Meh, the "War on Drugs" is a whole other bad joke.
Urgh, don't even get me started on the American medical system. I've met enough biochemists (they're common around here due to local industry, the region used to be all factories and chemical plants - which explains why the ground is seriously polluted... How they managed to get clearance to build in some of these places simply amazes me.) to know the FDA is a corrupt morass of financial exploitation based upon the suffering of those unfortunate enough to require medicine and treatment - not to mention all the flawed and ineffectual garbage they sling that serve only to perpetuate an endless cycle of gradual self-destruction at the hands of costly treatments that do little less than cause a whole new slew of side-effects. The simple truth is, curing you isn't profitable - treating you is.
As my friend John and I were discussing this weekend (researcher at Bristol-Myers Squibb), the state of modern dependency on flawed medicine is a disgrace. Rather than cure an illness in 7 easy steps we create treatments - accompanied by a slew of experimental drugs - never truly eliminating disease in order to maximize long-term profits. Its something everyone in the industry knows yet is powerless to stand against because those who speak out lose their jobs and those who stand against it lose their funding. When faced with the choice between having a job and doing what's right, everyone chooses to keep working.
The supposed "War on Drugs" is a joke when our own government is perpetuating a cycle of domestic drug-dependency on the basis of monetary gain. I mean, hell, its bloody genius - I'll give 'em that. Its so simple and quite logical. Why cure diseases? Why stop death and suffering at all if you can profit on the natural (or artificial...) degradation of human life? There is no end to the people out there. People get sick and they die - boo-hoo. Treatment creates a long-term system that guarantees profitability, not to mention ensuring productive stability by virtue of adversity. If you're unhealthy you need drugs to keep working to make enough money to treat your conditions because without treatment you're even worse off, but the amount of money spent on treatment tends to limit your income enough that it becomes a sole driving factor behind what I'd like to call medical enslavement. I know plenty of people who are stuck paying tens to an astonishing hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills because of any number of health issues. They are in a perpetual state of debt and sickness that simply cannot end, ensuring they continue to work and pour money into the medical system despite receiving little tangible result.
You've just got to love the love of money - it really drives a stake into the heart of respect for the human race.
