OT: Ephedra and pending FDA decision

[Florida_Bronco]

I read that there should be a decision in the first week of August, on whether or not to ban ephedra again. I'm Just wondering what your guys feelings are on ephedra itself and whether or not it should be banned.

[Kaylore]

People take ephedra to lose weight and it's banned. Smoking, meanwhile, is still legal. :clown:

[TexanBob]

I'm of mixed mind here. Ephedra is dangerous if abused, but so are lots of other products. The danger is that many ephredra marketers (weight loss scammers) are unethical and too many people looking for a quick drop in wieght take more of it than they should. Remember the Orioles pitcher that died from the combination of ephedra and heat stroke trying to make weight in spring training? You can be healthy and still stop your heart taking this stuff.

Still, I hate when the government says nobody can have a product because the lowest on the IQ scale can't be trusted to use it responsibly (see psuephedrine). Probably the best idea would be to make it available by prescription only but still legal. We have lots of drugs out there now that can be very effective when properly used but very dangerous when misused.

[ward63]

I'm of mixed mind here. Ephedra is dangerous if abused, but so are lots of other products. The danger is that many ephredra marketers (weight loss scammers) are unethical and too many people looking for a quick drop in wieght take more of it than they should. Remember the Orioles pitcher that died from the combination of ephedra and heat stroke trying to make weight in spring training? You can be healthy and still stop your heart taking this stuff.

Still, I hate when the government says nobody can have a product because the lowest on the IQ scale can't be trusted to use it responsibly (see psuephedrine). Probably the best idea would be to make it available by prescription only but still legal. We have lots of drugs out there now that can be very effective when properly used but very dangerous when misused.

A lot of stuff is dangerous if abused, but ephedra is really good. I lost a lot of weight taking it.

[zdoor]

There are far more dangerous drugs that are still legal. But few have the sex appeal to the politicians as ephedra. It is lumped in there with prohormones and steroids although it is neither. So it gets nice headlines when its up for debate.

That said personally, i don't care for ephedra. Makes me too jittery. And if used for too long (this is rarely discussed as a side, although I think it's one of the worst) it plays havoc with the prostrate, especially in those over thirty.

Still, if your going to legislate what should be legal based on health impact. Ephedra would be way down the list.

[Smiling Assassin27]

whether other more toxic drugs are legal is irrelevant. deal with ephedra on its own merits. personally, i thought it was nothing more than a knee jerk reaction to ban it in the first place, having used it AS DIRECTED myself for a long time. flat out, the number of deaths were miniscule.