Commentary The vast majority of pharmaceuticals used in the United States come from China. That’s bad news for Americans, as both countries are now engaged in a new cold war. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 53 novel drugs in 2020, which averages out at about one new drug every seven days. The United States, literally awash in prescription medication, is at the mercy of the FDA, a federal agency that approves drugs at an astounding rate. Why is this the case? The reason why Big Pharma comes with a capital B is because the FDA—along with a number of elected politicians—has a vested interest in the success of the pharmaceutical industry. That success comes with significant costs, particularly for the American people. Across the country, drug overdose deaths involving prescription opioids rose from 3,442 in 1999 to 17,029 in 2017. Last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control …