how rich do we need to be? and who the f*ck is bill?

Ok, so It's been a while. I was involved heavily in the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival last week so I was pretty tied up. I performed 17 sets of music in five days. It was fun but I'm still pretty wiped out. So thats what I was doing and why I've neglected y'all. Sorry!

So I'm walking down the street yesterday and a friend stops to chat and mentions something called Bill C-51. Ever heard of it? I sure as shit hadn't. Now I don't pretend to understand politics or even really follow it for that matter so I am also not going to pretend I really understand what I'm talking about here (google it and read for yourself and see if it makes any sense to you) but here goes:

From my less than enjoyable read on the bill (why cant they just write these in lay mans term so we understand, oh right they don't want us to understand) I gathered that it has been a while since our food and health act has been revised. I also gathered that they are trying to revamp what is and isn't prescription/therapeutic  medicine and who should have the say in what is and isn't. In a nutshell my friend mentioned that they were trying to make a lot of natural and therapeutic  remedies unavailable or over the counter and there could be offenses involved in using these and dispensing them in the future.

 

It seems to me that this may be an attack on two fronts. One - an attempt to get some   drugs off our streets. You know the kinds that you can cook in your own home? I'm not talking pot here folks. Do I agree with that? Sure do. 

Two - It also looks like a major cash grab from the pharmaceutical companies. I mean come on, if they are going to dictate what is and isn't deemed prescription who do you think is going to benefit from that? Old Mrs Hubbard on the corner who eats her hippie concoction to feel better? the Garlic farmerer down the street? the blueberry farm? After all, these things are all "therapeutic" right? Well it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know that pharmaceutical companies will rake in millions more in a deal like this. This is an industry that already doles out incentives to Doctors and Government to peddle their products. What's that? Don't believe me? Ever gone to the doctor to find he ALREADY had your prescription written out before you got there? I know folks who have gone in for routine check up only to have their Doc suggest they need antidepressants because other family members were on them. This to me is peddling folks. And Who wins there? Pharmaceutical companies......again I dont know if I'm on the mark here or not. The read was really confusing....

You know what wasn't confusing? Section 23. Thats the part where they say an "agent" representing the Health Minister can enter your home and go through your things if he suspects there may be items in the house that are contraband. Does that worry anyone but me?

No warrant required? Thats a little scary isn't it? Now I don't have anything to hide but I value my privacy and right to that privacy above all things. I would do much to protect that right.As I said I don't really follow or know much about politics but any Bill that allows my government to enter my home without proper channelling is big brother, USA style fear mongering bullshit. This Bill was already squashed once but now my friend on the street insinuated that it was going to me voted on again....anyone know if that's true?

Ever wonder why we don't hear about these Bills? Pretty obvious isn't it? They spend all their time distracting us with H1N1 so we get scarred shitless about the flu and in the mean time things like C51 are slipping through the cracks. Yes, I know I sound like a conspirey theorist here. No, I haven't lost my mind. But in a day and age when little Timmy can't have a fucking peanut butter sandwich at school things have really gotten messed up and are getting worse. I'm not saying there aren't good politics out there I'm not saying it's all fear mongering but these few things are undeniably that. If the country had a nickel for everytime H1N1 was reported on we'd be debt free. If Bill c-51 had been mentioned that many times in the media I wonder what people would have said about it?

I guess we should all pay a little more attention to what is going on. If the Government sneaks a Bill like that through, that my friends IS the beginning of the end. We may as well take the doors right off our homes because the lock on the sure won't mean shit. I'd sit in my favorite chair and polish my shotgun but I gave it away when they were passing THAT Bill.

R