It is a fair bet to guess that many people taking drugs such as Ozempic are just tired of being fat. The hitch with Ozempic, however, is that is precisely its common purpose.
Specifically, the drug treats blood sugar in Type 2 diabetics. However, take a look at any public discussion around it, and the primacy of weight loss is clear. Ozempic itself is a metonym for weight loss drugs. All of this makes the drug tricky because most people would not classify simple weight loss as a good reason to take it. Ozempic exists, but does it leave room for “getting healthy the right way?”
The answer, of course, is yes. Yet that world is hard to imagine given the number of conclusions one can reach from a simple observation of Ozempic use:
One is that people are jumping on the trend at out-of-control rates, bafflingly so. In the meantime, it is hard to understand why because the drug seems like an overly easy route, and side effects are a huge risk for any pharmaceutical. It would be doubly regrettable if the side effects proved disastrous because, while they take it, people likely are not developing any weight loss discipline alongside it. However, so many are doing it that it must work, and that is a grand success story.
Impressions are myriad, and still, they are black and white. People are justified in having strong opinions on a drug that is so widespread, consequential, and hard to quit. The better concern, though, is whether the use of the drug for weight loss actually kind of makes sense because the fact of the matter is that it has been available for close to eight years.
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If these technically obese people see their lives as worthless, barring a jumpstart by the name of Ozempic, perhaps it is worth the psychological risk of a “fat mindset, fit body.” Additionally, morbid obesity should warrant the drug. Most people can agree there, up to the point that taxpayers provide it but for critical and life-saving prescriptions of Ozempic. That case is a little different from EpiPen tax dollars. In other words, Ozempic is a good reminder that we still need health insurance companies to review medical claims.
The problem is this: Ozempic exists in a world of misuse. So, more than arguing that fat people should just grit their teeth, eat less, and work out, it is worth considering that they are not too off-base in wanting to use it for causal weight loss. However, that does not mean the drug itself cannot be held to some account and restricted to more sensible circumstances.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
