Before I begin today’s post, a little disclaimer. I am going to be talking about drugs, some legal..some not so much, and drug policy in this country. If this is the kind of discussion that would offend you, it is probably best not to read from this point forward. Thanks. President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 partially to unify the patchwork of sketchy state laws which governed what could and could not be put into processed foods and medicines. Another goal was to regulate the so-called “patent” medicine industry, many of which contained narcotics which are illegal today. The 1906 act created within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) the Department of Chemistry, later renamed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1930. There’s your history lesson for today boys and girls.
Today, the FDA is a bloated federal bureaucracy whose budget in 2008 totaled $2.4 billion dollars. And what has your $2.4 billion dollars bought you, America? Outdated computer networks who can’t talk to each other, a pitifully understaffed handful of inspectors to enforce the law, and an army of starchy bureaucrats more concerned with their careers than the foods and drugs that are sickening and killing hundreds of Americans every year. The FDA is the very definition of what happens when a government agency gets too big for its own good. Proof, you say? Ok…
Remember the salmonella-tainted peanut scare in 2009? Peanut Corporation of America, based in Georgia, sent out hundreds of truckloads of contaminated peanuts to processing plants, schools, state and federal institutions, and they even tried to export them to Canada. Wanna guess what happened? When we tried to get the tainted nuts across the border near Buffalo, NY, the Canadian inspectors took one look at the quality of the nuts and refused them entry into Canada. Canadian inspectors noted that the peanuts were covered in a “putrid substance” and were “not fit for human consumption.” Would you like to know when the last FDA inspection of PCA’s Georgia plant took place? Seven years earlier. SEVEN YEARS!!
Enough about food. Let’s get to the topic I intended to discuss – drugs. The FDA got the greenlight to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to drug applications in 1938. They were given the power to determine what drugs Americans could take and what they could not. Some were made available by prescription, while some were outlawed entirely. Let me just say, on a personal level, that giving a government the power to decide what is best for its own people is a very dangerous practice. The purpose of government is to keep the infrastructure moving (national parks, highways etc.) and to keep us safe from invading armies – not to make our moral and ethical decisions for us.
Drugs which just years earlier were used as legitimate component in many medicines found themselves banned under new federal laws with questionable motives. I am going to talk mainly about marijuana, since it has been in the news a lot in the last couple years. Without getting on my soapbox, let me say that ALL marijuana is medicinal marijuana if used appropriately. Marijuana has had cultural and ceremonial significance for thousands of years around the world. In 2008, archaeologists discovered the tomb of a shaman in China which was dated to 2,800 B.C. Inside the tomb were various ceremonial objects including a small pouch containing marijuana (still green, by the way).
So, marijuana can be traced to the very earliest known cultures on earth. Yet, in 1937, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, under pressure from Congress, enacted the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which levied a tax on any commercial entity dealing in marijuana. The Act did not criminalize marijuana, but it did provide for fines and imprisonment to those who did not follow its strict provisions. Much of the basis for passing the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 came from the 1928 International Opium Convention, in which testimony was given that marijuana caused “murder, insanity and death.” I guess they hadn’t invented the munchies in 1928. It is now commonly believed that the testimony given in 1928 contained incorrect information, but that did not stop the campaign against cannabis.
I am rambling, so let me wrap this up. The FDA, pharmaceutical companies and doctors are the biggest drug dealers in America. Pain management doctors can prescribe pharmaceuticals which are essentially synthetic heroin – let’s not kid ourselves. Yet, if THC (the active substance in marijuana) were to show up on your UA, you could lose your doctor. Thousands and thousands of people in this country could benefit from the compounds in marijuana, yet rightwing conservative lobbyists continue to make any serious talk about decriminalization a joke. They have forgotten that the intent of our forefathers was to make America a land of freedom from oppressive government meddling. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (both slave owners, by the way) grew hemp on their plantations.
Does marijuana have harmful health effects? Sure it does, but it is my right as an adult and a taxpayer to weigh those effects against any potential benefits I see in it and make my own decision. That’s what America is all about – the freedom to decide what is right for you. That’s why freedom of religion was a fundamental principle in the founding of our country. Freedom of choice, not oppressive governmental regulation – that’s America. Finally, as an American, it is your right to disagree with any or all of what I have just said without fear of retaliation. God bless us all, and God Bless America.
