FDA Says No to Pot

Having the Food and Drug Administration announce Friday that it refused to give marijuana status as a useful substance for medicinal purposes is no surprise.

However, while there can be legitimate arguments made that anything one must smoke to release its beneficial effects is not wise, I think we have to remember that the FDA has for sometime largely served as strictly an agent of major pharmaceutical and food companies rather than as an intelligent agent FOR the people who pay for its operation.

Think Vioxx, for example. And think of the debacle about the FDA refusing to give the go-ahead on a contraceptive even when its own advisory panel said it was worthy of approval.

If marijuana could be marketed by Merck or Pfizer, I suspect this would be a whole different game. But because marijuana is, like its nickname, a weed, one that can grown just about anywhere and by just about anyone...

Yet I have seen cancer sufferers and others get some very real relief from the drug. Others have as well, which is why so many voters in so many places have approved the compassionate use of the drug for people with documented illnesses. But the American government, always there to protect the corporation rather than the people, will do everything in its power to keep pot illegal, which just helps keep the War on Drugs going.