Ozempic
person
Don't believe everything you thinkThe liminal space Veteran
Ozempic is a drug originally designed and used to treat diabetes. When using it people found it helped them lose weight by cutting down on their cravings. As such its use boomed among the well to do as a weight loss drug. More recently with the surge those using it have also noticed that it reduced other cravings such as for alcohol or even gambling. With the boom in demand and the drug patent its running off label users something like $1,000 a month, so it will be a while before the hoi poloi can make use of it.
One part of me thinks this is great and has the potential to reduce one of Buddhism's big three sources of suffering, craving. The other part of me envisions a dystopian future where we're all consuming some future iteration of this and have lost all motivation to do anything.
It also occurs to me to wonder what the economic implications of widespread usage of this would be?
Comments
Hopefully it wean us of economies of scalies and dinos ...
It’s not as unattainable as it once was…for some people.. I know several middle income women who have taken it for weight loss, and my own Dr tried to push it on me. Several insurance companies cover it ( copays vary, of course).The problem was diabetics with no insurance or who were on a fixed income couldn’t afford it, and once it became the fad for weight loss, supplies dropped. That being said….you can’t take it forever, and the results are not permanent. The cravings return.
AFA fostering ‘motivation’….the Buddhist POV would be intentions and right effort.
I had heard about it… the thing is, I’m reasonably good at not eating a lot, and still not losing much weight, so I think my metabolism is just unusually proficient at adjusting. So I doubt whether reduced cravings would help me much, those are not my problem.
Although I’m not immune to the occasional snaccident.
(“Snaccident. Noun. When you accidentally eat all of a snack.”)
"Don't do drugs" (lobster top tip)
Yep, it's always that way. To eliminate craving, you have to understand the cause of craving. The cause is, ultimately, ignorance. Deal with the cause.
See: Dependent Origination
Yay…love a good homework assignment
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/ignorance.html