Pill poppers.

We all take medications for various ailments throughout our lives. This documentary looks at the culture of pill taking and asks - how much do we know about the drugs we take and can we always trust them? We see inside GlaxoSmithKline's store of chemical compounds; a library of over 2 million nameless compounds with little known about each of them. We see how new compounds are isolated which might show a reaction to a specific target. The fact that drugs are discovered rather than designed means that we don't know what effect they will have on us until we take them. The effects of Ritalin on two different people are discussed - a boy with ADHD and a young man using it as a cognitive enhancer. The latter has led to Cambridge students abusing the drug and it is thought that it might be useful for surgeons needing to focus for long periods of time on complex operations. Other drugs designed with specific conditions in mind have turned out to be beneficial for other conditions - for instance, Viagra, which was initially thought to be a drug to treat hypertension. Frederick Wu describes latest research to discover a male contraceptive pill; but no pharmaceutical companies want to back the drug. Problems with anti-depressants leading to suicide, as with the drug Paroxetine, are covered as are other side effects, such as the drastic side effects of thalidomide. Addiction to drugs is discussed, particularly addiction to the codeine in over the counter medicines. Resistance to antibiotics is a further problem with the over-use of drugs; antibiotics also kill all the bacteria in our body, not just the bad bacteria, leading us open to further infections. New drugs, such as statins, aim to deal with conditions that have not yet occurred - in this case by reducing cholesterol. However, the statins might prolong life but they can make the quality of life less pleasant as they lead to muscle cramps and gastrointestinal disorders. In between features, different people describe their relationship to pills. John Stewart describes how he believes there should be a pill which allows people to kill themselves in a dignified way at a time of their chosing. He and the Exit group are working to create such a pill.