This article provides a historical narrative of the genesis of administrative structures to regulate gene therapy. It also examines whether the history of the introduction of gene therapy can provide a regulatory success story, albeit one whose example may not be sufficiently robust to shepherd more socially divisive medical innovations from the laboratory to the clinic. As a result of its passage of Proposition 215, which very publicly allows for the medical use of marijuana, California placed itself in direct confrontation with the federal government's 1970 Controlled Substances Act. Used for over a century to treat the symptoms of numerous maladies, including wasting associated with AIDS and nausea induced by chemotherapy, the federal government, apparently for political reasons, refuses to publicly acknowledge the scientifically supported benefits of marijuana, although it and a number of states quietly provide for small therapeutic programs using the drug. Recognizing the medicinal value of narcotics, such as opium and cocaine, and expounding the benefits of saving uncharted rainforests to protect plants that may prove medically valuable, the US government appears to still be at war with a drug popularized by the 1960s counterculture, leaving many legitimately suffering citizens to choose between pain and jail.
Internet pharmacies sell medication through their websites.
Other pharmacies exist only in the cyber-world, and prescriptions are filled and shipped from a warehouse. Legitimate, law-abiding Internet pharmacies benefit modern healthcare in numerous ways. Some Internet pharmacies, however, conduct illegal and unsafe prescribing and dispensing that can endanger the health of patients. Controversy exists over which regulatory body should govern the sale of prescription drugs over the Internet and how Internet pharmacies should be regulated. This article contends that cooperation between state and federal regulatory avenues can promote the safety of Internet pharmacies adequately.