A question I have always thought about is if prescription drugs/medication really help or just mask some of the symptoms. It seems like anyone can get antidepressants and other drugs if they just say they are depressed.

  I completely understand medications like sleeping pills and light antidepressants, but when my friends act like a bunch of zombies, I start to get worried. For example, a good friend of mine has to leave when we are hanging out because it puts him in a weird mood and sometimes if he knows he didn’t take them it makes him feel sick.

  These drugs have to affect school work when it makes you not want to do anything. “I missed a month and a half of school once because I had such a bad reaction to my meds,” said Eric Byers, former HRHS student. What if some of our students and friends start over using their medication because they feel like it’s not working? Facts from csmonitor.com, said that more people die from prescription drug abuse than heroin and cocaine combined.

  I don’t want any of my classmates or friends to make this mistake and lose their lives. I think we should stick to a lower level  dosage of drugs or find other options. Everyone I know that “has” to be on these prescriptions relies on it and if they know they forgot their pills they get worse than they ever had been before.

  It also takes away a lot of their personality. Like I said before, it worries me when my friends act like zombies. It seems like their personality disappears and they are just a blank person. I am tired of seeing this tear people apart. There has to be another answer.

Michael Guglielmi, Staff Reporter