Funding a company to effectively hook people on pills by taking advantage of their vulnerability, mental state and frustration is nothing less than profane. It's one thing to turn people into ad-clicking drones, quite another to hook them on drugs when they do not need them.

You might object to my lashing out. Well, sometimes it is important to take a strong stance. And, yes, sometimes those promoting magical solutions are culpable and should be scolded.

Am I wrong? I do not think so. Nobody needs pills to lose weight. Nobody. That is a matter of both biology and physics. I'll defy anyone to prove otherwise. Have we become insane?

The problem is that we have industrialized bad food choices and have created a marketplace where it is actually difficult to escape stuff that is bad for you.

Just last night we were at a restaurant. A few tables over was a family where every single member, kids included, were twice the size of a normal and healthy person. Their table was full of all of the wrong choices. And, on top of that, large free-refill glasses of soft drinks. At the end of their meal they all had cake and ice cream. Wow.

My youngest kids just started in-person high school again. The school has free food for every student. Its absolute garbage. The word "junk" doesn't even begin to cover it. The healthiest thing they have is apple juice, with nearly 40 grams of sugar per serving. My kids pack a lunch, just a simple sandwich them make themselves every morning. Not very expensive at all. Not hard to make. We don't make them, the kids do and have been doing so for years. They also drink water. We have no soft drinks at home. The kids grew up drinking water and have no cravings whatsoever for soft drinks, candy, ice cream, etc. Sure, we occasionally have the stuff at parties, but that's the exception rather than the rule. And, no, they are not deprived. They simply do not care for the stuff because they did not become addicted to any of it as they grew up.

Every family relying on the State/City/County/School district to feed their kids is, in return, having their kids poisoned. Worse yet, their kids are being programmed to become addicted to food that is absolutely horrible for them. When they come out of school they are well on their way to diabetes and other problems.

Pills?

Please.

Our kids are coming into adulthood biologically programmed for high levels of sugar and carbohydrate consumption. It's all they eat since they are done with breast feeding. No pill is going to fix that level of programming.

People who reach high levels of obesity are susceptible to the kinds of things that are going to cause them to spend money popping all kinds of pills every day. They are suffering, lots of them are depressed and our government and regulatory agencies have failed them --which is part of the reason they got there.

We don't need pills. The problem is systemic. Fund startups who will deal with this and not ones that are no different from any other yo-yo diet program by any other name.

Does anyone really think someone is going to change life-long habits after popping pills for a year? What is far more likely to happen is that they will become dependent on said pills, which is great for a revenue stream and a billion dollar exit to a pharmaceutical giant, not so great for the individual.

What is beyond the pale here isn't my choice of language or intensity, it's the ultimate significance of what this startup represents. No different from the abomination that bariatric surgery is. Great business. Horrible for the individual. I know two people who nearly died after having it.

Who am I kidding. There's money in suffering. I'll bet it will be a fantastic IPO one day. Maybe you should start marketing outside schools. Just like smoking, that's your future user base. Congratulations.