Right To Free Speech Is Being Violated In The US

This is absurd. A guy from North Carolina has been threatened with legal action by the North Carolina Board of Dietetics and Nutritionists for blogging about his healthy diet.

The blogger in question used to be an overweight, insulin-dependant, type 2 diabetic and due to managing his diet and having healthy eating habits he has now managed to maintain normal blood-sugar levels and become insulin free.

He blogs about his experience and gives diet tips so others can do the same. From what I have seen from his blog, he doesn't tell people to go off their insulin or anything, he just promotes a healthy diet.

From his blog post, which you can find here, he says:

"In January (2012), the state board opened an investigation into my blog and told me to stop advising people through my blog postings, publicly or in private. No matter if it was for compensation or for free. Essentially, the board told me that not only could I not charge people to talk about diet, I could not talk to my friends about diet.

The board made it clear that talking about diet without a license is a crime and they could take me to court."

So talking about diet without a license is a crime now is it? What about all the other bloggers out there who talk about their diet and share diet tips? What about the internet marketers out there who are promoting dietary supplements and weightloss formulas? What about Michelle Obama who is known to share her diet tips and give dietary advice on daytime television shows? Why aren't they targeted? Why this man?

My guess is because he is talking about something that could actually really change peoples lives. It is well known that type 2 diabetes can be managed through a healthy diet, but the pharmaceutical companies who make big profits from the sales of drugs like insulin don't want us knowing that. They don't want people to be healthy, they want people to be sick so they can keep selling their medications and making a disgustingly huge profit.

Fortunately this man didn't have to take his blog down, but he did have to change a few things. Also from his blog post which can be found here.

"In response to this investigation, I did three things:

1) stopped doing my published advice column.

2) took down my diabetes support package links.

3) and made my disclaimer more prominent. Additionally, I added a disclaimer at the bottom of every page.

Because I complied with their order to stop speaking and to change what I say and what I publish, the board concluded that I am in substantial compliance and closed the investigation.

All this means is that the board has violated my First Amendment rights by silencing me and altering how I express my opinions."

Here is a comment from one of his readers on another blog post about the issue which can be found here:

"I’m sorry you have to deal with this, Steve.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been scanning your website here for at least a year and don’t recall reading anything that would be dangerous to the general public or people with diabetes. But what do I know? I’m not a dietitian certified by the state of North Carolina. I’m just a physician who’s been treating diabetes for 30 years.

Perhaps the NC Board of Medicine will come after you next.

An issue like this comes down to how much time and money you want to spend fighting it. The Board of Dietitians has more time and money than most individuals, and they know it. That’s why most folks capitulate to the Board.

The libertarian-leaning Institute for Justice might be interested in helping you since this appears to be a First Amendment issue. Here’s the link: http://www.ij.org/cases

 My sense is that the Institute for Justice works on some cases without charge.

Good luck.

-Steve"

Isn't this sad? As you can see in the first quote, this man apparently isn't even allowed to talk about his diet with his friends. We are all guilty of doing that. Does that mean that we are also criminals who are breaking the law? It seems that according the the North Carolina Board of Diabetics and Nutritionists, advocating healthy eating habits and talking about our diet without a license is breaking the law. Not only has this mans right to free speech been violated, everyones right to free speech has been threatened.

There is also an interesting article on govtslaves.info about the topic that is worth reading.