FDA-approved pain medicines are dangerous, but the government is systematically attacking safer, non-addictive natural treatments. Action Alert!
A recent study in Switzerland found that acetaminophen poisoning increased by 40% following the approval of 1,000mg doses. This is just the latest data to indicate the public health problems caused by this commonly used pain drug, which is the active ingredient in Tylenol. Despite the dangers of FDA-approved pain drugs, the federal government aggressively attacks and censors natural pain medicines like homeopathic treatments, CBD, medical foods, and supplements. This needless suffering must end.
We’ve written for years about the dangers of acetaminophen. It is the most commonly prescribed class of drugs despite causing 50 percent of all liver failure in the US. According to the FDA’s adverse event database, acetaminophen has caused more than 100,000 adverse events and more than 78,000 serious adverse events, including 24,000 deaths. It has also been linked to asthma and hearing loss.
Overdoses involving opioids killed nearly 47,000 people in 2018 alone.
Now consider the federal government’s approach to natural pain medicines. The FDA essentially banned all injectable homeopathic medicines, which includes Traumeel, a prescription-only homeopathic medicine for pain with an extremely robust safety profile.
Previously, the FDA went after Limbrel, a medical food for the treatment of osteoarthritis. In a letter to Primus, the FDA stated that 194 adverse event reports for Limbrel were received between 2007 and 2017—about 20 a year.
Then, of course, there’s CBD. The federal government’s approach to CBD right now is frankly a mess, and we’ve sifted through the details in previous coverage. In short, hemp and its derivatives have been legalized at the federal level, but FDA laws still apply to products containing hemp, such as supplements, lotions, cosmetics, etc. Since 2018, the FDA has been trying to figure out how it will treat these products. Recall, too, that the agency has approved a CBD drug, and according to FDA rules, this means that CBD cannot legally be sold as a supplement.
We ultimately don’t know how the FDA will treat CBD supplements. If history provides any clues, the FDA will protect the drug-approval process and ban CBD supplements. To add to the confusion, Congress is directing the FDA to release an interim policy (called a policy of enforcement discretion) explaining how it will treat CBD products in the marketplace as the agency develops its final regulatory framework. Will the FDA release an interim policy that allows CBD supplements for the time being before banning them outright when a final policy is released? We just don’t know, but we should assume that the FDA will not do the right thing, especially when Big Pharma profits are at stake.
It is unconscionable, but unsurprising, that the FDA would reduce access to safe, non-addictive alternatives to dangerous opioid drugs that killed 30,000 people in 2018 alone. We’ve also seen basic information on natural health censored to protect drug industry profits during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cronyism has to stop.
Action Alert! Write to Congress and the FDA, telling them to issue a policy of enforcement discretion that protects consumer access to hemp-derived CBD supplements at therapeutic levels and full-spectrum hemp oil. Please send your message immediately. By sending this message, you will also be supporting our petition to ungag doctors so that they can share with patients the benefits of supplements and natural treatments for COVID.
