by John Rappaport

MARCH 4. This is short essay on legalization of drugs. Medical drugs.

Under the current system, the FDA must certify as safe and effective every medicine before it can be placed on the market in either prescription or non-prescription form.

The FDA relies on clinical trials conducted and paid for by the companies that actually manufacture the drugs.

The public feels it is protected from fraud and harm under this umbrella.

At least 100,000 people in the US die every year from the administration of pharmaceuticals. It is estimated that 2.1 million MORE people are hospitalized as a result of an adverse effect from a medicine. And it is also estimated that there are 22 million adverse effects each year from med drugs. (See my archive for past articles on these figures.)

So is the current system working?

Isn’t it the case that the public belief in the system lulls the public into taking more and more drugs? “I’m safe, I just do what the doctor says, and he’s backed up by the government.”

And therefore, wouldn’t it be a good idea to wake people up from that trance?

How can this be accomplished?

Remember, with the “best protection in the world” afforded by the FDA, we are getting all these deaths and maimings.

Obviously, we have to remove the protective umbrella.

That would wake people up.

If people suddenly knew that the FDA (which was supposed to protect everybody but hasn’t) no longer existed, people would instantly come alert. They would say, “Hey, wait!”

And if no medical drug needed to have a script written by a doctor, then people would quickly realize that THAT part of the umbrella was also missing. “Hey, wait!”

If any adult could obtain Thorazine or aspirin or chemo or AZT or warfarin, at a gas station store, how long do you think it would take before people began to realize these drugs are dangerous? Especially if the FDA building were now a roller skating rink, and if doctors were saying, “Don’t blame me, I didn’t write the script.” In other words, people might end up taking far fewer drugs.

Would there be more deaths under this new open system, in the next ten years, than under the current umbrella-which umbrella will yield about a million fatalities by 2013?

I’m asking. I don’t know the answer to that question, but it’s certainly worth thinking about. No knee-jerk reactions, please.

Another alternative is to outlaw all toxic medical drugs, but that means government must act sanely in a sweeping manner, and that isn’t going to happen, unless Bessie the Cow wins the next Kentucky Derby.

Of course, the feds are not going to eliminate the FDA or allow anyone to freely take drugs that now require a doctor's prescription. Gee, I guess that means people will just have to say no on their own. What a frightening prospect-waking up without government approval.

And suing the drug companies-that sometimes works too.