Archive Editorial, May 11th, 1992, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

If there is any plausible excuse for the Gestapo-like tactics used in a raid on a Kent alternative-medicine clinic last week, it had better be forthcoming—and fast.

King County Police officers, directed by agents from the Food and Drug Administration, kicked in the door of Dr. Jonathan Wright's clinic with guns drawn and pointed at clinic employees. They commanded the staff to "freeze" and put their hands in the air.

On what grounds? Were armed terrorists believed to be injecting vitamin shots in the clinic? Were naturopathic revolutionaries plotting the violent overthrow of the American Medical Association's national convention? Were crack or methamphetamine laboratories thought to be bubbling away in the back room?

No. As far as we can tell—and it's hard to tell because neither the King County Police nor the FDA are saying much—the justification for the U.S. District Court's search warrant and raid was the alleged unlicensed production of drugs (pharmaceuticals, not street drugs) at the clinic.

Now look, reasonable people don’t expect law-enforcement officers to take unnecessary risks in serving search warrants on crack houses, street gang lairs, or terrorist hideouts. Serving warrants can be risky business. But door-kicking, gun-slinging theatrics worthy of a “Cops” episode to serve a search warrant on a natural-medicine clinic? Come on.

Come on, King County and FDA, and offer some reasonable justification. There are already hints that federal officials will request portions of the warrant be sealed—especially those parts explaining the FDA's actions.

Absent some clear and present danger to national security, we urge U.S. Magistrate Judge John Weinberg to reject any attempt at a cover-up and to not seal the documents in this case.

There are serious questions raised about not only the raid's tactics but also its motivation. Keep in mind that Wright has filed a lawsuit against the FDA demanding the return of stocks of the dietary supplement L-tryptophan. A contaminated batch of the supplement was discovered elsewhere, but Wright asserts that his uncontaminated stocks should be returned.

It’s also worth noting that the holistic, dietary-oriented theories and practices of Wright and similar physicians have often met resistance and disdain from many mainstream colleagues.

It would be unconscionable if Wright were being persecuted—or worse, prosecuted—for nothing more than challenging the powers that be in the medical and regulatory world.

The public is owed a full and complete accounting, and soon.