What do Opioids, Politicians, and Your Doctor Have in Common?

Bribery. Action Alert!

Separate reports have surfaced that demonstrate both doctors and politicians are on opioid-makers’ pay roll. In return it appears as though doctors have prescribed more opioids and lawmakers have backed legislation to make it harder to combat the opioid crisis. This is cronyism 101.

First, the doctors. Researchers have reported evidence that the doctors who receive the most attention from drug companies—such as paid speaking jobs, free lunches, and branded merchandise—prescribe the largest amount of opioid drugs. The researchers report that every free meal given to a doctor from a pharmaceutical company resulted in a spike of opioid prescriptions.

Next, Congressional candidates gearing up for midterm elections are pointing out examples of current lawmakers accepting pharmaceutical money and then supporting legislation that makes it more difficult for the federal government to regulate the opioid industry—specifically, the legislation made it more difficult for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to suspend suspicious orders of opioids. Big Pharma dumped millions into the campaigns of lawmakers at the time, and spent much more on lobbying efforts in support of the bill. It seems that it was money well spent. Sitting lawmakers of course deny that there was any quid pro quo, but the connection to us seems obvious.

These are the forces that are preventing cheap, safe, and effective natural medicine from seeing the light of day in our medical system. Big Pharma influences doctors to prescribe their expensive and dangerous medicines; they also grease the wheels in Washington to ensure that there aren’t any legislative threats to their bottom line; the FDA, which is meant to regulate the drug industry, receives its funding from them.

There are, of course, natural alternatives to pain management, such as fish oil, sulfur-containing MSM, and cannabidiol (CBD) oil, but the government is making moves to remove these alternatives from the market. An FDA advisory committee voted to ban MSM medications from being made at compounding pharmacies, and the federal government is moving in on CBD oil. It’s the same old, same old in our crony capitalist health system.

Action Alert! Send a message to the FDA and Congress, telling them to retain consumer access to affordable MSM and CBD oil supplements. Please send your message immediately.

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