I was talking with my friend Pavan last night, who is an NYU med student. He said something that I was pretty surprised by, but in the end, I guess makes sense. He said that, at the hospitals he works at, you can eat a really good free lunch every single day of the week, provided by different pharmaceutical companies, for the doctors. He also said that it used to be that there was no price cap on meals that companies could provide. But now they are trying to crack down on it, so theres a $100 a head price cap on meals. Plus, he said, that they are constantly inundating you with different products, like nice pens, and notepads, and whatever. His explanation of their marketing technique is that the companies basically take advantage of people’s laziness. Like, since doctor’s become familiar with brands and products, by these companies throwing shit at them constantly, then they are more prone to prescribe their brands of drugs, just because they are accustomed to them, even if another drug might be as good or better. He was also talking about how pharmaceutical companies are able to put pressure on certain publications about their content, and the studies they promote, because they can just threaten to pull the plug on their advertising dollars. I wonder how deep all that shit runs, you know, it seems like its pretty damn deep.