I found it hard to keep reading after that. What's it called when people get so emotional about a cause they just start acting irrationally and doing more harm than good?
In the long term, bring drugs to people without thorough testing and regulations. It's one thing for e.g. stage 4 cancer. It's another to let a Vioxx get through.
Strict regulations around the development and testing of drugs exist because no human is capable of evaluating efficacy for themselves, absent stringently controlled testing processes.
We laugh about "snake oil salesmen", but given the amount of money in nutriceuticals, GNC, and the like... I'd say the only damn holding back the torrent on the unsuspecting is the FDA.
Look, I agree this isn't likely to be the scalable and safe solution that solves the cost crisis. But maybe we DO need someone to throw pills out for free just to show the absurdity of our current system. Because if it's something you need to live and the system is built to make something fundamentally cheap ultra-expensive, it's REALLY hard to see what this man could be doing wrong...
I am not suggesting this is the truth, or even a prediction. But I reject the emotionally charged language that people use to say there are no downsides.
There are always potential downsides; it is a dangerous way of thinking to be unable to see possible negativities and use that as certainty of a position. Otherwise, there's just no downside to Pascal's Wager, and we all must believe in God.
Perhaps they could get their point across while acting a bit more professional?
He can't be sure what will happen with pills that people accidentally carry out on their shoes or clothing. Any pills that don't get cleaned up from the venue could be eaten by children or animals at a later date.
We're talking about a drug that we don't even let sick people buy until they've talked to a doctor and a pharmacist. Maybe someone in the crowd wrongly believes that they need it or rightly believes that they need it but doesn't know how to take it properly.
Also, if you don't have sympathy for an adult who eats homemade pills and suffers from it, then you're pretty much arguing that this whole plan is irresponsible from the start.
I have plenty of sympathy for an adult who is forced to take homemade pills to save their life. An adult who swallows random pills a stranger threw at them, not so much.
It reinforces the point that this stuff is, in fact, extremely cheap and easy to make. The idea that prescription pills are expensive and precious is the scam that he's fighting.