The 80s were all about getting pumped up in various ways, it's slightly interesting that the first medical treatments for erectile dysfunction turned up in 1983.
That it was in the 1980s treatment was developed, with phentolamine and papaverine followed by the massive impact that viagra had, possibly with an aging male population in mind, seems significant. Or that the later 80s/early 90s was characterized by sex-killing drugs like E. There may have also been more older male focused movies (City Slickers came out in 1991 shortly after viagra was patented, there were probably more) but that's only speculation.
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Actually a series of posts of pharma spread across the this and the 90s blog would be perfect. Thought so long ago, but I have so little knowledge or experience with such stuff that I wouldn't know where to start.
1994: Suddenly it seemed like everyone I knew was on Prozac. Some of them needed help; and for those that did, seemed like the drug was only a band-aid for larger issues. But mostly people were taking it because their were handing it out like candy.
Ecstasy? When news reports (perhaps wrong) about its use among a certain demographic on the US west coast began to surface in the early-mid 80s, the reports had it that it was originally something prescribed as a mood-enhancer for geriatric patients who might be suffering from autumn-years depressive "disorders." But it had certain effects that (like Ridalin et al some years later) gave it some "street" value and made it the cause for trafficking for recreational purposes among a certain demographic.
Better living through chemistry, and all that. Isht took off like a mega moneyed-up rocket in some point thereabouts in the mid 80s.
(BTW: Since you mention Viagra. Dunno how it goes elsewhere, but in the U.S. female contraceptive prescripts are *not* covered by your standard health insurance plans. Whereas Viagra universally is. TF?)
Yes, actually the greying of the poulation, the grey pound etc and the role of big pharama are an interesting nexus.
Viagra Nation would be interesting to go for ESP when it's pretty broadly considered (by psychoanalystst) that erectile disfunction is only rarely a medical condition or age related and much more to do with lack of desire etc. In a sense then, no one wants neo-liberalism and coke, prozac and viagra allow us to maintain a semblance of engagement when in fact we are all basically depressed/desireless and stuck.
I know more about controlled drugs than pharma, but a UN World Drug report just came out that suggesting misuse of pharma is taking off in a big way in countries outside the cocaine-heroin sphere (Africa, Asia, the Indian subcontinent). There's a bigger riddle about drugs ie. all drug use of almost all kinds is declining. Possibly temporary but maybe not. Even weed's in decline, which doesn't make a lot of sense because enough's produced in the UK to actually export to the Netherlands.
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