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

The Latest Science of Weight Loss

"Lesley Stahl reports on how obesity is misunderstood, and the struggle to get new weight loss drugs to people who need them."

Click on the link below for a 60 Minutes segment video presenting the latest research on the causes of obesity and the problems get the best treatment for such:

Promising new weight loss medication is in short supply and often not covered by insurance 

(And, then there is this typical pseudoscience.)

Patent Protection And Corporate Drug Morality

"Today we take a look at some of the explanations for why life-saving vaccines against COVID-19 are unavailable in much of the world while being refused by substantial numbers of people where they are widely available."

Click on the link below for a podcast exploring Republican anti-science, anti-vaccination, "Mass Formation Psychosis", and monopoly medicine:

The Epidemic of Patent Protection and Propaganda

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

Drug Industry And Regulators Do Need To Do Better

"Drug companies have only to show that their medication has a statistically significant advantage when compared to placebo. The FDA and EMA don’t require that the med achieve what is ever so much more important- clinically relevant improvement as evidenced by patients actually also feeling and doing better when taking the drug. Small statistical blips are all it takes to get a drug approved."

Many Commonly Used Drugs Are Useless

Off-Label Drug Promotion

" - - - patients should be aware that off-label prescribing is not unusual and that it is sometimes based on insufficient evidence, a problem that some experts think could be exacerbated by more liberal sales promotion practices. Patients have every right to ask their physicians the circumstances of his or her prescribing a drug and the evidence for doing so."

Patient Beware.

Pharmaphobia

"Speaking from experience, I think It is fair to say that the conflict-of-interest movement is simply one component of the noxious anti-science movement that thoroughly pervades much of the developed world. This takes the form of the anti-vaccine movement, the anti-GMO movement, and perhaps the most harmful of all, the alternative medicine "consortium," which fools people into having their colons cleansed to remove toxins that do not exist, inhaling ozone to treat their cancers, and taking useless supplements instead of real medicine when it is needed."

WARNING:  This article is for the open-minded, not the ideologue.

http://www.science20.com/pfired_but_still_kicking/book_review_tom_stossels_pharmaphobia-155551