Gov't Regulations

Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Time: 7:50 PM
Place: Testing Center

In response to a classmate's post about supporting gov't restrictions in my Law class, my post was
I agree & disagree. The government is not being consistent in where it lays a heavy hand.I understand the SOX law, since corporations were lying and providing misleading information.However, w/ trans fat and ephedra, they still have not convinced me that consumers should ultimatley make the choice. Companies should just provide an abundance of truthful information if they wish to sell particular products.In my opinion, ephedra is like cigarettes. And I think there is bias. In it's ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals stated a concern for those w/ high blood pressure. Well, obviously they shouldn't be taking the product in the first place. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01434.htmlIn 1997, the FDA came up w/ what I thought were more reasonable ways to regulate ephedra.http://www.ephedra.com/ephedra-FDA-ban-unabridged.htm
Also the professor asked about legalizing marijuana. My response is

Not only would it bring in addt'l revenue, but it would save $$. In Massachusetts alone, legalizing marijuana would save 120.6 million dollars a year to enforce the law.http://changetheclimate.org/bu-study/mass_budget.pdfI think this is particularly true in enforcing the law on people possessing very small amounts.I wonder how much influence the tobacco industry has on America's stigma on marijuana.