This map features plant based medicine from all over the US and each medicines use.

 

Upon closer examination one will note the demonized Cannabis Sativa plant, currently responsible for the incarceration of many more Americans:

Here is a graph of the US incarceration (in general) since Nixon declared a ‘War on Drugs’ in 1971:

Note that in the section titled “The Service of Pharmacy” the text expounds the importance of plants and minerals in pharmacy:

“It is important that the public does not lose sight of the fact that the professions of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Dentistry, each give an essential service, which must not be impaired or destroyed by commercial trends. The public and the professions will suffer equally if these services are allowed to deteriorate. In pharmacy the public should understand something of the breadth of knowledge required of the pharmacist. Few people realize the extent to which plants and minerals enter into the practice of pharmacy, and how vital they are to the maintenance of the public health. It has been stated that upwards of 70 percent of all medicines employed are plant products.”

In our modern system, most of our medications are based on patented chemicals, some derived from plant based medicine but shoehorned into a new formulation which can be patented.  The reason that patents are now so important is because it costs near a billion dollars to get a drug past phase III trials (accepted for public sale and prescribing).  This cost structure is the result of the FDA under the justification that it provides greater public safety.

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Vote first, then read this:

and see if it changes your mind or corroborates your opinion.