Watch Battlestar Galactica, Ghosts, Twin Peaks, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, or whatever American TV show. That’s on broadcast or cable TV, or on the Internet. Chances are you’ll see commercials.

Commercial advertisements have been a part of television for over 80 years. (It’s not called “commercial television” for nothing.) In fact Radio News predicted television commercials back in the 1920s when TV was still experimental. But what does that have to do with pushing drugs?

TV and Drugs

During the early days, drug commercials were non-existent on most if not all of the world’s television programs. (If you don’t count potentially addictive substances like alcohol and tobacco. Not to mention products containing caffeine.) Even today, most countries don’t allow them. But according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, dollars spent on direct-to-consumer drug ads are in the billions. And much of that is on American television.

For years, the American Medical Association has called for those ads to be banned. Advertisements can increase the price of needed medications to the point that patients can’t afford them. And commercials for drugs, especially over-the-counter medications, can make misleading claims. According to several medical schools and authorities, these factors could potentially endanger someone’s health and even life.

TV’s Dangerous and Deadly Drugs

So I did an experiment. During that time, I checked every commercial for over-the-counter and prescription drugs I saw on American TV. (I didn’t count substances that could be addictive, only things specifically sold as medication.) And I went only by information that was in the commercial.

I decided to record the numbers until I saw one (1) advertisement that was specifically against potentially dangerous drugs. As soon as I saw just one, I would stop counting. (Note that some of these numbers overlap. For example, a drug not approved by the Food and Drug Administration could have serious side effects.)

Here are the numbers:

• Advertisements for a drug that can cause serious side effects but was not said to be potentially fatal: 18
• Advertisements for a drug not approved by the Food and Drug Administration: 31
• Advertisements for a drug that could be potentially fatal: 41
• Advertisements against a potentially fatal drug: 1

The War on Drugs

So whatever happened to America’s War on Drugs? Apparently, that’s moved into the realm of fantasy and science fiction. Or horror.

Those three genres have all dealt with dangerous drug problems for a long time. And in the past 60 years, so have all the 20th and 21st century programs listed at the beginning of this article. That includes some of those series’ most popular and critically acclaimed stories. Sometimes you can find more truth in fiction than in what’s supposed to be true.