My brother forwarded an email that I would like to just reproduce in its entirety, because o.O, but it's from his...
My brother forwarded an email that I would like to just reproduce in its entirety, because o.O, but it's from his colleague so I feel like that would be inappropriate. Maybe on LJ? I don't even know what to say to this. I get that he needs to feel helpful, and he's very intelligent, but he's swallowed all this crap about "natural" and how the government is keeping us from getting treatments that have been proven everywhere else in the world, etc.
Not that there isn't any truth in those statements. Obs there are any number of drugs that are currently or originally from plants, aka "natural". Obs there are frequently things available in other countries, some of which eventually are approved in the U.S. Heck, that's kind of a holy grail for drug companies b/c of the money to be made here.
But what the heck is an "MD trained, naturopathic" physician? And why the hell would you just believe any old thing that you can scrape up "research" on without at least considering discussing it with someone who might actually know how to read or understand said "research"?
Christ, my brother thinks my father can be cured with marijuana and wormwood. I swear to Eru. I fucking hate the way people, even intelligent people, can be so easily misled by pseudo-crap.
When I tried to point out the holes in this, HE ARGUED WITH ME. I am not trying to obnoxiously deprive you of your emotional and psychological need for hope, but jfam, it's my gd area of expertise. And it is, at this juncture, not applicable to the specific situation at hand. I mean, my god, he didn't really know exactly what kind of cancer my father has, or that the FDA is significantly funded by pharmaceutical companies, and he's arguing with me about the drugs approval process, and biochemistry, and ayfkm?! AUGH!!!! OMFG!!!
Not that there isn't any truth in those statements. Obs there are any number of drugs that are currently or originally from plants, aka "natural". Obs there are frequently things available in other countries, some of which eventually are approved in the U.S. Heck, that's kind of a holy grail for drug companies b/c of the money to be made here.
But what the heck is an "MD trained, naturopathic" physician? And why the hell would you just believe any old thing that you can scrape up "research" on without at least considering discussing it with someone who might actually know how to read or understand said "research"?
Christ, my brother thinks my father can be cured with marijuana and wormwood. I swear to Eru. I fucking hate the way people, even intelligent people, can be so easily misled by pseudo-crap.
When I tried to point out the holes in this, HE ARGUED WITH ME. I am not trying to obnoxiously deprive you of your emotional and psychological need for hope, but jfam, it's my gd area of expertise. And it is, at this juncture, not applicable to the specific situation at hand. I mean, my god, he didn't really know exactly what kind of cancer my father has, or that the FDA is significantly funded by pharmaceutical companies, and he's arguing with me about the drugs approval process, and biochemistry, and ayfkm?! AUGH!!!! OMFG!!!
D-:
ReplyDeleteGod, people, man. Sorry :(
ReplyDeleteWell, that's pure unadulterated horrible.
ReplyDeleteThat said, marijuana is really quite useful in cancer patients, though only as a palliative. But obviously that's not what he means.
(When my grandfather proved unable to tolerate morphine, his doctor expressed an opinion that it sure would be nice if he had some Mary Jane, don't ya think? and my cousin promptly volunteered to go out and score him some.)
Amy Young Oh, definitely! See, I think I'm more frustrated by how some genuine facts and genuine research into various derived compounds and their possible uses are being tossed around in such a way as to make even intelligent people believe things which are not genuine. More than if it was all just total hogwash. But if it was that easy, presumably fewer people would get suckered. Because I just cannot explain to him how true facts can get to a false conclusion. Man, I wish I could post the email. Because, oh, the humanity.
ReplyDeleteTrue facts are where most false conclusions come from. It's sad.
ReplyDelete