> -----Original Message----- > From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 1:45 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Medical Marijuana Poll > > > William wrote: > > But the FDA is clearly in the pocket of the major pharmacos (just look > > at all the drugs they've approved that later turn out to have harmed > > or killed after approval). The likelihood is very very remote that the > > FDA will *ever* approve MJ for medical use, given the current lobbying > > situation.
Just to defend the FDA a little: they don't approve only "safe" drugs - they simply can't know that. They approve drugs which, within the limited confines of testing, have been shown to have more than a placebo effect on a certain condition with an incidence of side-effects that are not worse than the condition. The FDA is more than willing to pull a drug which later is shown to cause more harm than good. The problem is that in many cases these effects aren't tested for or appear so much later. Also very few of the cases are as clear cut as, say, thalidomide. Nobody wants flipper babies but there are quite a few people that will risk occasionally bloody stool to stop hay-fever. There are also some drugs that might, for example, help most people but send, say, 1-in-5,000 into psychotic shock. Should the benefits of the drug be eliminated for the vast majority? Lastly any "big" new drug, to be profitable, generally has to deal with more than just the FDA. They have to deal with equivalent groups in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, etc. These aren't easy questions and it's much easier, to me, to assume that the problems are complex and challenging rather than there being some sort of conspiracy between the FDA and the Pharmcos. Now that's not to say that such behavior is beyond Pharmcos - that's a nasty group in general if ever there was one, but I still think that if the FDA were indeed "in their pocket" we'd see a lot fewer rejections. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:159983 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
