Give us a break

Okay, I didn't start this blog to get all political.  That begin said, can I rant for just a minute?  Why doesn't some senator or member of congress take up a cause for me.  I need someone to tell the pharmaceutical companies to GIVE ME A BREAK!  Price is kicking our American public's collective ass.  Did I just mess up that grammar?  Anyways!   So, I need an allergy medication and I go into my cupboard and find not one but two expired allergy medications.  I call the pharmacy to ask if I am going to die today?  They tell me I'm not going to die, however, they lose their effectiveness.  Okay, I ask "how long does it take to degenerate into sugar?"  He said they don't know, they've never studied it.  This is where I need the laws changed.  What I need is for companies to follow through start to finish.  I don't know about anyone else, but, I keep hold of things that cost me a bundle.  I am NOT going to throw out something that has value because someone stamped a date on it.  I know, people should be careful because they could die like this (you should check).  But, I like this allergy medicine (that expired in 2007).  It isn't AS effective but is not worthless either.  They give us an arbitrary date so they can confirm further revenues in their coffers in the future. Their pipeline (so to speak).  They know how much they produced in a given year (say 2005) and in 2007 there has GOT to be a computation somewhere that determines what percentage of people are going to throw it away (because they said so) and repurchase their product.  They should not be allowed this.  During this recession, we all need to tighten our belts. I am certain that the government is the biggest purchaser of medication and should require every single penny out of its investment.  It is fear-mongering and I think our leaders should require them to print a chart with each year showing the degeneration process so two things could happen.  One, is that we don't pollute the earth with flushed and buried pharmaceuticals unnecessarily and two that the American public can have a bit of protection.  Protection of our wallets, protection of our environment, protection of our tax dollars, protection of our health.  If this information was included on the package insert, we as a public would be more knowledgeable and would be better equipped to manage our cupboards.  We'd know which ones to get rid of.  We'd know which have a stable shelf life.  We would be far less likely to keep one that could turn to poison (and possibly hurt our children or ourselves).   Now THAT would be something worthwhile!  How much would that requirement alone save and be able to put towards this massive debt?