The top market for Ozempic in the USA, despite its hip-hype persona as a Hollywood slim-down elixir, is actually a city an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee.

One local summed up the popularity of the drug with an interesting quote: “We’re redneck enough to be fat, but smart enough to do something about it.”

The report also details Kentucky’s broader reliance on Ozempic and similar medications like Wegovy and Zepbound. About one in 15 people living in Kentucky (6.8%) receives a prescription for one of these drugs.

“Ozempic and Wegovy, that’s all I hear,” Brianna Tooley, a Walgreens pharmacist in Bowling Green added.

But with new demand comes a set of other hurdles. This has led to an explosion in popularity of quick weight loss solutions, which often are nothing more than imitators that come with some disturbing side effects. Even local pharmacies are starting to carry similar options.

Twenty-five-year-old GNC store manager in the area Candace Sims has a four-year-old son who was ill for weeks after taking generic supplements to soothe his stomach, she said.

“He just wanted to try it, because all his friends were doing it,” she said.

This is a trend that goes beyond just Ozempic. Marie Ellis, who lost 80 pounds on Mounjaro—a sister drug that she believed was something “Hollywood” might use—said demand seems to be increasing.

And, just like a posh club in Tinseltown, “you just can’t get in there now. It’s nearly impossible” due to volume, she said.

“If you went over tomorrow at 8 a.m., or even before, you won’t find any parking spots.”