It may be natural for friends to chat about what ails them, but how natural is it for them to dish out prescription drugs from their own medicine cabinets? As part of its excellent Being a Patient series, today's NY Times looks at the casual sharing of prescription drugs, a growing trend among young urbanites.

“I acquire quite a few medications and then dispense them to my friends as needed. I usually know what I’m talking about,” says Katherine, 25, a New Yorker who gave the tranquilizer Ativan to a friend who was “short of breath and panicky.”

Anxiety, depression and fatigue are the most commonly self-diagnosed conditions. As young people continue to question psychiatric diagnoses and prescription medication becomes easier to obtain, friends are not only sharing their time, but also their drugs. Access comes in the form of unused prescriptions, online purchases (no prescription necessary) and symptom exaggeration that results in doctor-prescribed medications.

The question remains: as psychotropic drugs are viewed as an insurance-funded panacea for everything from genuine emotional and mental disorders to the slightest sign of social discomfort, is it really shocking that young adults are turning to the quick fix of self-prescribing?