I’ve seen this tactic throughout my professional career. The gifts from pharma that I’ve seen ranged from exquisite meals (no lobster or clambakes, though I did have seafood salad once) to pens, to Post-Its, to glow in the dark balls. The best pharmacy gift I ever saw was a mug that said Haldol (a powerful antipsychotic, similar to Thorazine) on it. I remember sitting with my supervisor once going over cases while she was drinking coffee from a Haldol mug and thinking, “oh, if only…” 
I’m glad to see that these practices are being questioned, although I’ll miss the gel pens I used to get from the people who sold Depakote.
Sep 05, 2009 @ 16:54:33
This is some sort of joke, right?
Psychcentral.com is hugely underwritten by big pharma.
Their article is like Exxon throwing a bone to the environmental movement.
You shouldn’t be worried about pharma Post-its and pens.
You should be worried about what a suffering person who turns to Dr. Grohol’s House of Meds sees when they are seeking basic information about manic depression, and finds this: http://i39.tinypic.com/v5wl5c.jpg
Sep 07, 2009 @ 10:24:19
Wow. Not a lot of real estate left for content, there. LOL!
Yeah, it may have been a bone at the anti-Pharma community.
Nate
Oct 22, 2009 @ 07:13:43
The citizens are the members of the civil society, bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority; they equally participate in its advantages. ,
Oct 22, 2009 @ 11:25:57
Well, I guess that’s pretty deep.
Oct 23, 2009 @ 06:04:40
So I told her to go out along the sidewalk, find a grownup, and tell them mommy needs an ambulance. ,