Psychedelics: Did Scientists Make A Mistake Decades Ago?

"You might be hearing about states and countries legalizing psychedelics. In 2020, Oregon became the first US state to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for therapeutic use. In 2022, Colorado followed suit. Researchers have recently been touting the benefits of psychedelics for health conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction, cancer-related distress, and the list goes on. However - like cannabis - psilocybin is still illegal under US federal law. 

"Given that ongoing fight, you might have questions. I know I do. Are psychedelics the next weed? Is that a good thing? Are psychedelics dangerous? Do they actually have scientific benefits? How do psychedelics work? In this episode of Huge If True, we find out."

The Truth About Psychedelics

Cannabis For Pain?

I have a chronic pain problem that is normally treated with high-dose steroids. I and my rheumatologist agree that, in at least my case, the cure would be worse than the disease. Since all conventional pain relievers are not doing much to help me, folks, even licensed medical providers, are suggesting that I try cannabidiol (CBD), which is a substance within Cannabis. I have decided against it after reading the article below:

CBD for chronic pain: The science doesn't match the marketing

The Genesis Of The Opioid Crisis

"The patients of the nurse practitioner and aspiring reality star Jeffrey Young say he helped them like nobody else could. Federal prosecutors who charged him in a massive opioid bust say he overprescribed painkillers, often for 'money, notoriety, and sexual favors'.

"Young’s case provides a rare glimpse into the ways patients wind up addicted to the powerful painkillers fueling the national opioid epidemic."

Click on the link below for a podcast about a criminal case that's emblematic of how the present opioid crisis began.

The Experiment - The 'Rock Doc" Who Prescribed 1.4 Million Pain Pills

Understand WHY Complete Drug Testing Is Mandatory!

"At a Thursday news briefing, Trump trumpeted that chloroquine had shown 'very, very encouraging early results' and said 'we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.' Minutes later, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, an oncologist, clarified that the drug would be available 'in the setting of a clinical trial — a large, pragmatic clinical trial — to actually gather that information and answer the question that needs to be answered and — asked and answered.'

"Friday, the President said, 'It may work, it may not work. I feel good about it. That’s all it is. Just a feeling.' At the same press conference, Anthony Fauci, a physician who heads the NIAID and a veteran of outbreaks going back to HIV, emphasized the need for a methodical clinical trial."

Thanks to Trump, and quacks like Dr. Oz (link to his latest action) and many other magical thinkers, people are dying from hydroxychloroquine, a valid antimalaria drug, in efforts to avoid the coronavirus effects. Below are the steps ALL drugs MUST go through before approval for a particular disease:

• Phase 1 studies (typically involve 20 to 80 people). Phase 2 studies (typically involve a few dozen to about 300 people). Phase 3 studies (typically involve several hundred to about 3,000 people).

"The study referenced by Trump, and other studies done so far of potential treatments for Covid-19, are small and hastily designed even by the standards of Phase 1 studies. So how often do infectious-disease drugs that enter Phase 2 studies reach the market? An analysis by the Biotechnology Industry Organization says they worked out only 27.5% of the time between 2009 and 2015. That means that three-quarters of the time, medicines against infectious disease that looked promising in small studies either were ineffective or had side effects that made them unusable. Even for medicines that reached Phase 3 trials, just 63% succeeded."

Why President Trump is at odds with his medical experts over using malaria drugs against Covid-19

The Real Reason Drug Prices Are Out Of Control?

"According to Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.), the only pharmacist in Congress, we ought to be looking more closely at the middlemen—Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) - who are the intermediaries between whatever company or agency that pays for drugs and the buyers of the drugs. They provide services like running mail-order pharmacies and negotiating prices with both retailers and drug makers."

Escalating Drug Prices: Not All Is What It Seems

Looking A Little Deeper On The Value Of Some Drugs

"This is certainly not to say all drugs should be priced higher. Instead, drugs should be priced for the value they provide not only for patients, but also families, communities, and societies. Only a system that more clearly recognizes what constitutes value can stop overpaying for low-value drugs, and start rewarding the use and development of high-value ones."

Why Some Drug Prices Should Be High