Top Tweets for #ForYourOwnGood

**This is a long post. You have been warned.** A post I saw this morning made me think about the changes in law over the years for "our safety". Which led me to a topic that will touch everyone at some point in their lives. Stay with me here. There used to be no seatbelt laws. Then seatbelt laws were a secondary offense. There had to be another reason you were pulled over before they could ticket you. Now they are primary. FOR YOUR SAFETY!! BUUUUUT.... On the other hand, there used to be helmet laws for motorcycles. Not anymore, unless you are under 18. At least in AZ. What about their safety? Oh. But eye protection is required regardless of age. News flash. You need your brain much more than you need your eyes. There used to be smoking in practically every area of the world except churches. High Schools had smoking areas for students and teachers. Cigarette machines were everywhere. Kids could go to the store and get their parents a pack with no problem. Now, you have to show ID to buy cigarettes. Even at 60+ years old I have to show ID at the store I have been using for 30 years. I KNOW I don't look under 40, much less under 18. The amount of government creep in every aspect of our lives is crazy when you stop and look at it over time. They love to use the "for your safety" or "for your own good" excuse. The target these days isn't something that affects everyone like the above, but it will to some degree at some point. It's a substance that has been in use for millenia and has a comparatively small percentage of people who misuse it. It's not alcohol, that is misused by ~70+% of drinkers and causes untold amounts of economic and personal harm to those who are innocent bystanders or passersby. The families are another story. I have lived it so I know. No, it's a PRESCRIPTION medication that helps those who have been harmed by drinkers who drink then drive and cause tragedy after tragedy. Drunk driving has become so ubiquitous that it doesn't rate even a blurb in the news in most cases. So many other people with chronic, debilitating, un-resolveable pain. Those who are dying from cancer. Those who have incurable, lifelong, painful diseases. Those who depend on it to have a life with some faint semblance of normalcy, to be able to be involved in their family's lives, their grandkid's activities and sports, even peripherally, are being punished "for our own good". Because of the conflating of deaths from illicit, street opiods and prescription opiods, most ill informed and brainwashed members of the masses think that opiods should be banned across the board from ANY medicinal use. FOR OUR OWN SAFETY. They are willing and ready to make the ~95% suffer for the actions of ~5% who misuse and abuse the medication. It is already a nightmare of phone calls to dozens of pharmacies monthly to find one that has it in stock and that will fill it. But pharmacy shopping is a red flag. It's already a circus to find a doctor, who hasn't been relieved of their DEA permission to write prescriptions, that is willing to prescribe it. But doctor shopping is a red flag and if the doctor/pharmacy is over 50 miles away from your home, another red flag. The grossly invasive questionnaires and the questionable and restricting "contract" that you MUST sign before any care is given. Lord help you if you are female and say "yes" to the SA question. Or the "history of therapy" question. It's already a daily nightmare of monitoring what you eat to ensure that you don't consume something that will show you have been taking other substances in your Urine Drug Screen (UDS) that you are required to submit at any time they decide. It's actually surprising what normal, everyday things will cause a positive UDS. Be careful with those OTC cold meds. They can show up as meth on a UDS. Poppy seed or everything bagel? Can't have those. It's already a nightmare trying to plan a vacation or an emergent trip home because if they decide they need to do a pill count, you only have 24-48 hours to comply or you are discharged from care. The insane fear that makes you insist on your pain medication being in hand before admission for a surgery, such as a broken bone, spinal surgey, breast removal, hysterectomy, open heart, and more. The list is long and there are now OPIOD FREE HOSPITALS. Do your research. The monthly fear that some pharmacist will decide that, regardless of what your doctor thinks, you don't need that many pills, if you need them at all. Or that you last filled your rx 27 days ago so you can't refill for 3 more days, regardless of the situation. Death in the immediate family out of state? Too bad. Sucks to be you. The fear that makes you lock your medication in a safe when you and your spouse are the only 2 people in the house because "meds stolen or lost will NOT be replaced." Or that makes you have an "exit plan" should you not be able to get your meds for an extended time because the pain that it semi-controls is so bad that you KNOW you can not live without pain control. My biggest question is, "What if you or a member of your family needs pain control in the future?" Will you be satisfied with Tylenol or Advil? Both of which are toxic to the liver with long-term regular use? What happened to empathy? What happened to caring for your fellow man? What happened to not loading the karma cannon? To putting yourself in another's shoes? I wish they had a simulator for pain like the now popular "contraction simulator" for men. Sadly, no one would use it if they did.

Imagine living in a country where the FDA and USDA will bust down your door and arrest you for selling unpasteurized raw milk and grass fed meat that is statistically safer than lettuce you buy at Walmart or any other big box store, while that same FDA approved the use of mRNA vaccines in 6 month old infants without any questions or science to substantiate long term safety. It's so painfully obvious our regulatory institutions are actively trying to destroy our health and prevent access to the healthiest foods that ensure your immune system is strong, your gut is healthy, and you're properly nourished enough to think like a rational and intelligent human being, dissenting against their authoritarian draconian nonsense. The USDA, CDC, FDA, and every other 3 letter regulatory institution is a diabolical enemy of the people and should be completely gutted and replaced to ensure there are no more conflicts of interests, no more revolving doors where they can go back and forth between industry and government, and properly held accountable for their egregious "mistakes", corruption, and negligence that harm the people they're supposed to protect. Raw milk should be legal nationwide. It's illegality in any state is absurd and a testament to how captured government is by corrupt industry who want to get their cut for boiling milk and making it less healthy for you.