of taking prescription medications may not be what we pay the pharmacy, but what we do to our bodies by putting them inside us.

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The obvious answer, at least to me, is to treat all necessities, including drugs, as public utilities. Privately owned public utility corporations are generally a sound investment. Because they provide a necessary commodity, the government that controls them can't alllow them to fail and assures the stockholders a modest but safe return.

Pharmaceuticals are different from the local utility in at least two ways.
Their customers are nationwide so that they should be federally controlled.
Ordinary utilities don't have the expense of research to develop new products that is desirable in drug companies. This expense could be borne by the taxpayers. Research could be financed by government grants to companies that submit proposals for research projects.

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In 1964 the laboratory of Dr. Raphael Mechoulan of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was the first to synthesize THC. During the 1980's it was discovered that all mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have cannabinoid receptors throughout their body that work independent of those that govern the heart and breathing which is why cannabis cannot kill you! Twenty eight years after discovering THC, in 1992, Dr. Mechoulam along with others discovered that the brain puts out it's own natural THC which they called "anandamide," from the Sanskrit word "ananda," which means "eternal bliss" or "supreme joy." Actually the brain has a multitude of cannabinoid neurotransmitters and receptors. These endocannabinoids work as neuroprotective agents. They help with the reduction of pain and as part of the brains reward system. What joggers refer to as the "runners high" is due to elevated levels of endonannabinoids. In fact cannabinoid receptors are found in higher concentrations than any other receptor in the brain, and the endocannabinol system acts essentially in almost every physiological system people have looked into in the few short years of study.
In 2000 Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense University in Madrid Spain re-discovered that THC injected into tumors, destroys the tumor, with no negative side effects whatsover. They even irrigated healthy rats brains with THC and found no negative effects. This has been confirmed many times since.
In 2005 Dr. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan found that unlike drugs such as alcohol, nicotene, cocaine, etc.. that destroyed brain cells, THC actually promotes the growth of new brain cells. Around this same time period various studies have proven THC both prevents and cures Alzheimers. Cannabis is currently being used to treat epilepsy, autism, MS, ALS, OCD, ADHD, chronic pain, diabetes, migraine, arthritis, asthma, emphysema, tuberculosis, depression, nausea, glaucoma, alcoholism, herpes, skin conditions, lupus, cystic fibrosis, Parkinsons, Huntingtons, Tourettes, Crohn's disease, and more. G.W. Pharmaceuticals In England and a few others in Europe are developing a wealth of new cannabis based medicines, one being an under the tongue spray foir MS called Sativex.
The cannabis hemp seed is also the single most nutitiously complete food source on the planet and re-introduced to our diets can help end world hunger and eliminate many of the diseases mentioned above.
We can also eliminate most of the hazardous pollutants from our world by growing industrial hemp. Anything made from oil, coal, timber, or cotton can be made ecologically friendly with it. All paper, plastics, paints, varnishes, textiles, fuels, lubricants, plywood, structural components, insulations, many cosmetics, medicines, and health foods, over 25,000 known products can all be made with it. It grows without most fertilizer, herbicides, or pesticides, to foul the soil and water, in climates and conditions other crops won't grow.
Cannabis(kaneh bosm) is also the main ingredient in the Holy Oil that God instructed Moses to make to Anoint all his Priests, Kings, and Prophets, for all generations to come, including that of Jesus and even today as the title Christ/Messiah means literally covered in oil, Anointed! In 1936 a Polish Anthropologist named Sula Benet found that when the Greeks first translated the Books in the 3rd century B.C. they rendered the word "kaneh bosm" as calamus. Calamus was used then as well as today as an aphrodisiac and stimulant, it's active chemical asarone a precursor to the psychedelic MDMA, ecstasy. In 1980 the Hebrew Institute of Jerusalem confirmed that indeed "kaneh bosm" is cannabis! It is also listed as an incense tree in Song of Songs 4:14, and again in Isaiah 43:24 Jeremiah 6:20, and Ezekiel 27:19. There are 141 references to anointing and 145 for burning incense in the standard Bible.

There is water in water, There is Fire In Chrism!!!

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Are the votes of 87% of the people as powerful as the dollars of corporate America?

They would be if each interested voter would tell both parties, before the election, that if neither party supported this issue, he/she would cast a write-in protest vote for Honest Abe.

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Not everyone will be able to find what they need at a price they can afford. There are still many life saving necessary drugs that don't have generic alternatives that people must have each month so that they may live. These drugs still may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars even if ordered from abroad. The fact that some people may be able to get cheaper drugs from abroad is great. But this will not be the solution for everyone. We still need comprehensive prescription drug and health care reform. Change that puts patients first, instead of the current situation where profits come first at the expense of patients (and it's often their lives).

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"Even in the face of these cost increases, conservative lawmakers still oppose a commonsense policy shift that would simply allow Medicare to do what other government agencies that provide health care are able to, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, the Public Health Service and the Bureau of Prisons."

So, lawmakers oppose allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices do they? Imagine that! Medicare Part D is a prescription drug plan for Medicare recipients that was created by good, upstanding folks like Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, and of course our own beloved Preznit. If anyone wonders why this plan was set up as it is, all they have to do is consider who set it up and what their motivations were when designing it. None of the people involved give a rat's ass about helping seniors or those who are disabled (who by the way are the most likely people out of our population who need prescription drugs and the least able to afford them.) No, Medicare Part D was a way to allow the pharmaceutical industry and insurance industry a way to get at tax monies. This is nothing more than more corporate welfare for those who need it the least. Just curious, how many of you have private prescription drug insurance that will only pay coverage up to $2400/year, at which point coverage ceases (though you still pay premiums) until you pay the next $3800 out of pocket 100% for all prescriptions (and beieve me, with Social Security disabiity or retirement benefits as one's sole source of income, that is nearly if not impossible?) Well, that is how Part D works. Medicare Part D is just one more of the Bu$h Administration scams and it really does very little to help those it was meant to help. The way to fix it? Put Bu$h and cronies, and all members of the Senate and Congress on the Part D plan. If they don't like it (gee, I wonder) then they can change it. Then, all the seniors and disabled people who need it will get it, and believe me...very quicky!

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a year before it paid a cent. I'm fortunate. I take very little medication. In fact I take no regular pharmaceuticals.

Because I do not pay them to do nothing for me at some point I will be penalized. If I ever do try to enroll in Part D, I will be penalized for not enrolling. This is really typical of Bushite market Bolshevism. It is not yet possible to change this in this republican dominated congress.

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The arguments above re: the value of prescription drugs miss the one very important point - One Size Does Not Fit All. And with all the talk these days about being "Pro-Choice", nobody is talking about the right to choice in our health care - only the right to have an abortion.

The truth is that countries such as Germany and England are including alternative remedies in their national health plans, such as the herbs and homeopathy despised by many (though not all) conventional medical practioners in this country. These and other countries have far better health results statistically than the U.S., at far less cost. That is because they rely on intensive and independent research to learn which alternative remedies are both safe and effective, before approving them for coverage.

That said, no one treatment is the best for every person. And, yes, there is an important place for some prescription drugs as part of the mix. The problem is, the system, controlled by pharmaceutical companies and high tech equipment purveyors, is designed to use exclusively and extensively the most expensive and aggressive treatments for every condition, along with huge numbers of expensive tests that often come up with no results - or false ones. And less expensive/invasive alternatives are completely excluded from most health plans.

I think a lot of the controversy here, with various people having different experiences and regarding one or the other approach as definitive, is that health and the human immune system are complex, and we love simplistic, authoritative-seeming solutions. Also, medical people and consumers alike are thoroughly brainwashed by those making big bucks on selling their products. This happens through takeover of research and medical education to a great extent by industry, and by a barrage of commercials to convince the public that drugs are magic potions for every need or problem.

And while alternative treatments are discounted by pointing to every apparent failure, the establishment conceals the knowledge that many people are not helped by "conventional" treatments, and 100s of thousands suffer injury or death from such. (I defy anyone to show me a medical trial in which 100 per cent - or even close to that number - benefitted by the test drug.) Unfortunately, it is difficult or impossible in many cases to know whether the treatment was causal in bad - or good - results, either way. Worse, often negative effects may occur years later and/or not be recognized as connected to the treatment.

In the field of landscaping and agriculture, the trend is toward a concept/practice called "Integrated Pest Management. What is means is that the least toxic option is always tried first, and the most toxic only as an absolute last resort. This is in some ways kin to the traditional medical motto, "First of all, do no harm". Maybe what we should seek is "Integrated Medical Management (IMM)" (or, better, "Integrated Health Management (IHM)", which would seek to use proven, effective, low-tech and low-risk alternatives wherever possible - and driven by the preferences of the patient and their chosen health practitioner.

Most of all, we need more objective and independent research and education of U.S. medical professionals on alternatives found effective elsewhere. And we need real choice as to any decision affecting our own bodies. As elsewhere, this would lower costs and improve outcomes for U.S. health care consumers.

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How 'bout they make pharmaceuticals not-for-profit, like they're trying to do to cannabis in California? Riiiiiiiight.
The pharmaceutical companies have quite a profitable racket going on here, don't they? I bet they're all living real middle class lifestyles too. NOT!!!!
They have made medicine in this country a total joke.
I just love it when I go to my doctor for help, and am given a prescription I can't afford, don't you?
I do not "purchase" health insurance. One, I cannot afford it, two, I do not want my hard earned money to go to insurance and pharmacies, while I buy everything else in my life on the cheap, and three, health insurance makes no sense, I would pay $300-400/month for health insurance, plus all the co-pays and prescription costs on top of that, when I never spend more than $100/month on my own. It makes no sense.
Medical insurance and pharmaceuticals are a total scam.
We need to demand national health!!!

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