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Dr. Gregory & Tosca Haag
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La Vernia, Texas 78121

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1. Why "Just Say No" Just Won't Work

By Dr Gregory Haag, M.D.

The Standard American Diet & Lifestyle is full of snags, tentacles and traps, especially where the sale, consumption and use of drugs and chemicals are concerned. When Nancy Regan popularized the phrase AJust Say No To Drugs, it caught this writer's eye.

Then, the spin-doctors of the pharmaceutical industrial complex got to work re-arranging the perception of this blanket statement by adding three little words Just Say No To Illegal Drugs. After that minor readjustment, Nancy Regan's slogan was acceptable, for the president's wife had not stepped on any of the big toes of the world's most profitable and influential industry. Monsanto once widely advertised that Aman cannot live without chemicals, (and hopefully, most of them are sold by Monsanto!).

That was the beginning of sinking the hook into the way of thinking of the world. The masses the world over, and especially in America, have come to the incorrect conclusion that drugs are a necessary way of life in these trying times.

Americans are consuming a record number of drugs. The last count of drugs consumed by Americans, not including illegal drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, or coffee is 450 million pills an hour. That's 10 Trillion 800 million per day for those who care to do the math.

I often have first time clients who are consuming approximately 10,000 pills per year. That's just about 30 pills per day. How can this be? Well, that's easy! Between prescription drugs, over-the-counter self-medications for aches and pains, cold remedies, antibiotics, suppositories, ad infinitum, and supplements, the number of pills per day adds up very rapidly.

Remember, minerals, vitamins and other supplements, and yes, even neutra-pseuticals, all fall into the category of drugs and pills. The definition of a drug, according to Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, is: any substance or chemical intended for use in the treatment or prevention of disease; any non-food substance (chemical) intended to affect any function of the body.

So, Nancy Regan was able to dodge the proverbial bullet by the spin doctors by adding the three little words To Illegal Drugs, in her slogan "Just Say No!"

Not all pills are the same. When a poorly informed person chooses the bargain basement type, (order one bottle B get two bottles free mineral and vitamin supplements) the big saving is involved in the coating of the pill.

If It is enteric coated or not, basically determines whether or not the pill will simply lodge someplace in the person's digestive system (which is 10 times our body length) and eventually just become encapsulated (or pearlized as it is) in the lining of the intestine.

I did a lot of surgery as an assistant while in medical school and during my internship, and I worked in two very small hospitals. Between both hospitals, the bed count was less than 250. When one considers the size of just one hospital in a city like San Antonio that has 2000 beds, you get the picture that I worked in a very small community. This is relevant only to more fully demonstrate that if I encountered a certain phenomenon fairly often in a very small hospital, how common it must be throughout the rest of country, and the world for that matter.

What I'm referring to brings us back to the entero-coating, or lack of, in cheap bargain basement priced pills. Whenever we did surgery that involved going into the stomach (especially) or digestive system in general, we (the surgical team) always did a final hand or eye inspection of the lining of the stomach and portions of small bowel, and we physically removed the pills that had been encapsulated or pearlized in the lining of the stomach. I referred to this process as the tiddly-wink process of the surgery, where we would take the back end of a scalpel after removing the razor blade, and snap (tiddly-wink) the pearls out of their encapsulation.

Once the pill was snapped loose and removed, a pocket or bloody void was instantly created. Either the surgeon or myself would take an electric scalpel and cauterize the wound to the point of a dry field. This was encountered surprisingly often during gastric or intestinal surgery and in my brief experience (about two years) I often saw as many as 30 pills removed from one person's intestinal linings.

In the post-op follow-ups when no one, doctors or medical staff was in ear shot, I would always strongly suggest that this patient reconsider their use of pills in general, but especially the cheap bargain basement brands!

The use of drugs, pills and chemicals is really wide spread and universal. I'm referring to the fact that before an Ag student (farmer, rancher and the like) graduates from college, they are totally and completely convinced that in order to grow a crop, raise a herd, or start an Ag business, drugs and chemical preparations are the first line of action.

About twenty years ago, when the Sheltrano Hygian Paradise community was in its infancy, we, Dr. Vetrano and I grew 20 acres of organic watermelon. We were so proud of that crop, and felt sure there would be a market for it. It was totally chemical free, nothing but sandy loam soil and irrigation, no chemicals or sprays before, during or after.

Being a good Hygienist, I wanted to share our crop with the public, so I approached the biggest chain of grocery stores in San Antonio and Texas, HEB. The originator of the HEB food chain, Henry Edward Butts, who, by the way, once fasted at Dr. Shelton's Health School and knew the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables, had structured his produce department in such a way as to provide the freshest and best produce available.

Even today, HEB has a wonderful organic section! I went right to the head of produce and asked: "What will you give me for delicious organic watermelons?" The response was "5 cents a pound." Unbelievingly, I blurted out "But they are organic!" Same response. So, I asked how much they were giving for regular chemically treated, sprayed watermelon, "5 cents a pound."

What a major disappointment. After more research into a market for our organic watermelons, we found there was no market. Chemical free produce was ultimately too expensive for the consumer. Thank goodness this is changing.

Today we see a wide variety of organic fruits and vegetables, including melons. Of course the veterinarian, with few exceptions (I do know a few that choose other means besides drugs to treat animals) use a full battery of drugs in treating our animals.

So, as you can easily see, we are truly inundated with drugs in this country. In fact, our country is the largest provider and distributor of chemicals and drugs in the world. The area that concerns me most and always has, is pediatric care and the use of drugs.

Most of the more informed members of society in the U.S. already know the shortcomings of vaccinations and I will not belabor that point here. But, I do want to touch on drugs and their use in pediatric care and on into the teens, and the reason for the title of this article: Why "Just Say No", Just Won't Work.

For instance, very young children are now being almost (at no cost to the patients) treated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (a totally fabricated disorder of children with a lot of energy and little toleration for mundane school work) with Ritalin, Desoxyn, Gradumet and others.

Desoxyn and Gradumet are the market names for prescription methamphetamine, and Ritalin's chemical name is methylphenidate. On the street methamphetamine is called "speed" in pill or powder form and "ice" when smoked. In prescription form they are supposed to calm down a six year old and make him stop looking out the window wishing he was outside playing.

In 1995, the Drug Enforcement Administration stated that "It was found that methylphenidate's pharmacological effects are essentially the same as those of amphetamine and methamphetamine.

Gene Haislip, retired head of the DEA warned: "A lot of people don't know Ritalin is like cocaine." He "found parents abusing their kids' prescriptions, kids selling to kids, illegal drug rings, illicit trafficking. Mexican smuggling rings, even."

Teens and parents think Ritalin has to be safe or it wouldn't be given out so freely to the younger children. Thus, how can "Just Say No" ever work? Teens admit that out of 10 people they know, maybe one has seen or tried cocaine, but nine of them have done Ritalin.

Students are warned about the dangers of taking drugs by their parents, and by a drug education class in school, but not about Ritalin.

The Standard American Diet & Lifestyle is so filled with stimulants and depressants from the word go, that children raised in our country are predilected to the use of drugs, both prescription and illegal. And why not?

Most children have been raised on a constant diet of stimulants and drugging since they were born in the hospital, from the glucose and water making up their first meal, to pablum, processed baby foods and the introduction of soda water and iced tea in their baby bottles, leading to the "occasional" taste of alcohol, coffee, lots and lots of candy and other stimulants which subsequently leads to doctor visits, more prescription drugs and treatments.

It is just a natural progression from one stimulant to another, which leads most teens (3 out of 5) to have already experimented with or used drugs regularly before exiting from Jr. High School. (See Drug Addiction Flow Chart)

It is just a natural progression and it is going on right this instant. Recently I heard a commercial that said NOTHING works better than aspirin. So next time why not try "NOTHING!"

So by starting our children out right, one certainly has a much better chance of not having to deal with that phone call coming from the police, or worse yet, the hospital or morgue, giving you information of the damage, destruction and death that has been caused by your child's use of drugs.

Start now. It's your responsibility, not the school's, public health department or the doctor's (who is more likely to put the child on drugs than not), to insure that your child doesn't have that natural progression of wanting (or needing) to try ever stronger types of stimulants and drugs.

Those institutions all know little if anything about proper nutrition, health or prevention of disease. Natural Hygiene works, but you must also work with Natural Hygiene. Often I tell my patients and parents that they must earn the right to "say no to drugs".

One earns this right by eating correctly, getting proper rest and sleep, exercise, sunshine and most important, by avoiding drugs altogether.

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