MISUSE of ANTIBIOTICS - CHEAPER THAN EVER!

Has anyone else read about a drug store that is promoting what in my opinion is a misuse of antibiotics? According to the what I've heard, the pharmacy is offering free antibiotics in a push to promote better health for its customers stating in a promotional poster that as people don’t pay for germs, why they shouldn’t get free antibiotics.

As a stay at home mother, I’m all for freebies but not free medicine when I don’t need it. And that’s what bothers me about this campaign. Could there be people who might otherwise weather their way through a nasty cold (that wouldn’t respond to antibiotic treatments anyway) just fine without meds that might ultimately create a resistance to antibiotics that get the drugs just because they are free?

I would never want anyone not to have medicine when they have a real need. But I would like to know what precautions the stores might be taking to prevent the misuse of antibiotics to avoid problems in the future. Apparently the experts are concerned about this just as much as I am.

Has enough been done to educate people that these drugs are to fight bacterial infections only? One of the mothers I came across in a play group the other day had no idea that antibiotics have no impact on the common cold or the flu. Her reasoning was that you give them to the kids to be sure that viral infections don’t morph into anything else. I wonder if she realizes that she may be creating antibiotic resistance and doing her child’s immune system more harm than good. When Cass was diagnosed with MRSA as an infant, she was lucky to have several options to treat it. What will happed to overmedicated kids whose parents have made a habit of the misuse of antibiotics?