Neither the FDA nor the pharmaceutical industry in the United States can stand the fact that the governor of the state of Wisconsin has put a
prescription drug resource center online that encourages citizens to buy their prescription drugs from Canada at a more affordable price. This is driving the FDA crazy, because it's threatening the pharmaceutical industry monopoly that both the FDA and the drug companies wish to maintain.
But the governor of Wisconsin is more interested in helping the citizens of that state actually afford prescription drugs. The governor is pointing out that too many of the citizens of Wisconsin are forced to make a choice between buying food and buying medicine. If they have to make that choice, what are they going to choose? Well, if they can get their prescription drugs from Canada, they might be able to do both. They can get their prescription drugs and feed their families at the same time.
More and more cities and states are now defying the FDA by actively encouraging citizens to purchase their drugs directly from Canada. The FDA, for its part, has used a campaign of fear and disinformation to try to scare people into avoiding prescription drugs from Canada. First they told people that drugs from Canada were unsafe, but that was largely proven untrue. The FDA has been unable to produce any statistics whatsoever that show large numbers of dead Canadians from taking prescription drugs, and I don't mean to offend Canadians with that statement, by the way. I am stating that in order to point out the ridiculous position of the U.S. federal regulators, not to embarrass Canadians in any way. In fact, the Canadians are to be applauded for their efforts to continue their free market endeavor of attempting to sell prescription drugs to U.S. consumers, and I hope the Canadian pharmacies can be even more successful in bypassing the drug monopoly system in the United States that now masquerades as organized medicine.
Of course, the pharmaceutical companies want to monopolize the sales of drugs in the United States in order to maximize their profits. And their campaign of fear goes way beyond simply scaring Americans into believing that drugs from Canada are somehow more dangerous than drugs from the United States. Lately, the FDA has pulled out the terrorist card, claiming that terrorists may somehow target drugs from Canada as well. This is, of course, nothing more than an act of desperation from a government agency that has been laughed at by the governors and mayors all across the United States.
Everybody knows the game is up -- the FDA is merely protecting the industry it's supposed to be regulating. So the FDA is turning to desperate measures -- they're using 9/11 as a reason for banning the importation of drugs from Canada. It's entire unfounded, of course; no terrorist would target prescription drugs from Canada -- they would come right to the United States and do something more direct. The FDA has absolutely no evidence that there are terrorists targeting prescription drugs, and they've merely pulled this out of the hat as a last-ditch effort to try to scare people into supporting the monopoly U.S. drug cartel.
Going along with the charade, drug companies are now running public service announcements on broadcast television that claim they won't be able to do drug research without charging all this money for prescription drugs, trying to make people feel guilty that if they buy drugs at something less than a 10,000% markup, that they're somehow harming drug research and preventing cures for chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's or heart disease. It's a charade, of course -- far more money goes into the marketing of drugs than into R&D, and drug companies themselves are extremely profitable. They're pocketing billions of dollars in annual profits. It's primarily going to shareholders and investors, not into R&D.
So there are in fact several levels of distortion taking place here. But the biggest distortion of all is the idea that prescription drugs are good for you in the first place. As I have argued on many occasions on this site, prescription drugs don't make people healthy at all. There are no people walking around of superior health who are taking 10 or 12 different prescription drugs. Can you find one? I can't. Organized medicine can't produce a single individual of superior health who is taking a dozen prescription drugs. If these miracle drugs are supposed to make people healthier, then why aren't there any healthy people who take them? Kinda makes ya wonder...
The nation as a whole is not healthier, even though we are taking far more prescription drugs than we ever have. In fact, the more drugs a person takes, the less healthy they get overall. Furthermore, the healthiest people routinely avoid prescription drugs, and I’m certainly one of those people. I wouldn't take prescription drugs if you paid me to. And shame on those celebrities who take money to promote such drugs.
The bottom line to all this is that a war is being waged over the control of information and profits when it comes to modern medicine. On one side, you have the highly corrupt FDA and the scheming pharmaceutical companies who seem to be willing to say anything and do anything to maximize profits. They will commit federal crimes. They will violate accounting rules to distort profits. They will bribe doctors, and they will spread fear and disinformation about dangers that don't exist in order to scare people away from buying drugs from other countries. You've seen detailed commentary on each of these accusations right here on this website.
But the governor of Wisconsin has not been fooled by this. Nor have the governors of many other states and the mayors of many cities in this country. They know that it's all just a game designed to protect the profits of pharmaceutical companies.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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Friday, August 06, 2004
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