Few reading this will find it in anyway a novel insight that the Drug War has always been about control. The elimination of drugs was a useful narrative, but it’s one which has fallen into disfavor. As we learn what little threat these banned chemicals pose, all that is left is the gripping fist of the state. It will come as no surprise then that the federal government does not merely target the lives of those seeking to get high, but of anyone seeking a substance deemed prohibited. This was recently manifested by the FDA’s seizure of 19,618 parcels of “unapproved” prescription medication. More plainly, the FDA stole people’s medication and denied them any reasonable manner of attaining it again.
Among the medications seized were estrogen, insulin, tramadol and many other drugs with no recreational value. These substances were stolen by the FDA under the guise of consumer protection. “Consumers have little or no legal recourse if they experience a reaction to the unregulated medication or if they receive no therapeutic benefit at all. In addition to health risks, these pharmacies pose other risks to consumers, including credit card fraud, identity theft or computer viruses,” said one FDA parrot. No word on why they continue to impose these risks on consumers through the strict regulation of these chemical compounds rather than opening them up to the stabilizing forces of the market.
Laid bare, the actions of this federal gang are wholly unsympathetic. After the seizure, the online pharmacies were reported to internet providers and domain registrars, effectively shutting down the consumer’s ability to obtain their medical supplies. These people are not the junkies the FDA so easily demonizes. These are people medically restricted by government decrees. These are people priced out of the official prescription drug market. These are the disempowered, but the FDA has unknowingly empowered them through their theft.
I have a question for the FDA: How long do you think this can last? How sustainable is your policy of controlling what we put in our bodies? Surely at this point, the DEA has learned that online drug markets are a Hydra. Cut off one head and two shall appear. How long until you give up the vain attempt of managing our lives? It is becoming, everyday, more and more impossible.
By swiping the medication of thousands, the FDA has in fact acted in the best interest of those who have already moved to a world free of control. The online pharmacies which dealt in illegal prescription drugs have made their home on the clear web. To the credit of our federal foes, these pharmacies have remained under their influence and will indeed become an extinct species soon enough. But those seeking their medication will remain, and will be left with two options: to acquiesce to your will or to join those of us who have descended into the Darkweb.
The undeniable, unpreventable fact our would-be central planners must face is this: There will be markets. Over the past four years, the online narcotics trade has proven this time and again. Through takedowns and arrests of vendors and market kingpins, the federal government has been unable to slow the traffic of this burgeoning agora and not a second goes by that any heroin user cannot within a matter of minutes purchase her own stash in almost any personal quantity she desires.
By pushing online pharmacies off the clear web, they empower young entrepreneurs with new opportunities. These victims of yours, they will receive their medication again, and they will have the black market to thank for it. They will contribute to the revolution which is increasingly making you irrelevant. We have the Food and Drug Administration to thank for this.
These are our bodies. These are our minds. You can no longer control them. We are taking them back and there is no amount of guns or legislation which can stop this. Your best move in this waning game of chess is to back down, to cease driving more and more people to a world you cannot hope to control or participate in.
