As participants from around world gather to face off in various events, one competition is already over. When it comes to the ability to remove a childproof cap from a bottle and then swallow down a handful of pills, there is simply no country that can compete with the United States. Americans spend about a grand per person per year on pharmaceuticals. We take more. And we spend more. PBS Newshour takes a look at why Americans spend so much on pharmaceuticals.

+ Are doctors and shrinks too quick to write a ‘script? From Newsweek’s John Ericson: A Pill for Every Ill.

+ The editors at Scientific American argue that it’s time to end the ban on psychoactive drug research and find out if drugs like LSD, marijuana and ecstasy can ease psychiatric disorders.