American Healthcare continues to go backward

[RxCowboy]

Agree and don't agree with parts of this article.

Review of Medical Cannabis Use Finds Little Evidence of Benefit

Researchers found a chasm between the health reasons for which the public seeks out cannabis and what gold-standard science actually shows about its effectiveness.

www.nytimes.com

Review of Medical Cannabis Use Finds Little Evidence of Benefit​

Researchers found a chasm between the health reasons for which the public seeks out cannabis and what gold-standard science actually shows about its effectiveness.

Dr. Vandrey at Johns Hopkins is not holding his breath: “There’s no business incentive for a company to spend $20 million on a randomized controlled trial,” he said, “because they can sell their products without it.”

 

[Polds4OSU]

The US Food and Drug Administration intends to put a “black box” warning on Covid-19 vaccines, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans. The plan shocked outside experts, who said there was no basis for the warning.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/12/health/fda-black-box-warning-covid-vaccine?cid=android_app

 

[RxCowboy]

The US Food and Drug Administration intends to put a “black box” warning on Covid-19 vaccines, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans. The plan shocked outside experts, who said there was no basis for the warning.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/12/health/fda-black-box-warning-covid-vaccine?cid=android_app

 

[steross]

The US Food and Drug Administration intends to put a “black box” warning on Covid-19 vaccines, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans. The plan shocked outside experts, who said there was no basis for the warning.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/12/health/fda-black-box-warning-covid-vaccine?cid=android_app

We are at the point where any serious clinician will need to just ignore the CDC and FDA. The FDA has certainly black-boxed stupidly before, but this is crazy.

 

[cowboyinexile]

The US Food and Drug Administration intends to put a “black box” warning on Covid-19 vaccines, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans. The plan shocked outside experts, who said there was no basis for the warning.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/12/health/fda-black-box-warning-covid-vaccine?cid=android_app

Someone should remind him who the president was when operation warp speed happened.

 

[RxCowboy]

We are at the point where any serious clinician will need to just ignore the CDC and FDA. The FDA has certainly black-boxed stupidly before, but this is crazy.

We are reaching the point where black box warnings are becoming meaningless. Adding them for political reasons will hasten us to that point.

 

[steross]

31K views · 882 reactions | The White House is promising to announce a new healthcare plan "very soon." We've heard that one before... | Home of the Brave

The White House is promising to announce a new healthcare plan "very soon." We've heard that one before...

www.facebook.com

 

[Stillwater Townie]

To me, taking Paxlovid, rather than booster vaccines against COVID, is the best and safest way to deal with coming down with COVID, since it has worked so well for me twice before. After a year and a half my natural immunity to COVID may be wearing off again, so if I get COVID for the 4th time, I hope that Paxlovid still works good and fast to get rid of it. (No, I haven't gotten a COVID booster.) Paxlovid is a high-cost anti-viral drug, so better hope your insurance covers it.

 

[RxCowboy]

Agree and don't agree with parts of this article.

Review of Medical Cannabis Use Finds Little Evidence of Benefit

Researchers found a chasm between the health reasons for which the public seeks out cannabis and what gold-standard science actually shows about its effectiveness.

www.nytimes.com

Review of Medical Cannabis Use Finds Little Evidence of Benefit​

Researchers found a chasm between the health reasons for which the public seeks out cannabis and what gold-standard science actually shows about its effectiveness.

It is way past time for Congress to address the C-I status of marijuana. C-I means:

1. No accepted medical use: The substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, according to the DEA and FDA. They may be used for research with appropriate limitations.
2. Lack of accepted safety: There is a lack of accepted safety for the use of the drug or other substance even under medical supervision.
3. High potential for abuse: These drugs are considered the most dangerous due to a high risk for developing a substance use disorder.

#1 and #2 are clearly no longer true. We now have FDA approved marijuana derivatives on the market with accepted medical uses and accepted safety. What is more, 40 out of 50 states have approved medical marijuana use. While the efficacy can still be argued, the accepted use and safety can't be. The potential for abuse? I have my own issues with it because of what has happened with my son, but you can't seriously argue that there aren't actually millions of people who now use it without serious harm.

What's more, and just a few years ago I would have argued against this, it should be legalized everywhere for recreational use. And not so we can "tax the hell out of it" because higher taxes only promotes street sales. But I've seen it here in Michigan. It simply isn't the pox on society that everyone thinks it is. My daughter when she was here wanted to try it because it was legal here. She did, she bought some edibles. She wanted to take some home with her to Georgia and I had to remind her that while it was legal to buy and possess here, it was not legal to possess there and as soon as she stepped off the plane she could be arrested. That's insane.

 

[steross]

#1 and #2 are clearly no longer true. We now have FDA approved marijuana derivatives on the market with accepted medical uses and accepted safety. What is more, 40 out of 50 states have approved medical marijuana use. While the efficacy can still be argued, the accepted use and safety can't be. The potential for abuse? I have my own issues with it because of what has happened with my son, but you can't seriously argue that there aren't actually millions of people who now use it without serious harm.

Agree on the potential for abuse. But, the fact that it can be abused shows the absolute insanity of our current laws.
Give me the logic of having a substance that can be abused so we create laws that make it a medicine but unlike any other medicine it can be sold with extreme differences in potency and packaged as candy? WTF.

Let's take another med with some medicinal value, cocaine. Cocaine works great for nosebleeds. But, just because I found a reasonable medicinal use, that doesn't mean that some 80-year-old who had a nosebleed should be able to go to the local strip mall and be sold a crack pipe and 25 rocks of crack cocaine. That is our current marijuana law.

A teenage family member of mine was working at McDs. Her manager gave her a 1000mg THC gummy. For those that do not know- if you smoked an entire high potency joint, probably 20-50mg THC absorbed max. How does 1000mg even exist?

And, heck, I've argued in the past for legalization of all drugs. But, government still should have a regulatory role in insuring that legal products are labeled and sold to a public that is properly educated on the use and risks of the product. That is absolutely not occurring with THC, at least not in Oklahoma. And despite that failure, it still isn't causing massive problems, showing that schedule 1 is absolutely stupid.

 

[RxCowboy]

And despite that failure, it still isn't causing massive problems, showing that schedule 1 is absolutely stupid.

The bottom line, C-I needs to be changed.

 

[RxCowboy]

Give me the logic of having a substance that can be abused so we create laws that make it a medicine but unlike any other medicine it can be sold with extreme differences in potency and packaged as candy? WTF.

It's hard to argue with the logic, except that's pretty much what sweet alcoholic drinks and jello shots are. If someone could get drunk off of rum balls it absolutely would happen. And though it is rare, alcohol is still used as a medicine.