I am so sick of drug warriors telling us that marijuana is not medicine, and that it’s dangerous because it hasn’t gone through a certain set of approval hoops, including FDA approval. This, despite the fact that marijuana has been used safely for thousands of years, by millions of people without a single recorded case of a fatal overdose, or any indications of connections to mortality. And it is this “danger” from which we wish to protect terminally ill patients. (“Yes, if you stop smoking marijuana, you may die in a couple of months. However, if you continue to smoke marijuana, in 30-40 years, you might have taken in enough carcinogens to give you another disease, although there’s no proof of that, and we can’t have that. So, we’re going to have you die now.)
And then I read this article in the Christian Science Monitor: How drug-approval woes crept up on FDA. The article tells how the FDA is influenced by the pharmaceutical companies, and some of the disasters that make it through because of the greed and commercial interest. An example: Vioxx made it through FDA approval for a while before it got yanked. In the meantime, it’s estimated that 139,000 people had heart attacks and strokes from taking it and 55,000 people may have died.
Pharmaceutical companies don’t want medical marijuana to succeed because they can’t make money off something you can grow in your back yard. Pharmaceutical companies want the FDA to fast-track their synthetic drugs because those are money trees.
And we’re the ones who pay. And die.
- DrugWarRant.com, the longest running single-issue blog devoted to drug policy
Join us on Pete's couch.
Send comments, tips,
and suggestions to: Recent Comments
Servetus on He’s back: “The fastest growing group of cannabis consumers include women who use it to relieve menopause symptoms, and adults age 50…” Sep 27, 20:53
Servetus on He’s back: “Researchers have discovered a brain network common to people with addictions to nicotine, alcohol, cocaine or heroin. 25-SEP-2023 — A…” Sep 27, 20:28
Son of Sam Walton on Hotels adapt to serving the cannabis connoisseur: “Whoever said cannabis users aren’t problem solvers must have been smoking bunk weed.” Sep 27, 12:47
NorCalNative on Hotels adapt to serving the cannabis connoisseur: “I spent a month in Eugene Oregon in a non-smoking hotel. I used a cardboard tube and blew my one-hitters…” Sep 27, 11:20
Son of Sam Walton on Hotels adapt to serving the cannabis connoisseur: “New Mexico and Puerto Rico accept out-of-state medical cannabis cards for visitors. I’m sure it’s nice to stay in a…” Sep 26, 08:32
Servetus on He’s back: “Need to quit cigarettes? Try theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation. 20-SEP-2023 — …the University of Missouri School of Medicine suggests there…” Sep 24, 12:06
Son of Sam Walton on Family Research Council demonizes psychedelics: “Answer: President Bush was the only American President to have exclusive ties with the Mafia while also having a son…” Sep 24, 06:17
Son of Sam Walton on Family Research Council demonizes psychedelics: “Real witchcraft is when Harry, I mean Pfizer forged one pill to control them all.” Sep 18, 09:37
Pages
- About
- Articles
- A Day at the Museum
- A story for Thanksgiving (Isidro and Teresa Aviles)
- Andrea Barthwell, caught red-handed
- Andrea Barthwell, Snake Oil Salesman
- Bong Hits 4 Jesus – Supreme Court Case
- DEA Bad Girl Michele Leonhart
- Deep Thoughts About the Drug War
- Drug War Victims
- Drug War Videos
- Drug WarRant Joins SOPA, PIPA Protest
- Hammer Down, Pop Up
- If I were Contrarian-King of the United States
- Increase in Burger Abuse Seen
- Irvin Rosenfeld and the Compassionate IND — Medical Marijuana Proof and Government Lies
- Karen Tandy and the DEA (Can Congress Get a Clue?)
- Len Bias – the death that ushered in two decades of destruction
- Mother and Son
- Patriot Act, Victory Act, Despot Act
- Petition for Correction under the ONDCP Information Quality Guidelines
- Raich v. Ashcroft
- Rand and American Enterprise Institute Studies – Indictments of Federal Drug Policy
- the Drug Czar is Required by Law to Lie
- Treatment Statistics
- Who’s Who in Drug Prohibition
- Why is Marijuana Illegal?
Archives
Authors