By AJ Chandler, host @ Joi Revolution
From pill pusher to herbalist...
In 2006, I left a high paying pharmaceutical job with lots of perks and benefits…and many people asked me WHY? Your job is so lucrative. Why would you give it up?
The bottom line is, I gave up my career in Big Pharma because I could no longer continue to feel like I was not really helping people as much as I wanted to. After 20 years of pushing pills for a living, I decided to do something that was shocking to many… I quit, and began to do what I truly believed in. I felt like a natural and more holistic approach to health and wellness was the way to go. One where all dimensions of whole health are addressed: the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual sides of wellness. I wanted to help people get well and stay well… not just give them a temporary fix or cover up a symptom. As healthcare providers, it seemed to me that we should be helping patients get away from pills, not take more of them. We need to help the body heal itself by addressing the root causes.
God gives us the use of plants and herbs for curative care, both physical (2 Kings 20:7; Psalm 51:7) and emotional (Psalm 45:8; Genesis 43:11).
I mean, isn’t that what God intended all along? Isn’t it true that herbal medicines have been around for thousands of years in every culture across the globe? All of the indigenous people knew this and passed it on, all the way into the early 1900’s. In fact, plants such as cannabis were in the Physician’s desk reference up until 1930s. Yep. The FDA was formed in 1935, then later, cannabis was removed and put into the same class as dangerous hard drugs like cocaine and heroine… Why?…
Well, it’s pretty obvious when you follow the money.
What I witnessed as a pharmaceutical rep in the late 80s through early 2000’s opened my eyes up to what really goes on behind the healthcare scene. Yes, I do believe there are doctors and nurses who are good people and go into healthcare because they genuinely have a desire to help people be well, but the system is really not designed to make us well and stay well. Instead, it is based on keeping people needing the system, rather than, to live without constant doctor visits, or days off work, or without pain, without allergies, or without feeling sick and tired all the time. The more we feel sick, the more the system thrives. It sounds crazy, and it sounds evil, but the truth is, it is what it is… and what it is not, is a system that embraces getting to the root cause of issues. It does not address lifestyle or the mental/emotional sides of wellness. It is based on providing a “bandaid” for symptoms — rarely getting to the root cause — and this is why I chose to stop being part of a broken system. Yes, I made a good living selling these drugs, but at the end of the day, I had to feel good about myself and what I was really doing.
When your job is based on earning commissions that are tied to more Rx’s, then where is the incentive to get patients off these drugs? Where is the motivation to help patients stay well to the point where they no longer need the system so much? Unfortunately, there is none.
This is why I became an advocate of natural wellness. Although I do accept that there is a need for some pharmaceutical drugs and western medicine, I also know that it is not necessary to be used as the first line of therapy. When medical school graduates become doctors they take the Hippocratic Oath, which states, “at first, do no harm,” which means they are supposed to take the least invasive route and choose things that are the least toxic. They are to offer solutions that have little or no side effects first, then if that does not work, they can alway choose the pharmaceutical drugs that are available.
From all the research I have done over the past 30 years, I have discovered that we have always had many amazing medicinal solutions given to us by our creator. There seems to be a plant for almost everything… just the way God intended. I am guessing that was his purpose for putting Adam & Eve in a garden from the beginning. What do you think?
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Angie Chandler
Conscious Entrepreneur, wellness researcher/messenger
Founder of Joicenter.com
Greenville, SC