Alternative Medicine: A Worthy Experiment for Hippies and Desperados

Alternative medicine has long been scoffed at by the mainstream medical community. People who use it, or at least believe in its benefits, are termed “wacky.” Physicians even go so far as to tell curious patients not to bother with the alternative “insanity,” claiming only hippies and desperados use it. Doctors are trusted daily with the lives of their patients, and if a doctor insists on a specific treatment, and advises against another, patients will be more than likely to do as they are told. But if a natural therapy has a positive effect on disease, then why not use it? Why not keep patients informed on all fronts: offer the details on every treatment that has shown promise, whether it pads the pharmaceutical companies’ pockets or not.

Many tests and laboratory experiments on alternative medicines based on animal venom and plants have shown promise. Some have even prevented the spread of cancer cells, or become pain killers. And that is not even the best part: natural therapies are not loaded with the chemicals so common in mainstream medicine, thus making them safer. Yet these results are stifled by the medical community, which is not only unethical, but it is potentially dangerous for those battling disease. In some cases, the pharmaceutical owned medical community goes so far as to sue or debase physicians who practice alternative medicine, thereby keeping their clientele safely in their grasp. Lives are being played with and new ideas are being stifled: in the United States. Other nations- European, Asian, and Australian- are practicing and discovering the merits of alternative medicine. Yet the nation so proud of its freedoms is shutting down research on treatments which may save lives- all for money. Because nat...

... middle of paper ...

... to discover if there is an unlikely downside, but also to discover if one venom may be used to combat multiple ailments.

Plants contain minerals and vitamins that have also been proven to do the same. It may sound like a “miracle cure,” almost too good to be true, and oftentimes, it is. Alternative therapies are safer: fewer, if any, chemicals are involved in them. Radiation, for example, is a mainstream cancer “fighter,” yet it is poisonous, so is it not insanity to treat a weakened patient with it? Whether a treatment is popular with mainstream medicine practitioners or not should not matter. What is best for the patient’s wellbeing should be the deciding factor. And if ingesting inexpensive plants or taking a vial of venom is the answer, then the pharmaceutical companies should not interfere, as more than money is at stake in the battle against disease.