to swallow a pill; prove that you actually have allergies (even though you’ve been sneezing and dripping snot and tears all over the counter); prove that you have not taken any multivitamins for the last 64-1/2 hours; and inhale the gas of five helium balloons and sing the National Anthem while doing jumping jacks and eating five powdered donuts, all in 30 seconds.”

So I don’t take Claritin D.