Pot, Meet Kettle

At the start of next year, the drug companies will no longer be giving pens and pads of paper to doctors.  The rules regarding pharmaceutical sales practices have grown progressively more stringent over the past few years.  The FDA already regulates what the reps say to physicians (they may only assert what is in the PI, or package insert).  Now they will
be very limited on other contact with physicians.

Thank goodness.  Those pens and pads of paper were sending
subliminal messages to me.  I hear them talking to me in my sleep.  I
just have an insatiable need to prescribe unnecessary medications
because of a ballpoint.  It will be good to get out of this marketing
hell these reps have put me in.

Citizens are worried about the influence these companies are having
over us physicians, wondering if their efforts to influence are driving
up the cost of care.  One online petition site states:

Drug marketing is out of control. Help send a message to Congress.
Support the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which will require drug
companies to publicly report their gifts and payments to doctors.
Drug companies spend at least $25 billion each year marketing to
doctors. We pay for that with every drug we buy. And studies prove that marketing causes doctors to prescribe higher-cost drugs. Some new drugs also have safety risks (like Vioxx). By increasing transparency, the Sunshine Act will help protect patients and help counter the skyrocketing costs of drugs.

Congress is also getting involved:

While it's no secret that pharmaceutical companies
lavish gifts on doctors -- everything from free notepads and pens to
meals to the more extravagant paid trips or seminars -- most patients are in the dark about who, exactly, is courting their physicians. But Congress may be finally acknowledging this relationship, one important step toward creating a national gift registry so patients can track the perks Big Pharma is giving to their doctors.

In June, the nonprofit government watchdog Public Citizen testified
before the Senate Special Committee on Aging in favor of federal
legislation that would require drug companies to disclose payments to doctors. But the group urged lawmakers, before jumping on the proposal, to examine a Petri dish of existing disclosure laws. Although four states and the District of Columbia already have disclosure laws on the books, the group says they are "inadequate" and do not give patients a clear picture of how money is changing hands.

I do understand this concern.  Advertising works, and there are
definite financial reasons for the drug industry's aggressive marketing
to doctors. The pressure seems to be working, as witnessed by the pen
and paper ban.

I guess it is appropriate congress is getting involved, since they
are very familiar with the influence the drug companies can have over
people and their behavior.  From the Wall Street Journal:

Health Industry Pours Money Into Democratic Convention

The health-care industry has a lot at stake in Washington these days. Maybe that’s why the list of the Democratic convention’s host-committee sponsors is so full of big players from the health sector.

Among them: Merck, Amgen, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Mylan, Medtronic — (pause for breath) — Abbott, Walgreen, UnitedHealth, Eli Lilly and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Nor are the companies letting the money do the talking. The CEOs of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Amgen and Merck are all making
appearances in Denver this week, reports FDA Legislative Watch.

And Pfizer was among the million-dollar donors that landed skyboxes at Invesco Field for Obama’s big speech Thursday, the Dallas Morning News reports.

As we noted earlier this year, the sector has shifted to favor Democrats over Republicans recently.
But that doesn’t mean the Democrats are getting everything: There will be plenty of industry money sloshing around Minneapolis - St. Paul next week for the Republican convention.

 Hmm....  I smell hypocrisy here.  Isn't this problem of at least
equal importance to the short-skirted drug reps and gawking doctors? 
Is the lack of pens and paper in my office (which will boost the local
economy as we go to Staples to buy it for ourselves) such a great
accomplishment when Pharma (and every other industry) is buying
influence with our government?

I don't really care about the pens, but it seems a much bigger issue
to me that corporate America has bought our legislators and are trying
to influence our President.  These are the people who are going to
reform healthcare?  These are the people who have a vision of how
things need to be?

I've got an idea: let's start a petition to prohibit them from giving pens and pads of paper to politicians.