Almost everyone I know who is on meds they need every day to stay healthy and functional spends a significant share of every month on logistics related to continuing to have access to their meds. Pharmacies are out of stock when they go in, or stop carrying it, or the copay has risen dramatically and they need to find a pharmacy that’s cheaper, or the pharmacy doesn’t think they have a refill on file even though they should, or the pharmacy thinks it gave them two months’ supply when they’re sure they only got one. The nearest pharmacy that carries their meds is across the city and closes early on weekends.

If they have multiple prescriptions, they spend a significant chunk of their free time and energy on trying to ensure next month they’ll still have access to them. If they don’t have enough time and energy, they run out of meds, and then have to go through the same rigamarole to get back on them while tired and unfocused and struggling.

I’m not talking about drugs that people frequently abuse, here. I’m mostly talking about SSRIs, which as a nasty bonus will really screw you up if you try to quit them cold turkey. I’ve heard it’s infinitely worse if, god forbid, you need painkillers.

I’m lucky. The thing I need every day to stay healthy and functional is a nutritional shake that can be bought on Amazon or Costco. If I notice I’m running low, I order more. I can buy as many months’ worth at a time as I want. I can order them overnight if I am late in noticing that I screwed up and ran out. If I’m very late, I can swing by a store and buy them.

If the nutrition shakes I need were prescription-only, I would be dead.

And I can’t help but think that a lot of people are dead who’d be alive if the meds that let them be healthier, happy and functional were available in the corner store, or on Amazon, or were frequently prescribed in larger doses with some slack for complications. And a lot of other people would have hours of pain and anxiety every month replaced with things they enjoy and value and care about. I know there are tradeoffs; probably some people would take SSRIs who don’t need them or aren’t informed about interactions with other medications. But I’m suspicious that the best possible tradeoff on this front can’t be the one that has disabled people having regularly scheduled fights for their lives.