http://www.inquisitr.com/2326272/when-the-fda-approves-oxycontin-for-children-its-high-time-to-legalize-medical-marijuana/ The Food and Drug Administration just approved heroin-like OxyContin for children as young as 11-years-old, while advocates for medical marijuana are still fighting night and day for the right to give cannabis oil to suffering kids without ending up in prison. Inquisitr reported Friday about the FDA's approval of OxyContin for kids in detail, but the issue also begs the question, “Isn't it high time to legalize medical marijuana?†It does make sense why the FDA wanted to give children access to pain relief. In the absence of a safer alternative to OxyContin, how else will our children suffering from severe pain find relief? It's just too bad the FDA wasn't in a position to legalize a so-called “gateway drug†for children before legalizing the drug on the other side of the supposed gate. It's not the FDA's job to regulate marijuana at this point. That's a different federal agency. In 2014, the DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication / Suppression Program “was responsible for the eradication of 3,904,213 cultivated outdoor cannabis plants and 396,620 indoor plants for a total of 4,300,833 marijuana plants,†and that same agency is entirely aggravated that marijuana cultivators are growing “outdoor cannabis†in states where recreational and medical marijuana use is legal. That's an awful lot of federal resources directed at eradicating a plant that could be offering Americans serious pain relief without the deadly consequences. “We are always concerned about the safety of our children, particularly when they are ill and require medications and when they are in pain,†Dr. Sharon Hertz, the FDA's director of new anesthesia, analgesia and addiction products, said, according to NBC. “OxyContin is not intended to be the first opioid drug used in pediatric patients, but the data show that changing from another opioid drug to OxyContin is safe if done properly.†The FDA approved OxyContin with the understanding that the new extended-release formulation makes it less risky than earlier formulations of the opioid drug. Keep in mind, the CBC reported only last week that a study in Ontario discovered that OxyContin and other opioid drugs were tied to one in eight deaths in young adults, because the medications are that addictive and that dangerous. Studies waiver back and forth over whether cannabis is addictive, but there is zero doubt in anyone's mind: OxyContin is extremely addictive and highly deadly..."
Crackpot theory, but it almost seems like the FDA wants prescription painkiller use to rise as states begin to legalize. Rosenberg already tried dropping the "120 overdoses every day" crap during a tangent about MMJ being a joke..