Ozempic: The Diabetic Drug and it’s Star-Studded Misuse

Have you always wanted to go to a star-studded Hollywood party? How about attending one of Mindy Kaling’s infamous “Ozempic parties”? Gather with your favorite A-listers and down some shots! When it comes to weight loss, the injection of Ozempic – a diabetic drug – may not be the magic-bullet solution it appears to be – in fact, it may just be a double-edged syringe.

Despite the promise of weight loss with Ozempic, their potential long-term harms to users and diabetics position it as damaging. Yet, with elites seemingly enjoying the injection, it’s clear morals are thinning, even more than the bodies that use the drug. 

While there are other medications available on the market to help with weight loss, Ozempic has become attractive to celebrities for its ability to reduce appetite while still maintaining a normal eating pattern—which helps them keep their slender figures without feeling deprived or having cravings throughout the day. 

It’s crucial to understand how individual and collective actions impact those around us; celebrity culture shouldn’t mean depriving individuals with pre-existing diseases like diabetes of necessary care. If you really want to emaciate morality, for just $1000 a month, you can deprive chronically ill people of accessing medically necessary medication.

The issue emerges when we take into account how much more expensive Ozempic has become as a result of its recent surge in popularity in Hollywood. Prices have progressively increased since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it just two years ago; a month’s supply now costs about $1,000 out-of-pocket without insurance! This places a heavy financial strain on diabetics whose health depends on frequent access to affordable medication, and who need the drug.

Who is to blame for this? Is it the NYC subway platforms plastered with Ozempic ads, marketing the medication as a weight loss miracle drug? Misguided Doctors handing out scripts like it’s nothing? Or the individual seeking a slimmer image? No matter what part of the equation is pushing Ozempic’s rise, the long game isn’t going to be pretty. 

Allegedly, many stars are being started on the drug unknowingly. Everyone from Elon Musk to Chelsea Handler has their hands on syringes. Mindy Kaling has taken it to a whole new level with her rumored “Ozempic parties ‘. The glitz and glamourized gathering centered around unhealthy weight loss is a prime example of how stars fail to take accountability when it is their unbridled actions negatively impacting a sector of the general public.

This won’t end well for anyone. For diabetics going without treatment, their medical future is on the line. For some, they may need to choose between splurging on a necessary medication or facing physical consequences. For Hollywood stars using the injectables, they can look forward to what the media is calling “Ozempic face”: a facial distortion caused by rapid weight loss creating the appearance of sagging and wrinkles. 

While it’s certainly true that other drugs can have the same impacts as Ozempic – for diabetic treatment or unwarranted weightloss – the problem illuminates the lack of mortality around the American Medical system.

Of course, the system here in the States is nuanced, and its issues are complex. The Ozempic problem shows how it is not only big pharma’s systemic power that hurts the people it claims to serve. Advantaged stars should not be able to abuse the unfair, universally unregulated healthcare system of the US. 

On one end of the syringe, the drug does cause weight loss which could be helpful for people with obesity – not already thin stars looking for a quick fix. On the other end, diabetics who need the drug can no longer find it at reasonable prices to do its widespread misuse. 

Ozempic should not be used to treat weight loss unless you are dangerously obese. This drug comes at a great cost – both financially for diabetics and physically for the face-sagging stars. Americans should not rely on Ozempic as a quick fix for weight loss. Instead, they must focus on leading healthier lifestyles through proper means and let the people who need access to the medication access it at reasonable price points. It’s time the one-percenters stop taking shots at the rest of us.