To redress balance I tried one of purple ones next. Heck! She had a point. Made to make our eyes water, obviously. I don’t remember sweets being this intense.

I haven’t really thought about sweets since my childhood. I don’t have a sweet tooth, so why should I? It’s only since I’ve had step-kids, for about a year now, that things such as Opal Fruits now find themselves secreted in glove box.

Starburst, as we all know were called Opal Fruits. I wasn’t really allowed sweets as a kid … only other day I was going on about how I didn’t have Frosties for breakfast but I vividly remember growing up eating Country Store in mornings. Anyone remember Country Store? As insipid to a child as Alpen but without any of forgiving flavours. At least Alpen offered hope. Back then, a raisin was hallowed.

Anyhow, I digress; Opal Fruits. The first time I had an Opal Fruit was at some friend’s birthday party. I was around six at time and these sweets were being handed out on a plate and because they were new to me, I didn’t realise wrapper was still on. Funny sweet, I thought … intricate design yet curiously papery in texture. Oh, happy, embarrassing days.

Apart from that instance with Opal Fruit, and staple diet of Country Store, an annual visit to local Wimpy was akin to a religious experience.

All this talk of food is for a reason, I assure you. As many of you will know, Kraft were recently in news due to their having decided to have a rethink about their foodstuffs.

What war am I talking about, I hear you say.

I’m talking about latest war, or battle for want of another word, going on between U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry and pharmacies in Canada. As I dug deeper into this story I realised several things. I learnt that U.S. consumers pay highest prices in world for prescription drugs, often as much as double price that Canadians actually pay. I learnt that U.S. pharmaceutical industry has annual gross sales for prescription drugs that amount to just over $159.8 billion! Yes, that’s not a typo.

It seems that FDA is taking sides with U.S. industry, inasmuch, they say that import drugs may not be packaged and stored under appropriate conditions. Moreover, that there is no guarantee that drugs have been produced under current good manufacturing practices. But more importantly, FDA released a statement saying that:

“When consumers take such unsafe and inappropriate medications, they face risks of dangerous drug interactions and other serious health consequences.”

At moment of writing, a U.S. committee is trying to determine whether Canadian drugs are safe. It also doesn’t hold back when it says that FDA is obviously taking sides with U.S. pharma industry.

From my line of business I have dealings everyday with people suffering from heart disease, high cholesterol levels, hypertension, diabetes, and people who are overweight or obese, and others who try to do their best to get a grip on their lives and start taking control.

These people can actually be saving hundreds of dollars on their monthly drug bill. In fact, many are already purchasing their supply of medications directly on internet from Canadian online pharmacies. Are they doing wrong thing? Isn’t this going against American spirit?

But should it really be so expensive to live our lives as best as possible when medications are needed?

I recently heard about one lady who uses a discount drug service that connects her to a Canadian pharmacy where she buys her medicine and saves $300 (US) a month!