<story><title>Mailed asthma, cancer, erectile drugs are seized the most, despite opioid claims</title><url>https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/health/fda-drug-shipments-khn-partner/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gtop3</author><text>Our prescription drug system needs an overhaul.  This isn&amp;#x27;t a matter of all drugs are illegal to import because of quality control issues.  You can import aspirin, if you are so inclined.  This is asthma and cancer medication being seized because of an overly tight control of prescription drugs.  I understand that some drugs sold overseas are not suitable for human consumption. I understand that some drugs require close supervision.  I argue that many medications are quite safe to take without supervision and using doctors as gatekeepers functions primarily to increase the billings generated by sick people.  I think the bar for what medications are prescription and which medications are OTC needs to be reevaluated. Perhaps the way in which we market drugs and disclose there risks should be reevaluated simultaneously.&lt;p&gt;Imagine taking away someone&amp;#x27;s asthma medication and thinking you are making America a safer, better place.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sithadmin</author><text>&amp;gt; I understand that some drugs sold overseas are not suitable for human consumption&lt;p&gt;Frankly, a lot of FDA-approved drugs sold in the US aren&amp;#x27;t suitable for consumption, especially generics manufactured outside the US. The FDA simply doesn&amp;#x27;t have the resources to enforce good manufacturing practices and product consistency, so a lot of subpar medication manages to slip under the radar and into the US market. The situation is much more grim for non-US buyers, who often get products of significantly worse quality.&lt;p&gt;&amp;#x27;Bottle of Lies&amp;#x27; by Katherine Eban[1] provides a thorough and very unsettling exposé on the issue.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;books&amp;#x2F;review&amp;#x2F;bottle-of-lies-katherine-eban.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;books&amp;#x2F;review&amp;#x2F;bottle-of-li...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Mailed asthma, cancer, erectile drugs are seized the most, despite opioid claims</title><url>https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/health/fda-drug-shipments-khn-partner/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gtop3</author><text>Our prescription drug system needs an overhaul.  This isn&amp;#x27;t a matter of all drugs are illegal to import because of quality control issues.  You can import aspirin, if you are so inclined.  This is asthma and cancer medication being seized because of an overly tight control of prescription drugs.  I understand that some drugs sold overseas are not suitable for human consumption. I understand that some drugs require close supervision.  I argue that many medications are quite safe to take without supervision and using doctors as gatekeepers functions primarily to increase the billings generated by sick people.  I think the bar for what medications are prescription and which medications are OTC needs to be reevaluated. Perhaps the way in which we market drugs and disclose there risks should be reevaluated simultaneously.&lt;p&gt;Imagine taking away someone&amp;#x27;s asthma medication and thinking you are making America a safer, better place.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>shagie</author><text>&amp;gt;  I argue that many medications are quite safe to take without supervision and using doctors as gatekeepers functions primarily to increase the billings generated by sick people.&lt;p&gt;A may be safe.  B may be safe.  A + B may very well be deadly.&lt;p&gt;C may be safe, but in combination with grapefruit is ineffective.&lt;p&gt;D may be safe, but interactions with E and F need to be balanced and monitored to ensure that the body&amp;#x27;s systems don&amp;#x27;t get out of whack.&lt;p&gt;G may be safe, but it has recreational use (and abuse) possibilities.&lt;p&gt;H may be safe, but is a precursor to creating Z which is heavily regulated.&lt;p&gt;... and the list goes on.&lt;p&gt;Most drugs have a &amp;quot;this can go wrong&amp;quot; and with the prevalence of people taking whatever they find or people are talking about (see hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin for some widely popularized examples), I am hesitant to suggest that the common person is sufficiently informed about drugs to take that aspect of their medical care into their own hands without oversight.</text></comment>