I’m against the regulation of certain drugs, especially diet pills. It’s not that I’m against regulation though. It is because I question why the government accepts the premise. Diet? Yeah, for sure. Doesn’t this contradict having a food pyramid? Why does the First Lady condone exercise for kids? Why not just say never mind and have a diet drug solve the problem later in people’s lives?
Okay, the government should regulate things effect health – this is their reason the FDA exists. Make sure ibuprofen and Tylenol pills have the right dosage – some runs or bike rides mandate this. But what gets approved can go by a case-by-case basis. Does regulating something like diet pills condone them? It is a free country, right? In this sense the government should allow any drug to be sold regardless if it has been tested or not. This is a bad idea, I guess. There is personal responsibility but then there is having enough information to ask responsible questions. Really, true personal responsibility should contain this within itself – one should be responsible enough to ask questions that are important in one’s life.
This can go the other way, too. Should one associate with dubious entities? Deal with companies that operate with dubious moral standing? It comes down to people’s own definitions of things. People’s own understanding of what is bad and what is okay. But when private drug companies ask the government to say whether or not one of their products is fit for consumption, who decides what the government’s moral stance is?
Can you lose weight with diet drugs? Yes. But you can lose weight by eating healthy and getting the right amount of exercise also. Not just also, but – and this is my personal view – good diet and exercise should be the only way someone loses weight. All drug companies are doing is trying to get a share of the billion-dollar-a-year diet industry, an industry that is driven by fads and shams. I guess you can get some low-level speed in some of the products sold within this cultural tradition. Might be some better quality speed in Qnexa, if that is the culprit of the drug’s increased risks of "cardiovascular events” (http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-qnexa-20120221,0,6936550.story).
Would this be the government telling us what to do? They are giving the drug another chance, letting the manufacturer clear up some issues. The government is not against the idea of diet drugs. What would the perception be of government opposition to this idea? Should the White House Press Secretary come out and say that diets are fakes? Um, here – for better or worse – is a food pyramid. Cut down on the television. Such a statement would go against the culture, the zeitgeist. Unanalyzed, unsaid. Something to question.
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