The FDA (LT)

(LT = letter to the federal government)

Doctors and patients should be free to use whatever medicines they prefer. And if pharmaceutical companies value the FDA`s endorsement they can voluntarily pay for FDA evaluation. They should not be coerced to do so. 

A similar approach has already been tested. FDA rules were relaxed to permit the drugs that now prevent HIV from being a death sentence. We could gain the same benefit for other diseases. Stated simply, the FDA should serve us, not rule us.

The FDA should be like UL (United Laboratories).  Unfortunately since it has dictatorial powers it is susceptible to corruption and costs peoples lives.  If the FDA was more like UL then people would have the option to buy FDA approved drugs or foods while others could "risk" obtaining what they wanted whether it be approved by another body or not approved at all.  Without the power of government behind the FDA it would strive to ensure it backed only things that were healthy and proven better for the public in order to continue to exist.  If people following FDA guidelines using FDA approved products found they lived longer, healthier lives the FDA would be something companies wanted to be approved by and they would tailor their business practices to earn the approval by providing high-quality healthy products. 

This is why I select UL listed electrical and electronic devices because I know the companies with that symbol were approved by that VOLUNTARY regulatory body and I trust it.  If UL started endorsing electrical products that were faulty my trust in them would falter and I'd look for a new regulatory body that provided reliable electric seals of approval.

The FDA has no checks or balances.  It is rife with corruption and will gladly approve any unproven or untried garbage on Americans as long as the price is right while simultaneously denying people the ability to rightfully try what they want in an attempt to improve or save their own lives..  I have no faith or trust in them what-so-ever.  They are an unconstitutional body with no actual power except for that granted to them by a lawless government.  Do the FDA and America a favor and make them a voluntary, non-tax funded, regulatory body that people can have a chance to trust by providing the only proven check which is competition.

How can this be the land of the free if we aren't even free to decide for ourselves?  We will only be the land of the free when we also have the right to be left alone - one which is non-existent in the world today.

Kratom - the ever expanding ever failing war on plants

The DEA is entertaining comments about placing "Kratom" on Schedule I (temporarily) - much like Nixon placed Cannabis "temporarily".  I sent in my thoughts.  I get that people know drugs can be bad and some can kill us on overdose - like alcohol.  We do not need a government helping us, at the end of a barrel, protecting us from ourselves - it is not a solution it is just another problem that grows unchecked due to the tragedy of providing a group with a monopoly on violence duties it was never meant to have.

Today is the last day to get in a comment regarding your concerns on this new DEA rule.  Keep in mind that Trump's pick for Attorney General is a pro-drug war zealot - the last thing he needs is another Schedule I drug to give him "reason" to go after peaceful people.  Vices are not violence!

Based on the criteria Schedule I does not apply to "Kratom".  Any attempt to place Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitagynine into such a schedule only meets political or emotional goals and does not have any basis in scientific findings.  Doctors have demonstrated that this compound helps with withdrawal symptoms from opioids (drugs derived from opium) - that provides evidence against "The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States." 

The People of the United States no longer favor support for the war on drugs.  The war on plants ("drugs") has produced no scientific evidence that it has resulted in the reduction of availability of schedule 1 drugs.  The war on the free market (war on drugs) has produced no scientific evidence that it has resulted in the reduction of overdose.  The war on drugs has resulted only in large costs for innocent bystanders, buyers, sellers, producers, and law-enforcement in dollars, loss of life, loss of liberty, and loss of opportunity.  Scientific study of the prohibition of alcohol proved that prohibition is not a solution.  Our federal government, knowing better than science and reason, passed riders on unrelated bills and created the war on drugs, a power not granted to it by our Constitution nor by any Constitutional amendment. 

Please get out of the business of caging and killing peaceful people and instead focus on assisting the States with defending against violent criminals.