Canadians' propensity for popping pills to fix what ails them continues to rise, with the country's 2004 drug tab estimated at almost $22 billion, up about nine per cent from a year earlier and five times the amount spent 20 years ago, a report released yesterday suggests.

And that $22 billion doesn't even include drugs prescribed in hospitals, which adds another $1.3 billion to the bill, said the Canadian Institute for Health Information report.