'Shame on You, Dr. Eifrig'

You'll have to try harder to shame me than this...

Shame on Dr. Eifrig for his invest-in-cannabis-industry recommendations.

Cannabis is a drug. It has not been approved by the FDA, though. Hence, its addictive properties are not tested and no dose/response data have been established officially. One side effect, among others, is an increased rate of schizophrenia.

Dr. Eifrig who likes to dress as a physician should know better. I consider his recommendation ruthless and unethical, particularly when it comes from a physician. Or are ophthalmologists exempt from medical ethics?

Good investing? No. Anything goes at Stansberry. – U.A.

Anyone who thinks that the Nanny Police at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") are here to "take care of them" deserve exactly what they get.

To start, let's get the facts straight...

First fact: Cannabis, or marijuana, plants have nearly 500 known chemical compounds, of which at least 100 are called "cannabinoids." The main chemical you're afraid of is tetrahydrocannabinol ("THC") – which itself comes in several isomers and metabolites in the body and the plant. THC is the one that causes the "high" that users experience.

Second fact: The human body has receptors that scientists call "cannabinoid receptors" because these compounds bind to them and create measurable effects. Read that again... the human and other animals are made to accommodate these compounds, which bind readily to those receptors and have varying effects over time and concentrations of the drugs.

Third fact: The plants were readily available (think local corner store) in various forms (think soda fountain drink) before the 1930s. But then, government paternalism and conservatism took over. Grown adults decided to tell other grown adults they couldn't consume plants from nature. This was after they decided that you couldn't ferment plants and drink the resulting liquid (Prohibition)...

If you want to understand how politicians whip up puritanical fervor for their own goals, please watch the 1936 propaganda movie Reefer Madness...

Fourth fact: I've seen the "research" that claims marijuana causes schizophrenia... The science is laughably bad. Let's just say, the researchers don't understand the difference between correlation and causation... I would urge them to watch a video of my talk at the recent Las Vegas Stansberry Alliance meeting where I showed how over decades margarine production and divorces in Maine are nearly perfectly correlated. There are good reasons to use butter instead of margarine, but the sanctity of marriage ain't one.

Moreover, anyone who's ever been in a mental hospital and or around psychotic patients knows that one of the few things that calm patients in the real world is marijuana. Pot and madness may be correlated, but marijuana is certainly not a cause. Otherwise, half of Colorado and Canada would be in mental hospitals by now, right? Instead, what are the odds that large numbers of schizophrenia sufferers smoke pot because they've learned the old-fashioned way that it eases their symptoms?

As for the FDA...

The federal regulators, in whom you put so much faith, approved in 1986 a synthetic form of THC called dronabinol for cancer patients. Because it was man-made, drug companies profited. (Remember, you can't patent a plant that people have been harvesting for thousands of years.)

Dronabinol aside, look at some other drugs FDA has blessed...

  • DES: This synthetic form of estrogen was supposed to help keep babies healthy in the womb. Not only was it useless, it caused cancers, birth defects, and delivery complications. Some 5 million to 10 million mothers and babies were exposed to this destructive drug.
  • Darvon: An opioid pain reliever that caused serious heart problems. It was on the market from the 1950s through 2010 despite multiple petitions for the FDA to remove it. All told, it was responsible for thousands of deaths.
  • Rezulin: Caused fatal liver failure in 63 diabetes patients before it was pulled from the market less than a year after FDA approval.
  • Vioxx: This inflammation drug was approved in 1999 and prescribed to 20 million people before folks realized it was causing heart attacks in 2000. Still, the FDA didn't pull it from the market for three more years.
  • Baycol: A statin linked to killing 31 people due to muscle breakdown before it was pulled from the market.
  • Accutane: This last-resort drug for acne treatment leads to miscarriages and severe birth defects if used during pregnancy. There's also a strong link between Accutane and increased rates of suicide.
  • Seldane: It took the FDA seven years to ban this antihistamine even after evidence emerged that it led to heart rhythm abnormalities. At least eight people died before the FDA pulled it.
  • Oxycodone: Perhaps you've heard of the opioid epidemic? 

Meanwhile, the FDA has refused to ban trans fats despite volumes of research showing a direct link to chronic health problems. And it's done nothing about the concentration of mercury in seafood, a problem hidden for decades from the health discussion.

My point is, it's a mistake to count on the federal government – or any other big institution, like Wall Street or the medical industry – to take care of you. Don't count on any institution to protect you, coddle you, or love you in the way you deserve... These institutions have their own agendas, and your well-being isn't not on the list.

Our mission in this letter – and all my publications – is to give you the information you need to take control of your own health and wealth.

Part of that is making your own moral decisions. If you don't want to partake in marijuana, medical or otherwise... that's fine. If you don't want to hold the shares of companies in that business, don't.

We can't possibly make those decisions for you. After all, should we boycott pharmaceutical giant Bayer because it's a leading maker of birth-control pills? How about gunmakers, whose products have been misused to terrible effect?

Lots of folks would say it's immoral to own ExxonMobil and Chevron (climate change)... Monsanto (genetically modified organisms)... Altria (cigarettes)... Anheuser-Busch InBev and Constellation Brands (booze)... Coca-Cola and McDonalds (obesity epidemic)... Walmart (destruction of "Main Street")... Starbucks (unregulated drugs, i.e. caffeine)...

And for what it's worth, that list above includes many of the best-performing recommendations in the history of my publishing company... some of which returned several hundred percent for subscribers who followed the advice.

Your views on political and moral issues like these are personal and unique. Every reader holds different views. It's not for us to tell you what to think about issues like that... When we see a well-run company that represents a good investing opportunity, it's our job to tell you about it.

And that's why it's important to tune into our Cannabis Investing Event tonight.

Whatever your views on the morality of investing in cannabis, it's better to be educated than not. And it's clear that there is money to be made in this industry.

Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time, two of the most experienced cannabis investors in the world are going on camera to explain exactly what's happening in the cannabis market right now... what could be in store for the industry in 2019... and whether or not now is an ideal time to invest.

For one night only, these two insiders will pull back the curtain on the mysterious world of cannabis investing, and tell you everything you need to know today, to decide if the opportunity to invest in cannabis is right for you.

Click here to claim your spot.

Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,

Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
March 27, 2019