Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Scribe]

--

A tale in 2 parts.

1. "AI STONKS AI STONKS AI STONKS".
2. "Most layoffs in October in 20 years."

We could have never seen it coming, who could?!

 

[dbolack]

my self gift, Night elf Rogue from McFarlen toys
View attachment 421518

I ver briefly misparsed this image as a Casey Jones mashup.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

believe that if the science was applied to these things, and not just massive pharma corps, it would be proven that we can make peoples lives better in a natural way.

I feel very mixed on this - there’s certainly real, usable drugs present in some natural remedies, but a lot of it is a bunch of bull. I do think it should be investigated in detail, so we can verify which category to put things in.

I’m extremely skeptical of any non-herbal alternative medicine: homeopathy, chiropractic, reiki, etc.

 

[Scribe]

I feel very mixed on this - there’s certainly real, usable drugs present in some natural remedies, but a lot of it is a bunch of bull. I do think it should be investigated in detail, so we can verify which category to put things in.

I’m extremely skeptical of any non-herbal alternative medicine: homeopathy, chiropractic, reiki, etc.

I mean I'm not going to preach to you, but I've literally seen things fixed, with stuff like chiropractic, acupuncture, stuff like that.

I'll try 'natural' things, before I sign on the dotted line that I understand all the side effects Pfizer wants to pump me full of.

 

[Deset Gled]

I’m extremely skeptical of any non-herbal alternative medicine: homeopathy, chiropractic, reiki, etc.

You don't have to be skeptical of all of them. Some, like homeopathy, are completely certified as pure snake oil.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Actually it's water that remembers being snake oil.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

Welcome to my nightmare. My wife worked in a school for 35 years.

Same. She gets it, then I get it, then the kid gets it. Fun for the whole family!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

GLP-1s, the current super-seller class of drugs, were originally found in the saliva of gila monsters, after noting that even though they eat super big meals infrequently, their blood sugar doesn't vary much at all...

TIL!

 

[Ryujin]

My wife is a veterinarian, who is also trained in herbal medicine.

What Danny notes is important -

1) Loads of our pharmaceuticals are still discovered from natural sources. GLP-1s, the current super-seller class of drugs, were originally found in the saliva of gila monsters, after noting that even though they eat super big meals infrequently, their blood sugar doesn't vary much at all...

2) When you source a drug in nature, mass producing directly from that source is often a problem. Like you just can't get a gila monster farm, let the buggers drool in cups, and then ingest or inject the results, much less produce enough for everyone who wants or needs it. Artificial mass production is usually in order.

3) A huge problem with natural remedies is dosage, which isn't easy to control if you just grow and dry an herb, or make a tincture, or the like. The natural form can have a wide range of content of the materials you actually want - and the range of dose that actually works is often kind of narrow - to little and it does nothing, too much and it is a poison.

4) Another huge problem with natural remedies is purity - making sure you are getting the stuff you want, and nothing you don't want. Like, sure, I grew this lavender in this tea myself! Organically in my own garden! ... right next to my organic bird feeder... so there's a lot of organic bird poop in there as well...

Not to say that our approach to pharmaceuticals isn't in bad shape. But having folks who make pure, regulated medicinals is necessary once you aren't in a little house on the prairie

Good ol' ASA was derived from willow bark, because chewing it was used as a pain killer. Controlling dosage can be a problem on both ends. Natural sources frequently have less than what would be an optimal dose, without concentrating the active ingredients.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A huge problem with natural remedies is dosage, which isn't easy to control if you just grow and dry an herb, or make a tincture, or the like.

I remember an Israeli pharmaceutical researcher was doing some really important work on potential uses for the chemicals in marijuana back in the 1990s. When he was asked about the American medical marijuana movement, he laughed his ass right off.

(Seriously, the “thump” was audible, even over his laughter.)

His point was very much along those lines. The dosage of THC (and everything else) was impossible to control when sold in leafy form, whit countless varietals on the market. He dismissed the activists’ efforts as people who just wanted to get stoned.

And this was a man who had great expectations for using marijuana-derived products in legitimate medical practice around the world.

Side note: the dosage issue has cropped up again in the domain of medical or supplemental gummy products. Research has shown dosages can vary greatly from gummy to gummy, as a result of how they’re made. No such problems exist with pills, capsules or gelcaps.