Clerpot County

Wow, pot found in Clermont county? Where's the news here? I always thought pot was our cash crop after corn and soybeans.

Police have seized more than 1,500 marijuana plants growing in five townships, Clermont County Sheriff A.J. “Tim” Rodenberg said Monday.

The plants, which were about two-thirds of the way through the growing season, ranged in height from 4 to 8 feet.

They would have been worth about $1,000 apiece if fully grown – for a total of more than $1.5 million, Rodenberg said.

More...

Pot-sickles

First it was candy bars and now it's ice cream...

Police say the jingle of this ice cream truck meant pot-sickles. Police say elementary school students tipped them off to an ice cream truck driver who was apparently selling $5 and $10 bags of marijuana from the truck. Most customers were in the third, fourth, and fifth grades.

Raymundo Flores, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of marijuana.

Rx Price Control

Both Gordon and I discussed this topic right after the November elections. Let's face it, the federal government isn't good at very much. Why would we even think for a second that it would be good at pricing drugs?

"At first glance the idea makes sense. Instead of multiple companies competing to negotiate drug prices, have one big powerful entity do the negotiating. Wouldn't that lead to lower prices?

It might -- and that's part of the problem. We should be suspicious when someone promises benefits from a government monopoly. Government doesn't produce things. It simply uses force to move things around. So why think that Medicare, hardly a paragon of efficiency, should be given the power to negotiate -- in reality, control -- prices?

The last thing we should do is give federal officials more power. When government controls prices, it must eventually ration supplies. Consumers suffer. When the product is medicine, the results could be catastrophic."

John Stossel: No Drug Price Controls

Prescriptions drugs Part Dos

One of the things I've never understood are the patent laws as they pertain to the pharmaceutical industry.

The copyright for "Hey Jude", I believe is 99 years and yet patent protection for a pharmeceutical drug is 15 years, which means that the pharmeceutical companies are under extreme pressure to get out their drugs and, if necessary, promote additional uses of the drug.

I'm no apologist for the pharmceutical companies. If I have to see another commercial telling me there is a drug to cure my toe nail fungus, acid reflux, or for my right butt cheek that sags a little more than the left, I'm going to puke.

Nonetheless, I don't think there is an orchestrated conspiracy to poison the American public.

I remember a guy telling me head and shoulders shampoo made your hair fall out. My only response was if that was true, P&G couldn't sell me any more shampoo. What would be the motivation in that?