On September 22, 2014, Gary Young received a letter from the Food and Drug Administration. You may think that that has nothing to do with you. Your name isn’t Gary Young and you don’t have any dealings with the FDA. In reality, this letter could impact the freedoms that you enjoy as an American citizen.
Gary Young is the founder and CEO of Young Living Essential Oils. Over the past few years, essential oils have been popular natural remedies for treating anything from sore throats and cancer to dirty counters in the kitchen. Many people claim to have benefited from essential oils and that’s what got the FDA’s attention.
People have been telling their stories on social media. Some even have Facebook accounts used for selling essential oils. The FDA took notice of those posts. And you thought that the guy from high school stalking you on Facebook was creepy. Well, it turns out that he got a job with the FDA. The government organization decided that it was time to send a message to Gary Young and those who benefit from the services he provides. That message was clear. What you’ve been doing needs to be regulated by us. Or else.
Or else?
What could the FDA possibly do to a guy who just sells peppermint oil.
Probably the same thing they did to an Amish farmer who sold raw milk to his neighbors. That is, raid his property with heavily armed U.S. Marshals and state troopers. You know, all to protect the public from the dangers of lavender oil.
Here’s the thing with essential oils. While they certainly aren’t a cure all, they work. I’ve seen it. They make fevers go away. They help with certain side effects of cancer and arthritis. And yes, they can even be used to clean the kitchen counter.
But what if they didn’t? Pretend with me for a moment that the whole essential oil craze was a sham. Would that then necessitate armed guards coming in to someone’s home and taking away their inventory? Of course not. If it did, those same agents would have to forcibly remove over half of this country’s prescription drugs from homes. You know, those FDA approved chemicals that are great at covering symptoms while doing nothing whatsoever for the actual problem. Yeah, the ones with commercials where more time is devoted to informing you of the potential risks than the so-called benefits.
I know a guy whose job requires him to be one of the first people on the scene when someone in his community dies. One day he was telling me about the number of those deaths that are caused by drugs. In the community where he lives, none of those drug related deaths have anything to do with heroin or cocaine. No, most of them are related to pain killers. FDA approved pain killers. For the record, there have been no deaths caused by too much oregano oil.
The issue here is control. That’s why the same government that likes to tell us that a woman killing her baby is a matter of her body and her private business wants to threaten a man with force for selling you peppermint oil. The FDA can’t have people getting healed apart from the government’s infinite wisdom. If that started happening too much, well, people just might realize that we don’t really need the FDA as it currently exists. And trust me, the FDA as it currently exists doesn’t want that to happen.
One of the more popular essential oils is called Thieves. As legend has it, in the 15th century, four French thieves were caught robbing the dead and dying of their riches and they managed not to catch any of the diseases carried by those they had robbed. In return for a lighter sentence, the judge asked them for their secret. How did they manage to not get sick? It was the blend of clove, rosemary and other botanicals that protected them. Thus the name thieves.
Centuries later, that blend is still protecting people from illness. But the people also need protection from the thieves who wish to steal our essential liberties along with our essential oils. Thankfully, our protection has been in place for a couple of hundred years now.
If only our government would pay attention to it.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Amendment IV, The Constitution of the United States.
So the next time you have a stuffy nose, look for some peppermint oil to rub under your nose. But if anyone from the FDA asks you where you got it from, tell them that Hillary Clinton sold it to you on her Facebook page.
