When people say or hear "drug free", almost no one thinks of being COMPLETELY drug free. Few would even want to; and, obviously, such a way of life is NOT for everybody. But the following true story was contributed by a person who HAS been completely drug free for WELL over half a century, and is living proof of what CAN be done if you come to understand the workings and needs of the human body and try to exercise good judgement (not jumping on every fad that comes along) ----as well as some of the social consequences you should be prepared for should you even consider such a decision.

I grew up with three non-medical health care professionals. My father and both grandfathers. They were Chiropractors. They didn't just "crunch bones" or "crack joints" as is the common misconception. My dad and my maternal grandfather particularly were very interested in nutritional and other biological therapies (which nowadays would most likely be classified as naturopathic) that affected things like body chemistry and metabolism, including acid and alkaline balance and elimination of toxic byproducts ---as well as educating their patients in simple natural things they could do for themselves to promote healing and good health.

It was bad enough that in some States of the U.S. at the time, Chiropractors were still fighting court battles to be recognized and licensed as health care professionals ---and over false charges from you-can-guess-who of "practicing medicine without a license". It's a NON-MEDICAL healing profession, remember; so NO FORM of MEDICAL treatment was ever used. The charge was obviously just a fabricated excuse to restrain the "competition".

This gross intolerance, along with misleading information others would relate being given by their MEDICAL doctors, made me determined to take charge of my own health (good or ill) according to what I had learned growing up. Naturally, I received all the education Dad gave all his patients put together ---many times over. Talk about growing up drug free! - - - I've never even had so much as an aspirin. Not because I've never had pain. I was always more concerned with the CAUSE than the pain itself. Pain is our body's warning system to keep us from injuring ourselves worse. And I was about as willing to suppress that as any rational person would be to remove the batteries from all the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in the house.

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate any medical doctors personally. Most of the few I've met were quite likable individuals. But after what our family had learned from many patients' MEDICAL experiences and from the "confidential" Medical newsletters (similar to this Journal of the American Medical Association article ) Dad and Grandad would inadvertently receive as a result of having "Dr." in front of their names, I began to see Medicine's APPROACH to illness as seriously flawed, and it's SYSTEM as greedy and less than completely honest (for lack of a "nice" more-accurate description ---I'm trying to remain "civil" about this). Of course, no human institution is incorruptible; but I decided I did NOT want omnipotent "mainstream Medicine" getting their hands on me UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. That decision may not sound very rational to you, but a lot of careful thought preceded it and I'm convinced I've had superior health care for my personal needs for well over a century. ---If only I didn't have to defend personal health care choices that are actually safer AND MORE EFFECTIVE in the long term (not to mention being nobody else's business)! Or feel like I'm "walking on eggs" to keep from having to! (Scrambled eggs, anyone?)

I didn't have to for a time. In my youthful wanderings I stumbled upon a rather unique little sub-culture among the otherwise same kind of friends in an area that drew people from many varied backgrounds, cultures and places. As a result, almost everybody was different from nearly everyone else but seldom did anybody even seem to notice. Even when they did, friends like these didn't have to understand everything to be understanding. It was truly refreshing. But in the years since then I have finally realized, especially after becoming the 24-hour-7-day-a-week caregiver for my last-surviving elderly invalid parent who had put these same totally non-medical health care choices in writing in a DPA (Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care) form before becoming completely disabled--- that down deep very little has really changed in western society. All the "natural" and "organic" advertising and all the "complementary" and "alternative medicine" hype not withstanding. Naturally all these friends wanted to help, and those who could (including a few medical professionals) seemed exceptionally flexible and non-opinionated. But it only takes one or two authoritarian latecomers who assume they understand completely, but actually comprehend nothing of the patient's LEGALLY SIGNED AND WITNESSED INSTRUCTIONS (yet feel very strongly "duty bound" to set things "right" in their uninformed view ---medically, of course) to strike panic in the hearts of misinformed-but-easily-intimidated ones.

As I write this my "patient" has not even had visitors in months and, of course, I no longer feel the refuge here I did in the past. But even worse, to see my dear friends so intimidated by such a powerful totalitarian system as to render some of them (even if unwittingly and unintentionally) too oblivious and intolerant to be capable of truly listening with genuine understanding to any other concept of life and health has to be one of the saddest, most despicable things I have ever personally witnessed.