The FDA does and should if the person spreading the bs about the Miracle Cure That Has Doctors Mad is also selling the miracle cure. Thats the real issue.
I feel like a lot of the boots-on-the-ground evangelist/sales people in this industry are themselves victims of fraud who have been sucked into pyramid schemes (now more commonly referred to as multilevel or network marketing for obvious optics reasons) and that society wouldn't especially benefit from bringing the hammer down on them.
I think there's a deeper problem here with the relationship between patient and doctor being undermined by a dysfunctional medical system, such that doctors can't spend any time with patients, patients can't afford to see doctors, and even when the stars align patients can't always rely on doctors to believe them and take them seriously. I think there's a reason why the particular empathetic and loving rhetoric of new-age bullshit is so appealing; it counters the sterile and often kafkaesque experience people have navigating the medical system.
I can totally imagine how much nicer it might be to drop by a friend-of-a-friend's house, in my neighborhood, where they give me a tarot reading, listen to my problems and validate my perspective, sell me something at a price that won't bankrupt me and that feels safe and natural, and they have all the time in the world to explain their theory on how it all works.
Obviously it matters whether or not the medication works and whether or not the provider knows what they're doing. But I think the problem is that there's a dysfunctional relationship here, not that law enforcement aren't cracking down sufficiently. And also that the people likely to have their lives turned upside down are losing money on the whole proposition, and are themselves just probably well-meaning people who are trying to hustle for a better life, and don't understand the harm they're causing.
Oh I completely agree with you there. Thats the way underground/illegal economies work generally. They identify a need not met by the legal market and charge a premium for something that they say addresses it.
Personally im fine with it if you (bad/nonsense example) buy tree bark from your guy marketing it as organic aspirin. I take more an issue when whats being sold as organic aspirin is closer to sugar flavored with arsenic
As I said, the FDA can go after the merchants. But most of the people spreading dumb meme beliefs about cannabis aren't selling it. If the FDA wants to make a meaningful dent in the spread of these beliefs, they'll have to earn the public's trust and convince people of the truth.
I think there's a deeper problem here with the relationship between patient and doctor being undermined by a dysfunctional medical system, such that doctors can't spend any time with patients, patients can't afford to see doctors, and even when the stars align patients can't always rely on doctors to believe them and take them seriously. I think there's a reason why the particular empathetic and loving rhetoric of new-age bullshit is so appealing; it counters the sterile and often kafkaesque experience people have navigating the medical system.
I can totally imagine how much nicer it might be to drop by a friend-of-a-friend's house, in my neighborhood, where they give me a tarot reading, listen to my problems and validate my perspective, sell me something at a price that won't bankrupt me and that feels safe and natural, and they have all the time in the world to explain their theory on how it all works.
Obviously it matters whether or not the medication works and whether or not the provider knows what they're doing. But I think the problem is that there's a dysfunctional relationship here, not that law enforcement aren't cracking down sufficiently. And also that the people likely to have their lives turned upside down are losing money on the whole proposition, and are themselves just probably well-meaning people who are trying to hustle for a better life, and don't understand the harm they're causing.