Federal Judge Strikes Down Ephedra Ban

[Paregoric Kid]

Judge strikes down FDA ban on ephedra

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A federal judge Thursday struck down the FDA ban on ephedra, the once-popular weight-loss aid that was yanked from the market after it was linked to dozens of deaths.

The judge ruled in favor of a Utah company that challenged the Food and Drug Administration's ban. Utah-based Nutraceutical claimed in its lawsuit that ephedra "has been safely consumed" for hundreds of years.

Supplements that included ephedra have been widely used for weight loss and bodybuilding, but have linked to 155 deaths, including that of Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler. The FDA ordered the substance off the market in April 2004.

Judge Tena Campbell's ruling sends the matter back to the FDA "for further rulemaking consistent with the court's opinion" and keeps the agency from enforcement action against the companies.

FDA officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Company president Bruce Hough said the decision is about "protecting the public's access to safe and effective dietary supplements."

[sidman]

sounds like a smart judge! I like ephedra! As far as the fda goes, they are a crass ignorant group of people! Aspirin kills 250(approximately)a year but did they make that illegal? Of course not! The fda are a bunch of criminals anyway's,who are in the chemical/food companies pockets!!

[peacefulwarrior]

well said....makes no logical sense that the plant containing ephendrine is banned but you can still go and buy Sudafed (pseudoephendrine) which is just a stereoisomer of ephedrine (aka same damn thing basically). Ephedrine has wonderful medical uses in the PNS but it doesnt get into the brain very effectively so you have to take a lot to get an amphetamine-like high. As you take more and increase the amount in your brain, there is much more in the body for cardio problems. Ma huang (a natural source of ephendrine) has been used for thousands of years safely for asthma and weightloss etc. its all really silly

Even funnier may be how the potent hallucinogen DMT is a schedule 1 substance but that we all possess it naturally in small quantities in our brain...We are all fellons according to the FDA!

[DirtMcGirk]

were having the same problem with Oxy-Contin or Oxy-cocets in canada thats why almost all the doctors in Ontario are under close eye, and cant just give away hydrocoidone like they used to,.... because its been linked to so many sucide cases....

it used to be if after miner surgury, wisdom teeth or other dental shit had done, if you didnt think t'3 s were doin the job you could tell the doctor and theyd just write up a new prescription for like 50 80mg Oxy's and now its just gettin harder and harder to get em

[Peripat]

I thought it was banned in the USA in April 2003, myself. I do know that as long ago as that, the FDA was kicking up a hell of a stink.

As for pseudoephedrine (Sudafed etc), I don't recall the rules in the USA but I do know that here Down Under, they've been turning the screws for a few years. No outright ban (YET), but what was once freely available over-the-counter is now subject to you showing ID and giving an address, just in order to buy some.

[Paregoric Kid]

people need to make sure they understand a few things though. the ban was on one type of Ephedra, Ma huang, the plant, not ephedrine, the most active alkaloid in the ephedra plant. pseudoephedrine's properties may be chemically similar but they by no means act similiar, pseudoephedrine can be consumed up to the 100s of mgs and not produce even a tenth of the effects of 50-75mg of ephedrine. a decent analogy could be put this way: say the fda were to ban opium but leave morphine and codeine (methylmorphine) otc. codeine is similar in it's chemical structure to morphine but no way near the same effects. I think that is a decent analogy of ephedra, ephedrine, and pseudoephedrine. also during the ban you could still get 39 other species of ephedra.

[peacefulwarrior]

I thought that ma huang was just the chinese name for ephedra (the genus of the plant)... Ephedra contains both ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and its not the plant that was banned (as far as I know) it was those two isomers. I checked and its seems that both ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are LIST 1 which is not technically illegal but still monitored. I have heard that there might be some differences in the effectiveness of these two isomers as a decongestant, but im not sure that this is really the case.

[Paregoric Kid]

yeah I forgot to edit that before I posted it, I couldn't find which species was ban specifically on the fda's site, but I do know that american species like mormon tea were still available after the ban. the fda's ban was on the plants sale and in supplements NOT ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. they are monitored because they don't want people buying cases of it to make meth with. did you not use pseudoephedrine or see Ephedrine plus in gas stations the past year? and I can tell you from personal experience that pseudoephedrine compared to ephedrine is almost useless, even as a decongestant. if you doubt me go try it or read more about it. I've taken mass overdoses of pseudoephedrine before (something like 500-600mg?) by accident of course, listened to someones bad math calculation, it wasn't even close to the effects 75-100mg of ephedrine. and the maximum recommended dose of ephedrine is 50mg where pseudoephedrine is like 120 or 150mg. a 2d molecular drawing of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine look nearly identical but try them both sometime and you will see their actions are hardly similar.

[peacefulwarrior]

thanks for the clarification... as with the talk on pseudo and eph being equal in potency that was just a statement that I got directly from an expert in the field (dr. david presti). The last line that I said was almost exactly word for word. I believe your experience though and it is always hard to tell how well something crosses the BBB...I'll assume that he doesnt have the full picture or something. Im confused though, if the ban was on the plant and the supplements but not the ephedrine...why would the supplements be banned since they contain ephedrine. I mean, if ephedrine isn't banned and the supplements have ephedrine and other legal ingredients, then why are the supplements banned?

[Paregoric Kid]

the ban was just old fashioned government bullshit. they claim they banned ephedra to "protect" us from ourselves and their evidence was "adverse reactions and "nearly" 100 deaths." actually that is nothing, considering it's been used for thousands of years, considering there are 500 deaths A YEAR because of ASPIRIN. there was no reason to ban ephedra, and for some strange reason a judge was actually in favor of common sense.

[sidman]

I think the FDA banned Ephedra because people were buying it instead of their Pseudoehedrine,
and that take's money out of their pocket's.They won't ban aspirin because of the money it generates
and because it was approved by them.Now if people start to drink Asper Tree Bark Tea,and they start to die,well you can probably count on them to ban that too!! They want to be in control of what we buy for our own health because it is a Definate Market,meaning that as long as people try to feel good or want to be healthy,there is an opportunity to make ton's of money!!That is why all natural food's have a statement printed on the bottle's saying that their statement's are not FDA evaluated Because the FDA will come down on them for any claim's made without their approval.
It's another way of the government telling US that they know BETTER than US what is good for US!!
Then the chemical/drug/food companies buy them off, and complain when we do anything on our own because it takes money out of their pocket's. It's all a bunch of crap!!

[peacefulwarrior]

I would assume that way more people use asparin each year than ephedra and so you can expect a much higher death count...the numbers dont have much relevance unless you take the percentage of people that take ephedra and die and compare it to the percentage of people who take asparin and die. I bet that ephedra has a much lower lethal dose than asparin but im not sure. Not in favor of all this, just something to consider

[Paregoric Kid]

the point is nearly EVERYTHING can be lethal, WATER can be lethal. it should be up to the individual to decide if they want to put something in their bodies, not the government. I don't want a parental government, I want to be able to make my own decisions, I don't want any government making decisions for me as to what I can and cannot buy and can or cannot put into my body (as long as it is not a clear and present danger to society, ie a nuclear weapon). there is absolutly no reason the government should be able to ban PLANTS.