Why is homeopathy legal?

[Lorizael]

Acupuncture, last I heard, actually worked for some things; it's just not clear why.

The latest evidence points to this not being the case.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/acupuncture-doesnt-work/

(Yeah, when it comes to medicine, I almost always get my information from Steven Novella.)

[Ben Kenobi]

I worked for a health food store and part of my job was marketing this stuff. They are quite long on literature, slim on clinical trials.

[Guynemer]

What about those parents that demand you write a prescription for antibiotics, something, anything to help their kid cope with a cold? Instead of trying to convince them that rest and hydration are all that's needed and run a risk of them buying and administering antibiotics themselves, why not recommend a homeopathic remedy?

They can not buy an antibiotic themselves. They need a prescription. They will not get one.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Bad taste or principles aside, what harm would attach to banning it? This is unambiguously fraudulent "medicine." It doesn't take a genius to see how it causes harm. Why is homeopathy specifically exempt from the general requirement that stuff purporting to be medicine actually work?

Banning anything brings more harm to society than not, in principle - so we should constrict bans to actual "harmful" cases, such as crime, murder, abuse and similar that we will spend considerable effort to restrict as is etc... Forced homeopaty and other forms of abuse should be banned, homeophatic use by free but questionably informed people should be a choice for the free people of the world - Without unenforceable legal obstacles in the middle.

Harm comes from wasting resources on frivolous bs ( as if there is not enough of that already?!? ) and abuse of the law. "Elok was selling homeophatic medicine in the park" Three years probation and 120 hours community service with criminal record. When in fact you only pissed off your psycho neghbour with your kid crying all night, so he picked this easy legal card to rape you.

Law is law, and you may claim that you gave someone a water bottle while they paid back the money you borrowed them - sure does not look like that on nearby CCTV, you homeophatic dealer!!!

[MrFun]

I want OFG to try snorting cinnamon up his nose.

[Elok]

OFITG, please stop making unwarranted parallels to the WoD. To be fair, I didn't specify what exactly I meant. I'm talking about making it illegal to mass-manufacture homeopathic rubbish or sell it in stores or through online markets--the latter may be tough to enforce, like everything online, but basically no Amazon, eBay, or other reputable sites. Potential negative consequence: Aimee'sNaturalHolisticNonsense.com stops filing taxes and goes underground, losing the government a relatively small hunk of morally-tainted revenue.

No stings. No witch-hunts. No hysteria. But no fraudulent medicine on store shelves next to, or in place of, the real thing. That should be enough to at least keep ignorant people from picking it up by mistake. Probably the die-hards will manufacture their own placebos in rural co-ops. When their kids die from treatable diseases, their refusal to treat it properly will be considered equivalent to manslaughter. I imagine that's about the best we can do.

[Lorizael]

I really don't understand the resistance to treat homeopathic drugs the same way we treat regular drugs. The FDA punishes drug companies when those companies make fraudulent claims about their products; why should homeopathic companies be exempt from such punishment?

[Lorizael]

To perhaps make it clear how ridiculous a situation this is: the FDA is not even allowed to inspect the manufacturing facilities homeopathic companies use to produce their products (unless they receive enough adverse reports about the product). What this means is that no one is checking to see whether or not homeopathic drugs contain the ingredients they're labeled as containing. We're fortunate that homeopathic drugs have no active ingredients, but poor manufacturing practices can easily lead to such remedies having ingredients not listed on the label.

See this, for example.

[Dinner]

Yes, but it shouldn't be. It should be outlawed just like the snake oil salesmen of yor were outlawed.

[Guynemer]

I really don't understand the resistance to treat homeopathic drugs the same way we treat regular drugs. The FDA punishes drug companies when those companies make fraudulent claims about their products; why should homeopathic companies be exempt from such punishment?

Of course they shouldn't. Just don't expect it to ever change. That would require our government to do something constructive. We don't do **** like that in this country any more.

[MRT144]

Acupuncture, last I heard, actually worked for some things; it's just not clear why. Trepanation--is that the stone-age-brain-surgery deal?--I think that's actually still used for legitimate medical purposes, like relieving excessive cerebrospinal fluid or some such. Generally, I'm comfortable with banning most everything that makes a clear, provably false medical claim. Faith healing might be iffy with the first amendment; the rest can die.

Certainly bloodletting, if it is still done, should be annihilated.

No. Blood letting is the only treatment for hematomacrosis.

[MRT144]

No. Blood letting is the only treatment for hematomacrosis.

In case you're wondering, my dad and grandpa have it.

[Hauldren Collider]

WTF is it?

[pchang]

He spelled it wrong. Too many red blood cells.

[Ben Kenobi]

Harm comes from wasting resources on frivolous bs ( as if there is not enough of that already?!? ) and abuse of the law. "Elok was selling homeophatic medicine in the park" Three years probation and 120 hours community service with criminal record. When in fact you only pissed off your psycho neghbour with your kid crying all night, so he picked this easy legal card to rape you.

There are far worse cases of medical abuse even within the 'natural foods' community. I'm rather shocked that this is the one that gets cited when there are actually cases of harm occurring from misuse and drug complications, not to mention problems with tainted sources, etc. Just because it's natural doesn't mean that it's pure. There's a difference between the two.

Homeopathy is mostly worth a shrug. Should we ban people from doing things contrary to scientific consensus?