Future Headline

7 Responses to Future Headline

1. Servetus says:

   July 1, 2022 at 9:32 pm

   Mexican cartels might smuggle RU-486 pills if that’s all that’s preferred by women. A commercially packaged variety of abortifacient might not do so well against natural varieties if smuggling pills becomes necessary. The current retail price of about $25 per tablet might be undercut by cartels as an incentive to go black market. They’ll need to compete with natural products as well.

   For centuries women have been forced to take charge of their own body chemistry with regard to birthing. In locations like the Caribbean and North Africa there is a long folk history of using plants to interrupt a pregnancy. Knowledge of these plants and their effects will spread now that the moral supremacists on the Supreme Court have made their fateful decision.

   For starters, there’s a flower found growing in neighborhoods in California and elsewhere called the Bird of Paradise whose seeds are known to work as needed. We should soon be seeing many of the specific details like dosages and so forth emerging regarding this and other plants.

   And just in time, scientists have developed a new substance that can help counter unplanned pregnancies if enough people choose to take responsibility for it. They’ve discovered what appears to be the long sought and perfectly convenient male contraceptive. The substance, called YCT529, prevents a particular chemical reaction necessary for sperm production. It inhibits the binding of retinoic acid, a type of Vitamin A, to retinoic acid receptors. It’s not hormonal, so it bypasses the types of problems women have with hormonal-based contraceptives. Tested in mice so far, its developers say it’s 99% effective. There are no observed side effects, and sperm levels return to their previous levels after ceasing use. If YCT529 is made available over the counter for everyone just like condoms, abortions and abortifacients could become less important. Otherwise, as with cannabis in some cases, a trip to the garden may be in order.
   • darkcycle says:

     July 2, 2022 at 1:16 pm

     A problem of long standing….we have known for a long time that a large percentage of men, who have nothing at risk, will not take a pill form contraceptive. This has come to light in many surveys, and the odds are that that percentage is under reported.
     • Servetus says:

       July 3, 2022 at 9:24 am

       Marketing is always the challenge. Men might not take the pill form, but if YCT529 were mixed with alcohol or cannabis infused gummy bears, the story might be different. Pills are mentally associated with maladies, while alcohol and weed are associated with happy celebrations. The product could be sold right next to the potato chips, the condoms, the cannabis or the tequila. YCT529 infused ice cream or yoghurt is another possibility. The advertisements for the product would be a gold mine for comedy and comedians.
2. Robert D Legge says:

   July 2, 2022 at 7:40 pm

   I publish New Era Drug Policy Newsletter every Monday morning. Back issues at reclassify.org. Absolutely, there will be fake abortion pills coming soon. The real ones are expensive.
3. Servetus says:

   July 10, 2022 at 1:16 am

   Drug dealers in Brazil have been selling abortion pills to women since 1998 when the pills were made illegal along with severe penalties for possession:

   …But misoprostol was becoming a focus of attention for anti-abortion campaigners in Brazil and beyond. In 1998, Brazil’s health regulatory agency, ANVISA, included misoprostol on the list of controlled drugs, alongside opiates, which meant a prison sentence of up to 15 years for anyone caught importing or buying it. International pharmaceutical companies that made misoprostol were hit with boycotts and stopped producing it; a small domestic company took over manufacturing a generic version of the drug to sell only to the Ministry of Health for hospital use.

   In 2006, the law prohibiting misoprostol distribution was strengthened to ban selling or publishing information about the drug on the internet.

   When Jair Bolsonaro was elected Brazil’s president in 2018, with the enthusiastic support of Brazil’s fast-growing evangelical Christian community, access became even more scarce. […]

   https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/health/brazil-abortion-pills.html
4. Servetus says:

   July 14, 2022 at 7:50 pm

   Methotrexate, a “gold standard” drug used to treat rheumatic illnesses, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis and cancer is the new candidate for upstart drug smuggling entrepreneurs. The drug is coming under fire from anti-abortionists because it also acts as an abortifacient in cases of ectopic pregnancies:

   …it is the preferred treatment for ectopic pregnancies, a rapidly fatal complication that affects about 100,000 patients per year in the U.S. […]

   In Texas, dispensing methotrexate to someone who uses it to induce a miscarriage after 49 days of gestation is a felony; that makes pharmacists hesitant to fill such prescriptions for almost anyone with a uterus. A new total ban on abortion in Tennessee will effectively criminalize any medication that could disrupt pregnancy past the point of fertilization, with strict exceptions for a patient who will otherwise die. And in Virginia, confusion over rules about who is permitted to prescribe drugs “qualified as abortifacients” may be blocking access to the medication.

   “That’s what was shocking to me,” said Schwarz, a 27-year-old who lives in Tysons Corner, Va. “In a state where I thought I was relatively protected regardless of what the Supreme Court decided, I found out I wasn’t.”

   Methotrexate was originally developed as a chemotherapy agent more than 60 years ago. But in low doses, it has proved to be one of the safest, least expensive and most effective treatments for roughly a dozen autoimmune conditions, from juvenile idiopathic arthritis to Crohn’s disease.

   “It’s one of the most common medications that I prescribe,” said Dr. Grant Schulert, a pediatric rheumatology specialist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. “It’s really a mainstay of our practice.” […]

   https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-11/post-roe-many-autoimmune-patients-lose-access-to-gold-standard-drug
5. Servetus says:

   July 16, 2022 at 11:20 am

   CBD is the new pain reliever for operations involving rotator cuff repair:

   16-JUL-2022 — Cannabidiol is effective in improving immediate post-operative pain following arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, according to research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine 2022 Annual Meeting. […]

   Currently, cannabidiol is FDA approved for the treatment of some seizures and other studies have suggested the therapy may help treat anxiety, cognition, and movement disorders though research has yet to prove it can be used to treat these disorders. […]

   “Based on our findings, CBD is safe and effective in reducing pain in the immediate peri-operative period following rotator cuff repair and should be considered in postoperative multimodal pain control,” Dr. Alaia reported.

   AAAS Public Science News Release: Buccally absorbed cannabidiol is safe and effective for pain management after rotator cuff surgery

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