America - The land of the free??

Also, from CBS news

What they forget to mention is that Steve Bechler was overweight, dehydrated, on a liquid diet, was training in 90 degrees wearing plastic bags, and was taking more than the recommended dose of ephedra!

The US government is happy to ban a relatively harmless dietary supplement which has apparently caused deaths in about 100 people, but it is happy for companies to continue selling fast food, and processed foods which contribute to the huge obesity problem in the country, which in turn causes 1000s of deaths each year. Similarly it allows alcohol and tobacco to be sold to anybody who wishes to buy it, causing tens of thousands of death every year, yet bans a herbal supplement which is practically harmless by comparison.

Is the US taking away the freedoms of its people, or just looking out for their interests? I have to say that I think this is completely rediculous! Opinions?

i dunno mate, i know ur into the weight lifting n all that so obviously u'll be more in favour of whatever it is but my mate plays football semi pro and was taking weight gain stuff a while ago.

we were all taking the piss out of him cos it basically had the same nutritional values as nesquick but he was payign 40 quid a tub for it but regardless he kept takign it and he started going mental like having major mood swings and being really aggresive whereas before and after taking it he's laid back and not bothered about anything.

not sayign it was a direct result of the weight gain sdtyuff but there's a ton of shit in it that no one really know what it is or does and it'll mess with ur body and ur head.

As someone who has tried ephedra, I can tell you that it isn't healthy. I wasn't overweight, but I wanted to boost my energy for my workouts. My heart was racing, and I felt like it would explode. It was not a natural feeling at all.

All of my friends who have tried it have had similar problems with it. It should be banned, b/c there are more risks than benefits. You shouldn't need supplements like that to help you anyway. Controlling your weight and excercising and eating healthy should be enough.

If it was a normal weight gain/meal replacement powder then it would contain probably 25 grams of protein, made up of the 9 essential and 11 non-essential amino acids. Along with this, it would probably contain about 40 grams of simple carbohydrates - Dextrose, Maltodextrin, maybe Fructose, some aspartame for sweetening, and a few vitamins and minerals. There's nothing in these powders that can't be found in normal foodstuffs, and they are more nutritious than nesquik!! And the scientists that make them, test them, and even people like me who use them do know what is in them.

He was probably just angry because you were taking the piss out of him so much for using it!!!

lol i think u mite be onto something there nah it seriously messed with his head and it was pretty noticeable as soon as he went on and came off it

I've never taken ephedra myself, but my brother has, and he had no problems with it at all. Although I do know that America does allow larger doses of ephedra than the UK. But whenever I smoke a cigarette, or drink alcohol, I get an unhealthy feeling in my body, either my lungs hurt, or I get drunk and dehydrated. Neither are healthy, but both alcohol and tobacco are allowed in the US, whereas they feel the need to ban something which has caused less deaths than falling pianos! Isn't the government just taking away the freedom of choice of its people? I'm worried that the UK may be next in this rediculous beaurocracy!

Also, can I ask you whether you educated yourself properly about ephedra before using it? Or did you just use it because you'd heard of it from friends/media etc?

Yes, I read up on it before I took it. Actually, both my husband and I tried it together. We both had the same reaction.

Smoking and drinking aren't supposed to help you with anything though. Ephedra is supposed to help with your workouts and lose weight. You really can't compare the two.

Taking away the freedoms, definitely. I read a couple of articles about a year ago, about how the US was suppressing the personal use of foreign pharmicuticals (misspelled). They were cracking down on people who'd buy foreign prescriptions (they weren't prescribed by a doctor) and using them to ease pain. The feds said they weren't safe. Doesn't make any sense to me...

Or how about when Californians voted overwhelmingly to legalize marijuanna (not sure if it was just medicinal or not) back in 96? They still can't use it, despite the fact that its not addicting, has medicinal side-effects, and is less harmful than cigarettes.

Its all about consolidating power. The screws are tightened little by little, usually under the pretense of saving just a few people, usually children.
I've got a whole list of these kinds of things. Did you know that before 1914 drugs such as cocaine and heroin were legal, you didn't even need to be licensed to sell them? Then in 1914, the feds started licensing drugs, "just to check purity, nobody will be denied a license, we'll never use this power to outlaw drugs". 15 years later, they declared war on drugs. Prior to that, drugs were a minor social problem, and there were no drug wars. Now, gang warfare, primarily drug related, kills around 1000-4000 people per year, and thousands of people are treated as criminals for smoking dope.

Adrian

It is addictive & it has detrimental side effects too.

This all depends on what studies you read. All of which happen to be biased one way or the other.