Hi Cheri, I just had to stop in, because there is something I want to say about the counterfeit drugs. KNOW YOUR PHARMACIST!!! This is so important now a days. But it is something that a lot of people do not think about, because they are trying to get the cheapest prices for their drugs. If you are on regular medications it is important to have a working relationship with your pharmacist. He can tell you if any over the counter meds are going to react badly with your prescription meds. Sometimes they are the ones who catch the fact that you are being prescribed two contrary medications. Especially, if you are going to several different Doctors. Another little tip, check your prescription bottles. At the bottom, left, there should be the name of the pharmaceutical company that your meds are coming from, always make sure that you check that it is a reputable company. If you have to pay a little extra for peace of mind, do it. I know that the cost of medications is out of control, but it is a lot safer for you to know where your meds are coming from, rather than getting them cheaply and possibly causing harm. I hope this can help someone, I was just trying to give some tips. Your Good Friend Deborah

Deborah, Very good points! I didn't think of them, because I'm not on any meds, so thanks for the backup! Regarding the scrip bottles, sometimes you only get a label from the pharmacy, because the drugs are packaged in containers of hundreds and you only get maybe 30 in a little bottle. Other times, you may get the bottle the company that purportedly made them packaged them in. In either case, the report that I referenced addressed the fact that the counterfeiters are also very good at counterfeiting the labels. They interviewed an Oriental lady...Chinese, I think, who claimed to have someone inside the lab at an American manufacturer, who alerted them to changes in the labeling. They also interviewed some of the manufacturers' security people, and one of the solutions they are coming up with is a high-tech code that is placed on the label and the pharmacists would have a special scanner to determine authenticity. I hope that's enacted soon, and that it's advanced enough that the counterfeiters can't catch up with it for a good long time! If and when they do put this system in place, your advice to know your pharmacist will be doubly important, because he or she will have to be someone you trust to be your last line of defense. Cheri

Hi Cheri, You have raised a lot of concerns here. My observation is that SOME people will do ANYTHING to obtain money. They have no qualms about poisoning people, either through compromised "medicine" or via the food chain. In Oz we recently were advised that certain fruit juice companies simply open up out of date juice containers that are returned to them, mix it up with fresh juice then re-badge it with a new expiry date. The juice is rancid and mouldy but that is what they do. They also mix in sugar syrups and preservatives - all in the name of maximising profits. Unfortunately the false god - money - has the ability to cause greedy people to do anything to get their hands on it. Some people have no morals, no scruples, no ethics, no standards, no honesty. They exist for one reason only - to get money. People like this shit me off. Sorry to use that crude term but I couldn't express it any other way and still retain my level of disgust for them. Gary

Hi, Gary Back from vacation and catching up. It's odd what a break from the routine will bring up... In another thread you and Linda Caroll are having a discussion today about decent and indecent people. I think that's what we're talking about here, too. It isn't the money per se, it's the fact that some people are willing to harm other people for the sake of whatever currency is in vogue at the moment--money, power, land, salt--pick your era and the impulse is there. Perhaps we should be grateful that we're now living in an age where mass communication makes it possible to ameliorate the harm done by informing the intended victims. I learned a few days ago from a guide who was helping us tour the famous Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ, that the Navajo people were nearly annihilated by forcible relocation in 1864. It's a story that was repeated throughout American history, and sometimes the attempts were successful. My own ancestors, who included Cherokee and Choctaw among others, were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands also. What I didn't know is that it continues even today. The Navajos have been pushed here and pushed there and are now being pushed out of a canyon they've occupied for centuries. Our guide claimed that the US government is doing this. I haven't been home long enough to research it, but if it's true, it makes me terribly sad. Despite being a member of the generation that hasn't trusted our government since Watergate, I had hoped we were through mistreating our native peoples. Cheri

Hi Cheri, If that is true then it is cause for great sadness. I'm not sure if this is really apt but I have been doing some research for my zenspirational quotes today: "You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong." - Abraham Lincoln 16th Prez of the US. Some people just have no decency. Simple as that. Gary