I’m against it.

As a kid, I spent almost two years in a hospital after coming down with this illness.

There are different varieties—and newer treatments are about 1,000% better than back in the old country. But just ask the fourteen people who’ve died: it’s no joke.

The irony for me is that I was left with a post-recovery arthritis that has made me just the kind of guy who buys those kinds of injections three or four times a year.

But I don’t do them. Because they don’t work. Or rather, they can work, for a short period. See the injections themselves are pretty controversial. There’s a huge placebo affect. And you’re getting an injection millimeters away from yer spinal fluid—which you really want to stay as far away from as possible. But there are a lot of ‘boomers’ these days with a lot of aches and pains… and spare cash. And doctors convinced that this sort of thing is ‘routine’.

My point is this: apparently the places that make a lot of these drugs are not subject to those pesky ‘regulations’ we hear so much about these days.

Look: It’s 2012. Somebody is injecting an elective drug into your SPINE and it’s not FEDERALLY REGULATED?

I’m not trying to tell anyone who to vote for (I’m thrilled to death that you’re voting for anyone these days.) But as you decide who to pull the lever for, please let me reiterate:

You do not want to get meningitis.

And you have an absolute right to expect that when some Dr. sticks something into your spine, it’s been FULLY regulated. You shouldn’t have to ask, ‘Hey Doc… has this thing been, you know, inspected for freshness? Seriously. You shouldn’t have to check Angie’s List or the BBB to make sure your brand of steroids has been vacuum-sealed at the factory.

Elected officials don’t think up this sort of scam. Somebody at some company decided to lobby for some exception to ‘the regulations’. Then your elected officials went for it;probably because it was a real money-saver.

There are a lot of things you have a right to take for granted. That means lots o’ them dang-fool regulations.

Don’t vote for anyone who would think this was OK.