This morning, Indiana For Medical Freedom was contacted by Amanda Mueller from Evansville’s Eyewitness News with the following:

(For privacy reasons we have blocked out personal details)

Here is our response:

CDC states that the majority of cases were in non-vaccinated individuals, but the CDC report does not include the evidence to support that statement. It is unknown if these individuals were partially vaccinated, if the strains that were imported from other countries are even included in the vaccine we offer here in the United States, etc.

We question the severity of each of the cases. If mild, a vaccine was not needed since these individuals acquired safe, natural, lifelong immunity. In those who were fully-vaccinated, their vaccine failed them which has nothing to do with vaccine choice and everything to do with vaccine efficacy.

Since 2010, Merck has been ensnarled in an ongoing Federal Anti-trust lawsuit for lying about the efficacy of the Mumps component of the MMR vaccine. The vaccine has remained on the market during these 8 years.  (http://ahrp.org/former-merck-scientists-sue-merck-alleging-mmr-vaccine-efficacy-fraud/)

There is also a head scientist at CDC blowing the whistle on falsified safety reports during the 2004 MMR Autism study. His name is Dr. William Thompson, he has protected whistleblower status, and he is still employed by CDC now.

Here is a C-SPAN video of U.S. Congressman William Posey, FL imploring Congress for an investigation into CDC in 2015, yet still nothing has been done:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4546421/rep-bill-posey-calling-investigation-cdcs-mmr-reasearch-fraud

All 100,000 documents turned over by Dr. Thompson can be requested by contacting the office of Congressman Posey. https://posey.house.gov/contact/

In addition, there are 13 CDC whistleblowers, calling themselves CDC SPIDER, who claim CDC can no longer be trusted to act in the best interest of public health. From their letter, “These questionable and unethical practices threaten to undermine our
credibility and reputation as a trusted leader in public health.”

You can read their letter to CDC Chief of Staff here:
https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CDC_SPIDER_Letter-1.pdf

Here is a Huffington Post article discussing their letter: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/12525012

For the 5th year in a row, members of our group (along with concerned citizens from other states and even other countries) will rally outside CDC headquarters in Atlanta on October 10, 2018 to demand truth and transparency. All are welcome to join.

Finally, just last month, HHS admitted (through a lawsuit over a FOIA request) that they have neglected to file a single vaccine safety report in 32 years, as required of them by Congress in 1986 when liability immunity was granted to all vaccine manufacturers. http://icandecide.org/government/ICAN-HHS-Stipulated-Order-July-2018.pdf

This lawsuit was represented by Robert F Kennedy Jr, who earlier this week made national headlines for his Monsanto Cancer trial victory. https://www.nbcnews.com/video/lawyer-in-monsanto-trial-reacts-to-verdict-1296820291640?v=railb

Since CDC is not transparent with measles case outcomes in the US, we cannot compare the risk of death or permanent injury from a measles infection with the risk of death or permanent injury from the MMR/MMRV vaccines. Parents would like to know this information so they can make a true risk/benefit analysis. All we can find is 1 US measles-related death since 2003 and VAERS data showing 90 US deaths from the MMR/MMRV vaccines during the same time period.

https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/saved/D8/D41F018

Nothing in medicine is one-size-fits-all and every parent and individual is doing what is safest for their own family. Indiana For Medical Freedom respects the right for each family to weigh their own risks and benefits and to make their own choices for every medical procedure, including vaccination.

Until CDC can be transparent and offer evidence to support the statements they make, this statement (in its entirety) will be our only comment.

Shout out to David Williams from Indianapolis-based WishTV for covering House Bill 1058 and including our concerns. You can see our public statement regarding this House bill here.

In his article, Williams discussed Representative Ron Bacon’s reasoning for why the bill is needed, citing 100 Central Indiana deaths from the flu during this flu season. What Representative Bacon did not reference was how many of those who died had actually been vaccinated this year for the flu. He also did not indicate how many of the individuals had co-morbid conditions that contributed to the deaths. All loss of life is tragic! Which is why we are concerned about this bill mandating advertisements for the flu vaccine; a vaccine that, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, is only 10% effective but responsible for 53.6% of all death and injury claims from all available vaccines. The flu shot alone has paid out nearly $2 Billion in death and injury claims, making it the most dangerous vaccine on the market. With a failure rate of 90%, we are concerned that House Bill 1058 will push assisted living residents into getting the vaccine without weighing their risk to benefit ratio.

Representative Bacon also was either mistaken or intentionally misinforming the public when he said nursing homes require all residents to be vaccinated unless they have a religious objection. We have scoured the Indiana Code and can find no such law on the books. The aging population still retain their right to informed consent and absolutely may deny ANY medical procedure they do not wish to partake in, including the flu vaccine.

Our concerns with this bill have increased over the last few days as we have continued to research. One of our volunteers had this to say:

“I believe they’re doing this to get Medicaid and Medicare money. In March 2017 the CDC and CMS made a ruling that ALL residents and workers in long-term facilities be vaccinated. In regard to the residents, they want to be able to do this via “standing orders,” meaning they just automatically get the shot without having to see a doctor or be asked if they will take the shot. However, they can’t do that without “informed consent.” But they CAN do it if they inform the residents, or their representatives, about the policy upon entrance into the facility — even if the resident or representative hasn’t signed a thing permitting it: “Informed consent is required to implement a standing order for vaccination, but this does not necessarily mean a signed consent must be present.” Once the residents have been “educated” on this, they can now go forward with flu shots automatically, kind of like when a pediatrician leaves standing orders on kids’ charts that they get vaccinated at the recommended times (when the nurse just automatically shows up with the shots lined up and ready). I’m guessing that so far, Indiana has been having to ask residents if they want the shot, and of course some are turning it down. With this law all they have to do is inform them of the “policy” and they can make it a standing order — which, by nature of the CDC recommendation that ALL residents be vaccinated — means you’re going to have to put up quite a fight to not get a shot after this bill becomes law. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/ltc-facility-guidance.htm”

This echoes our concern that many residents suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s and do not know whether or not they’ve already consented to the vaccine. Since they are able to go to any pharmacy and receive a flu shot without a doctors order, many are receiving more than one flu shot per year. Another volunteer shared this with us:

“My grandmother got 2 flu shots this year. She got one at the Dr then she went to Wal-Mart and got one. Then she said, ‘Wait, I think I already got one.’ The nurses all laughed. My mom told me that she ‘just forgot’ she had already gotten one. The nurses responded by saying, ‘Oh, it won’t hurt her.'”

We disagree. The nearly $2 Billion paid out to individuals who suffered flu vaccine injuries or deaths indicate otherwise.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. Call your State Senator and tell them to vote NO on HB 1058. You can find your State Senator here. Once you know their name, call (317) 232-9400 and ask to leave a message for them telling them that as their constituent you do not support House Bill 1058 and urge them to vote NO on this unnecessary use of taxpayer dollars.

2. Send an email to all 50 Senators stating your concerns. Copy the first email block into the TO field of your email and the 2nd block into the CC field of your email so that all 50 Senators will receive the email at once.

s22@iga.in.gov; s8@iga.in.gov; s17@iga.in.gov; s39@iga.in.gov; s50@iga.in.gov; s23@iga.in.gov; s37@iga.in.gov; s34@iga.in.gov; s10@iga.in.gov; s15@iga.in.gov; s21@iga.in.gov; s5@iga.in.gov; s28@iga.in.gov; s29@iga.in.gov; s26@iga.in.gov; s38@iga.in.gov; s13@iga.in.gov; s46@iga.in.gov; s18@iga.in.gov; s7@iga.in.gov; s19@iga.in.gov; s47@iga.in.gov; s20@iga.in.gov; s14@iga.in.gov; s25@iga.in.gov; s42@iga.in.gov; s16@iga.in.gov; s31@iga.in.gov; s48@iga.in.gov; s32@iga.in.gov; s24@iga.in.gov; s9@iga.in.gov; s1@iga.in.gov;

s6@iga.in.gov; s43@iga.in.gov; s27@iga.in.gov; s2@iga.in.gov; s3@iga.in.gov; s30@iga.in.gov; s45@iga.in.gov; s44@iga.in.gov; s40@iga.in.gov; s4@iga.in.gov; s33@iga.in.gov; s49@iga.in.gov; s41@iga.in.gov; s36@iga.in.gov; s12@iga.in.gov; s35@iga.in.gov; s11@iga.in.gov

3. Share a link to this blog post or this Facebook post with your friends and family and ask them to do the same. We don’t know when this bill will come before the Senate, but it’s likely to be early next week (Feb 26-28, 2018). Please make your calls and send your emails ASAP. If we flood their phone lines and emails with opposition, they will be forced to reconsider this use of taxpayer dollars to advertise a for-profit product with failing efficacy and high rates of death and injury.

As always, thank you to our concerned and vigilant followers for helping us protect our most vulnerable citizens from predatory industry interests. We could not do it without the thousands of supporters like you who follow us so closely and rally behind these just causes!

WishTV’s story can be found here: http://wishtv.com/2018/02/22/indiana-legislation-aims-to-inform-older-hoosiers-of-flu-dangers/

HB1058 is an unnecessary bill with lots of opposition in the House (narrowly passed 51 to 45).

The bill mandates the use of taxpayer dollars to advertise a liability-free, for-profit vaccine. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, this year’s flu vaccine is less than 10% effective, meaning it fails 90% of the time. It is also the most dangerous vaccine, accounting for 53% of all vaccine injury and death payouts in Vaccine Court (almost $2 Billion for the flu vaccine alone). Senator Charbonneau and the bill’s author, Representative Bacon, insist this bill is not about the vaccine, yet the information they want to distribute is the CDC’s Vaccine Information Sheet. This is absolutely about vaccine uptake, especially in a year where the public is losing faith in the flu vaccine. Our elderly community is already over-inundated by flu shot advertisements on every pharmacy billboard and in the nightly news. They should get their medical advice from their doctors, not their landlord at the assisted living facility. And let us not be so arrogant as to believe these intelligent, elderly residents are clueless about the flu itself. They’ve lived through countless flu seasons and know what influenza is. What this bill is mandating is flu shot advertisements and we do not believe taxpayer dollars should be spent when the multibillion dollar Pharma industry can afford their own ads. Our lawmakers are the stop-gap between their constituents and industry. It’s unfortunate the Senate Health and Provider Services committee members chose to ignore the facts today in favor of a bill that will line the pockets of their campaign donors.

***The week of 1/22-1/26***

Monday 1/22:
– CALL Micah from Ed Charbonneau’s office (317-232-9494) and ask for him to schedule SB18 for a hearing! If it’s not scheduled by next week it dies. This is the bill we lobbied for on immunization exemption info!! Don’t let it die!
– EMAIL the Senate Criminal Law committee again asking them to please be sure to include language in SB52 that allows for up to .3% thc. The email block will be in the comments of this post.
-SHOW UP from 8a-9:30a to get flu shot info into the hands of as many House Reps as possible as they walk in for the day. They will be voting on the bill in the afternoon. Melissa Sfura will be there and needs more support so these Reps know that morethan just 1-2 people care about this issue.
– WATCH LIVE @ 10am SB431 in committee which gives immunity to healthcare providers who make reports to CPS for abuse and neglect. Does anyone want to show up and give testimony in opposition to this? https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2018/bills/senate/431
-WATCH LIVE @ 1:30pm as the Full House votes on HB1058 (flu shot bill) and on HR2 which asks for a summer study committee on medical marijuana (we don’t want this to pass).

Tuesday 1/23:
-CALL Micah from Ed Charbonneau’s office (317-232-9494) and ask for him to schedule SB18 for a hearing! If it’s not scheduled by next week it dies. This is the bill we lobbied for on immunization exemption info!! Don’t let it die!
– WATCH LIVE @ 9:30am as the Senate Criminal Law committee votes on SB52 and SB 294 re: CBD oil.

Wednesday 1/24:
-CALL Micah from Ed Charbonneau’s office (317-232-9494) and ask for him to schedule SB18 for a hearing! If it’s not scheduled by next week it dies. This is the bill we lobbied for on immunization exemption info!! Don’t let it die!

Thursday 1/25:
-CALL Micah from Ed Charbonneau’s office (317-232-9494) and ask for him to schedule SB18 for a hearing! If it’s not scheduled by next week it dies. This is the bill we lobbied for on immunization exemption info!! Don’t let it die!

Friday 1/26:
-CALL Micah from Ed Charbonneau’s office (317-232-9494) and ask for him to schedule SB18 for a hearing! If it’s not scheduled by next week it dies. This is the bill we lobbied for on immunization exemption info!! Don’t let it die!

Updated: 1/15/18 12:50 pm

We were incorrect about the intended audience of HB 1058. The digest of the bill states “public housing assistance”, but the Fiscal Report indicates this law would target “residential care facilities”, meaning the sick and the elderly, which is WORSE! We’ve updated the letter included in this action alert. If you’ve already sent your emails, you can either re-send and let them have it, for targeting this susceptible population, or leave it as it is.

Calling All Concerned Citizens!

Please Take ACTION Today!

Tomorrow, January 16, 2018 at 1:30 pm our Indiana House of Representatives will be voting on HB 1058. This bill will provide FREE advertising for the Pharmaceutical Industry for Flu Vaccines for Indiana residents that are receiving housing assistance (Section 8).

Indiana For Medical Freedom opposes this bill for the following reasons:

• This is State sanctioned FREE advertising for vaccine manufacturers, for a FOR PROFIT, LIABILITY FREE product.
• The Flu Vaccine has the worst efficacy rate ( 10% Effective) of ALL vaccines available.
• The Flu Vaccine is the MOST dangerous vaccine, responsible for more that HALF of all claims and compensation in Federal Vaccine “Court” for injury and death.
• It is an unnecessary law. Flu and Flu vaccine information has totally saturated our grocery store parking lots, pharmacies, clinics, TV commercials and media outlets.
• In NO WAY should our Indiana General Assembly seek to target a susceptible population. NO ONE should EVER receive a vaccination while sick, if they’re without their faculties and unable to make an informed decision.

Action Items

• Email all 100 House Representatives TODAY! Find an easy to use “email block” here.  Simply copy each block into the “to”, “cc” and “bcc” section of your email. You will need to send a second email to include the 4th block.
• Download This Sample Letter For Inspiration, Or Use In Its Entirety! You can copy and paste into the body of your email (recommended) or send as an attachment. All supporting evidence is included in this letter.
• Join Us Tomorrow at The Statehouse! Wear your Indiana For Medical Freedom t-shirts and bring your handmade signs! Please make sure your signs are smaller than a regular size poster board. You can cut a poster board in half to make two signs, or buy the smaller sized poster boards, usually sold in packs. Do Not put them on sticks.
• Call your Representative at 317-232-9600, leave a message (closed today for MLK day) and ask them to oppose tomorrow.

To Live In a Free and Democratic Society, Vigilant Citizenry Is REQUIRED.

Indiana For Medical Freedom thanks you for your immediate attention to this matter.

After a recent scathing (originally incorrect but later corrected) article was posted by Evansville’s Courier & Press (found here) we determined that we have to get a handle on the misinformation that’s coming from our media. Just look at this screen capture from the original article!

Thimerosol in the MMR? Thimerosol, a mercury-derived preservative, has never and could never be in a live virus vaccine such as the MMR! It would kill the live virus. Any journalist that wants to jump into “the ridiculous vaccine debate” better make very sure that they fact-check to be able to compete with informed parents. A few Indiana For Medical Freedom parents took time out of their day to correct him.

The writer did correct his article and did reply to one parent and said the following:

VICTORY!!! Except his article still makes SB18 sound unnecessary and ridiculous, which it isn’t. Take a look at all of these pages of Indiana Schools coercing, threatening and bullying parents. Our activists took these to the Statehouse to lobby for the bill in question and they’re responsible for getting the bill proposed. Indiana Schools Obfuscates Indiana Law.

Indiana Schools, as it pertains to vaccination, are overseen by the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDOH). These schools are operating outside of the law by only making parents aware of the the first part of the law and not including the 2nd part of the law where exemptions are explained. This information is rarely made known to parents.  Indiana For Medical Freedom, a few State Senators, and countless private citizens have made multiple attempts to contact the ISDOH, to no avail. We have been ignored by ISDOH regarding this matter and so we felt that legislation was necessary. SB18 requires schools to provide written notice at registration that parents are entitled to exemptions from vaccination. See the bill here.

For this reason, we are asking you to join us in a social media storm to call attention to rampant misinformation that’s being spread by the willfully ignorant media; media who are more concerned about advertising dollars from Pharma than they are about the health and safety of our children.

There is a story here that journalist Jon Webb is refusing to cover. Instead, he has chosen to help the ISDOH to further hide the truth of the law from confused and misinformed parents. How many of us have children who were harmed by vaccines BECAUSE we were told that vaccines are required for school, and because we didn’t know we had a choice? That’s the first thing parents who are questioning vaccines ask… “But how do I send my kids to school?” The public does not know about vaccine exemptions. We NEED Senator Charbonneau to call a hearing for this bill so that we can give our testimony and let the legislature know that PARENTS NEED INFORMED CONSENT! By joining our social media storm you can show our legislators how many people in Indiana support Informed Consent and WANT this bill. As always, please be respectful in your correspondence.

TWITTER:
Include our tinyurl link, the  photo and the hashtags in your Tweet as well as tagging Senator Charbonneau.
.@SenatorCharb #SB18 #INLegis #InformedConsent tinyurl.com/INSB18

(notice the .  before @SenatorCharb. This ensures everyone that follows him will see it also).

Here’s an example:

FACEBOOK:
Use the same principles as for Twitter except also tag:
Senator Charbonneau: https://www.facebook.com/ed.charbonneau.5
Jon Webb: https://www.facebook.com/jon.webb.73
The Evansville Courier & Press: https://www.facebook.com/courierpress/

We are also asking for letters to the editor and op-eds be submitted to Evansville Courier & Press. We know it’s likely that nothing will be printed, but if you’d like to try, you can submit your pieces here.  We only have 14 more meeting days before this bill dies (1/12-2/5), so we cannot count on op-eds or letters to the editor being published before then, but it’s still a worthy cause!

If you want to Tweet Jon Webb from Evansville’s Courier & Press, his Twitter Handle is .@JonAdamWebb (Don’t forget the period before the @, so all his followers will see it). We ask that you encourage him to dig deeper and don’t forget to post a photo, link a tinyurl, and include hastags #SB18 #INLegis #InformedConsent!

tinyurl.com/INSB18 will link to all 47 pages of examples of school coercion. Here is a photo you can use in your tweet to support Informed Consent in Indiana as well as draw attention to the tweets. These tweets are more likely to be effective if they include our link, a photo, consistent hashtags and the tagging of an important person. Don’t forget you can retweet what others have posted.

Thanks for your help and stay tuned for further updates!

The Legislative Season is upon us and the first important Hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, January 11th, 2018 at 1pm in the Senate Chambers. It is a meeting of the Family and Children Services committee where they will hear 2 bills of importance.

One bill we would like to SUPPORT is SB 128: Change of placement of a child in need of services.

This bill offers rights to foster parents who have had the chil(ren) in their care for at least a year. It disallows DCS to uproot the kids without first giving the foster parents the right to a hearing. This is in the best interest in the child. An example of when this would be important is in the case of a child removed from the parents and placed with a grandparent or aunt/uncle. We would not want for DCS to be able to move the child to a random family at their own will with no ability for the current guardian to have a say in it. If this bill passes, it would allow the family member the ability to plead their case at a hearing and the judge would not be able to remove the child unless DCS could prove that it was in the best interest of the child. Since foster parents receive payment for caring for their foster children, we definitely want to nip in the bud any further potential for DCS moving children around when it’s not necessary.

The other bill being heard tomorrow which we want to OPPOSE is SB 135: Required DCS notifications for schools.

This bill requires DCS to notify a child’s school if anyone in the household gets arrested for any reason. We OPPOSE this bill because we don’t understand why schools need to know about arrests in the child’s home. What is the reason for this invasion of the child’s privacy in the school setting? What can the school even do about it? Who at the school would receive this notification and what do they intend to do with that information? The bill does not expand on this in any way. Why are ALL arrests required to be reported and not just arrests related to the case? If the child’s uncle is living with the family and gets arrested for unpaid parking tickets, the school needs to be notified? All arrests includes misdemeanors as well as felonies. Even arrests where the accused is later found to be innocent. This bill is painting with too broad of a brush and granting schools access to too much personal and private information. In addition, we don’t even know what they’re going to use this information for and we don’t know why it’s needed in the first place. Are the increased costs of maintaining this information and protecting this information worth the expense of taxpayer dollars in schools that are already under-funded? Many questions need to be answered before a bill like this should be passed. We urge you to call the legislators listed below AND send them an email to let them know that this bill is not ready to be passed without more information. Feel free to use any of the reasons mentioned here and/or any of your own in your email/phone calls.

Senators on the Family and Children Services Committee:
Ron Grooms (Chair of the committee) 317-234-9425
Greg Walker AND John Crane 317-232-9984
Mike Bohacek (Author of SB 135 which we OPPOSE) 317-232-9541
John Ford 317-234-9443
Erin Houchin 317-232-9488
Dennis Kruse 317-233-0930
Timothy Lanane 317-232-9427
Jean Breaux 317-232-9534

Email Block for the committee (you can copy and paste these into the TO field of one single email to send it to them all at once):
s46@iga.in.gov, s41@iga.in.gov, s8@iga.in.gov, s24@iga.in.gov, s38@iga.in.gov, s47@iga.in.gov, s14@iga.in.gov, s25@iga.in.gov, s34@iga.in.gov

Please call/email today, Wednesday January 10th if at all possible. Calls and emails will still be helpful after today since the hearing is not until 1pm tomorrow. If you aren’t reading this until after Thursday January 11th you can comment below and we will let you know if the bill is still being heard or it if already went to a vote.  If you call or email, please go ahead and comment on this post with your experience so others can see how quick and easy it is! Thank you for your support and continue to stay tuned as we get deeper into this legislative session (which ends in just 2 months on March 14th).

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill recently stirred confusion and debate regarding the legality of concentrated hemp extract, commonly referred to as Cannabis Oil or CBD oil. Most forms of CBD oil do not contain any THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the chemical in marijuana responsible for psychoactive  effects. It is unclear whether our AG and our Governor support the use of non THC containing CBD oil. Recent research supports the use of CBD oil as a nutritional supplement for those who suffer with pain, anxiety, autism, cancer, and most prominently, seizure disorders like epilepsy. Local news media report conflicting opinions between Governor Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Curtis Hill, leaving both retailers and consumers unsure of whether their favorite CBD oil product will continue to be available. Technically, CBD oil is legal in all 50 states as long as it’s derived from industrialized hemp and contains less than .3 percent THC.  This will be a priority topic for the upcoming 2018 legislative session.

For Hoosiers using CBD oil regularly to control epilepsy, the current legal ambiguity is cause for serious concern.

Parents like Jade and Lelah Jerger.

On September 20, 2017 Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) opened a file on Jade and Lelah Jerger, parents of Jaehla Jerger, 20 months, with epilepsy. Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis reported the Jergers to DCS,  accusing them of medical neglect for using Charlotte’s Web CBD oil containing 2mg of THC to assist with the toddler’s myoclonic seizures, when the prescribed pharmaceutical drug Keppra failed. Despite experiencing alarming side effects from the medication, DCS demanded weekly monitoring to prove the child was still using the prescription drug and also directed the family to specific medical centers and physicians, removing all medical decision making power from Jade and Lelah Jerger. Failure to comply would result in the toddler’s removal from her parents’ care.

On September 25, 2017 Indiana For Medical Freedom issued an official statement condemning DCS for their overreach and demanded the case be closed. Indiana For Medical Freedom provided the Keppra package insert to Indiana State legislators, by request, along with three studies showing the medication was contraindicated for Jaelah’s care.

On October 2, 2017 DCS closed the Jergers’ case due to “refuted evidence.”

The Jergers’ story made national news, sparking outrage among citizens who stand for parental rights and medical freedom. Lelah Jerger is forced to dispense her CBD oil across state lines or switch to a non THC CBD oil, taking a risk that it might not be as effective on her toddler’s seizures.

As a supporter of Indiana for Medical Freedom, we implore you to contact your legislators and refute the vilification of CBD oil. Removing it from our already limited natural medical treatments strips our ability to govern our own bodies.

We also encourage our readership to research scientific studies and critically evaluate the financial interests of those who govern us. On October 10, 2017 Indiana University and Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb announced that Indiana University donated $50 Million to the State of Indiana to combat Indiana’s opiate crisis. What’s IU’s motivation for the generous donation? A simple internet search reveals that IU’s Department of Biomolecular Science has conducted studies using both synthetic CBD and natural CBD on mice. This research could imply a vested interested in destroying CBD oil in favor of their own synthetic, and more profitable and patentable, product.  This places the pharmaceutical industry in the position of  both opiate addiction cause AND solution; profiting on both ends of the opioid crisis. It’s widely known that the entire IU Health network, including Riley Children’s Hospital and IU School of Medicine, opposes medical marijuana, which could be a result of placing its financial interests above patient care. Currently, CBD oil is the only non-opioid treatment available for addicts. Governor Holcomb and State Senator Jim Merritt (Narcan Proponent) aren’t interested in litigation against the manufacturers of opiates like New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas and Georgia. Drug manufacturers are not held responsible for their role in opioid addiction. The drugs were originally developed to assist in end of life, last resort pain management when addiction is not an issue. Routine surgeries, chronic pain and other common ailments aren’t reason enough to prescribe addictive pain medications, but drug companies fail to educate doctors on the appropriate distribution. The five states listed above have taken legal action against the pharmaceutical manufacturers in order to help cover the costs of dealing with the opiate crisis. The question remains why Governor Holcomb did not pursue a similar solution for Indiana and instead chose to accept the $50 million from Indiana University. An examination into his financial ties to Pharma might be needed.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (article below), states with legalized  medical marijuana are reporting a significant reduction in opiate overdoses. Unfortunately, it appears that the pharmaceutical lobby’s financial power (which doubles that of the mighty Oil Industry) easily overpowers taxpayer preferences.

A strong citizenry is an educated citizenry.  IFMF encourages you to arm yourself with information and learn to connect the dots.  With 1 in 13 children suffering from chronic health issues and 120 million Americans on prescription drugs, it’s time to demand better health care, especially the freedom to choose your preferred method of medical treatment. Parents of sick children won’t tolerate the government standing between them and healing their children.

For additional reading:

https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/htonow/iu-to-spend-m-in-addictions-crisis-initiative/article_e9c37450-adc4-11e7-87b3-f3698b2ced5f.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-powerful-new-form-of-medical-marijuana-without-the-high/2016/12/29/81bbf7c0-b5b2-11e6-b8df-600bd9d38a02_story.html?utm_term=.52183d95c6cf

https://www.wthr.com/article/legal-in-indiana-governor-and-ag-disagree-on-cbd

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1898878

http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(17)31761-4/fulltext

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304059?journalCode=ajph

Get involved. Contact your state representatives before the next General Assembly. For inspiration, see the letter written by Lelah Jerger below.

“Governor Eric Holcomb,

Something has to be done on an emergency session. Our current CBD law is a direct violation of our rights. We had to fight to keep our daughter in our home after being reported for using Charlotte’s Web hemp extract to treat our daughters epilepsy. You say that CPS acted appropriately but you have no idea the threats that were used if we did not comply with them. Would you want your child’s blood drawn WEEKLY to prove a drug was in her system? Would you want someone to force you to send your child to a doctor of THEIR choice? Would you want to keep your child on a medication that caused horrible side effects if a safer alternative that WORKS is available?

This is what YOUR agency came into our home with. The fear that we, not only my husband, Jaelah, and I had to endure, but also our three other children was uncalled for. We had to hold our 10 year old daughter while she cried because she feared they would take her and her brother and sisters. All because we decided to forego traditional medications.

It should be our right as parents to choose medical treatment and which doctors we take our children to. Not anyone else’s.

The Attorney General’s statement has made the fear real again. We are working on getting Jaelah on the registry because her doctor DOES agree with the treatment, but since we were threatened with removal of our daughter if we took her anywhere else but Norton’s in Kentucky, we do not have an Indiana-licensed physician yet. This is what YOUR agency did.

And what happens in the mean time? Do we stop treatment on Jaelah until she is officially on the registry? Do we let her continue to have seizures because legally we can’t give her her treatment? The treatment her doctor agrees with. What would you do if this was your child????

The current law has forced us to divide our family over the Thanksgiving holiday because I had to go somewhere that I could legally give Jaelah her treatment. While you were comfortable in your home surrounded by your family, mine was torn apart.

This is America, the land of the free. However, we aren’t free. We aren’t free to make any decisions on our own without fear of government involvement. This is what our state has become. It does NOT work.

What are you going to do about it?”

Indiana For Medical Freedom stands with The Jergers and ALL families negatively affected by this issue and we respectfully request that you immediately address this issue in a manner that benefits citizens; not the pharmaceutical lobby, not Indiana University, not IU School of Medicine, and not Riley Hospital.