Once again, we're being passed by the world of medicine... and our own docs are just watching and waving as it goes by.

The German Medical Association has told its doctors to go ahead and use placebos in cases where they've been proven to work -- but that common-sense position doesn't sit well here in the land of Big Pharma.

Instead of embracing placebos, our docs are responding with outrage.

They're bellyaching about "ethics" and "deceit" -- as if any doc smart enough to cure a patient with the cheapest, safest and most effective treatment is somehow pulling a fast one.

It's unadulterated nonsense, but it just shows how backwards our medical system has become -- and why we waste so many billions a year on risky drugs we don't need, for conditions that will often go away on their own or that never really existed in the first place.

But maybe that'll change in Germany now that docs have the official OK to stop playing Big Pharma Roulette and start handing out placebos for conditions such as anxiety, depression, chronic inflammation, pain and asthma.

It sure beats handing out drug samples!

I won't get into the details about how or why the body heals itself when you get a pill full of nothing. The simple reality is that it does, and it does so often enough that there's no reason not to let docs use placebos for any number of conditions.

On the other hand, placebos don't work all the time and they don't work for everyone, so let's not get too carried away here.

In many cases, symptoms and diseases exist for a reason -- and you're not going to get any lasting relief until you find that reason, and fix it.

An experienced naturopathic physician can help you there -- and even if he's not inclined to hand out sugar pills, you can bet that anything he offers will be safer and more effective than drugs.

On the other hand, you could always book a flight to Germany.

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