If the people of this country (and the world) were correctly told how to maintain their Health, they would have little need for the vast and lucrative medical industry, which thrives when we are ill.
Just look at all the misdirection Americans have received over the past 50+ years from our public health "experts": Doctors used to be featured in cigarette ads; we were encouraged to avoid saturated fats, thus driving us to use vegetable oils and transfats for cooking (which are now shown to cause inflammation of the arteries, leading to atherosclerosis); we were warned to avoid the sun -- a natural source of Vitamin D, which is incredibly health-promoting; doctors told us for decades that "Vitamins just make expensive urine," and may be dangerous; that eating a "balanced diet" was all we needed -- even as changes in food processing and agricultural practices reduced the nutrient content of our food. How could the medical profession, trained by the pharmaceutical industry, have been so wrong about so many facets of what is the basis of health?
It helps to know that every time a natural thing, such as sunlight is labeled as harmful, we are urged to protect ourselves with a patented, synthetic array of chemicals (sunscreen), which have in many cases been found to be carcinogenic themselves.
Most interesting is the fact that our health watchdog agency, the FDA, bought the story that OxyContin was somehow a "different" opioid that was unlikely to cause addiction. Oxy, and other opioids were turned loose (with FDA's blessing), resulting in a health crisis that continues to incapacitate and kill tens of thousands every year. How could the FDA have been so wrong?
Why are painkillers so important to Americans, anyway? Could it be because the pharmaceutical industry has virtually no products that cure anything? They're lucky if they can still cure a strep throat, with the declining effectiveness of antibiotics these days!
So, when a natural product like kratom that actually helps people to feel better -- leading them to joyfully quit opioids and handfuls of other prescriptions that were causing more side-effect than they were worth -- the FDA goes on a mission to incite fear of kratom in cautious folk, while planting hints that this is something the abuse-prone should investigate.
It is my hope that we will realize how terribly we've been misled on the subject of health for the profits of the few.
May the resignation of CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, MD for her blatant conflict of interest (investing in the tobacco industry and pharmaceuticals) be a wakeup call for the FDA that their credibility is on the wane.