Based on a study of more than one hundred thousand Minnesotans, it appears that seven out of ten people may be prescribed at least one prescription drug in any given year. More than half are prescribed two or more drugs, and 20 percent are prescribed five or more medications.46 All told, physicians dispense about four billion prescriptions for drugs every year in the United States.47 That’s about thirteen prescriptions a year for every man, woman, and child.
