EMBARRASSED BY THE FDA

I am once again embarrassed by my government. More fittingly, I am once again disgusted by how asinine my government has become.

Specifically, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the agency protecting our health and well being, has just declared that marijuana cannot be supported for MEDICINAL use. The FDA also denied the sale of the “Morning After” pill in drugstores after most of the medical advisory board recommended the pill be made available to the general public.

The marijuana ruling goes against a 1999 finding by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences that” marijuana’s active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AID’S wasting and other symptoms and should be tested rigorously in clinical trials”.

Some states have passed laws allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Now I don’t pretend to know if marijuana really helps people suffer less but many sick people swear by it. I have always been in favor of legalizing or decriminalizing the use of marijuana because I always felt that if alcohol consumption is legal why in the hell is marijuana illegal – it makes absolutely no fucking sense.

I realize that pushing to legalize marijuana for medicinal use is only the first step in getting it legalized for general use and that is the way our government obviously feels.

BUT what really pisses me off is the fact that the FDA is being run by politicians and NOT the scientific professionals it is suppose to be run by. In fact, many on the advisory board have quit in disgust because it does not matter what the scientific minds have concluded but what President Bush wants.

The Morning After pill could prevent unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions but President Bush thinks that the pill actually causes mini abortions and ordered the FDA to deny the public access to the pill. Do you see how this man thinks? And why should learned scientists bow down to the thoughts of this moron president!

I feel the FDA should be made an independent agency answerable to a committee of people with the education and background to be able to judge fairly and correctly if the FDA is carrying out its mandate to protect the public’s health.

Personally, my business is governed by FDA rules and I have experienced the vacillations of FDA rules based on who is in power – enough I say!


Janusz