If you are going to make these large statements then please provide primary sources rather than the author referencing their own books - this seems quite the conflict of interest and lack of peer review, especially on an article that has such traction and audience.

The claim that 1/3 of deaths in the US are caused be medication errors is speculative based on extrapolations of death certificate data, and in no way verifiable.

"Most people let their doctor make decisions for them" - quite the statement but no citation. Maybe you haven't heard of shared-decision making.

Many medicines are taken by risk:benefit decision, and its not as simple as saying they are 'unnecessary'. Sure, an anticoagulant is 'unnecessary', but only if you accept a significant increased risk of stroke if you suffer from AF. Not to mention we have risk scores that balance risk of stroke versus bleeding, which are discussed WITH the patient, not AWAY from the patient.

I am *seriously* on board the train to reduce medications, drive lifestyle promotion, and keep people the hell out of the medical system for as long as humanely possible, but this is sloppy sensationalist writing. 

Loved my Level 2 Course, great environment and energy. Fantastic Coaching staff and my peers really brought their A game.  I can't wait to continue my CrossFit education:)

I am SO thankful for the radiant and knowledgeable CF team at Koda Norman last weekend for Level 2 training. Abi - I just want to be you! You're beautiful inside and out. Zach and Casey - you guys led such great workouts and provided such helpful feedback. Thank you again for pouring all your time and energy into us coaches! I am forever grateful!! 🙌❤

Hi! Looking forward to this! Just sent an email to get more information! Super exciting! CrossFit Eau Claire :0)

Yes, be a skeptic, learn about your condition, make lifestyle interventions, etc....and if you don't trust your doctor, find a different doctor.  Trust is a crucial element of the patient-physician therapeutic relationship.
Robert Labutta, MD

Can’t wait to go! So awesome to see so many gathering who have hung on for the ride over all these years! 

I was nervous going in to my L1 training, but I had a great time and met a ton of awesome people. So thankful for Naptown to host!! All of our “red shirts” were amazing :)

Thank you; great article!

Una de las mejores experiencias Waooo!! Crossfit de lo mejor

Hi! Sent an email yesterday!! We affiliated 10 years ago!!!  CrossFit Greer!!!

What an amazing weekend in Portland, ME!  Thank you to Maniac CrossFit for hosting the event.  James, Melissa, Larry & Rachael, you are such a great training team!  To all the participants, so refreshing to be with so many like minded people!  

Do military affiliates count? Iron Major CrossFit was established 3/28/2009, did not get an email.

Had a great experience at L2 in Norman OK. Thanks to Abi, Zach, Casey, and my fellow participants for an unforgettable weekend! Many, many takeaways to grow on from here. 

Crossfit Mayhem in Cookeville TN is an EPIC place to get complete the L-1 seminar.  Couple that with EPIC instructors and the experience is unbelievable.  Great Job Crossfit, and a huge shoutout to our Coaches this weekend in Austin M, Lindsay A, Greg K, Mike M, Katie P, and Kim M.  

Rowing? 
Thought this was a rest day...

Thanks to Seminar Staff Joe Degain, Sarah Mills, Kolin and Alex for making this a valuable, memorable experience at CrossFit NapTown!  How was I lucky enough to get OG CrossFit legend Joe Degain a second time, along with expert judge Sarah Mills? Thanks so much for being an inspiration to be the best coach and athlete I can be. 

I had such an incredible experience doing the Level 1 course. All the instructors were so amazing and so passionate about CrossFit that it fueled my passion even more. I took this course to better my knowledge and for my own benefit and never thought about coaching, this weekend has started me thinking about coaching in the future at some point. I will be working towards that goal. Thanks again! I truly loved every minute of this course. 

Joe, Sarah, Kolin and Alex were great! CrossFit Naptown's facility was top notch too.  I had an awesome experience.  I learned so much more than I thought I would.  I look forward to using what I learned to not only fix the flaws in how I move, but help other learn to move better too.  Thank you all for the great weekend!

Great read, keep this up- Thanks!

Great L1 weekend at CrossFit NapTown in Indianapolis.  Joe, Sarah, Alex, and Kolin absolutely killed it by keeping the group engaged and entertained.  You gain a ton of information on the methodology, nutrition, and what it's like to sit with 30+ people that just busted out a cuplet on a hot day in June :).    Everyone interested in CrossFit should take this course.  Learning how to properly do the core movements will pay off for anyone striving to move better.  Great job!

I drove down from the northern Chicago suburbs to attend the Level 1 course at Naptown Crossfit in Indianapolis.  It was well worth it.  The amount of information and knowledge I received in one weekend was truly astounding.  Joe--you are an amazing public speaker.  Sarah, Kolin and Alex, thank you as you three were great as well.  It was easily worth the time and I appreciated your efforts. Thank you. 

This content was very interesting and useful, thank you 

Great experience!! 

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." 
While in his third law Newton was not describing medications, he may as well have been. How can we believe that a medication will only have one desired effect with no other system perturbations? The benefit must outweigh the risks. This is why we must always have a healthy degree of skepticism, but not so much that we forego all treatment.

Tickets booked, super excited to be making the trek from Oz for this 

We are in! No way we'll miss this event.  Been an amazing ride so far. Thanks to Coach and the CFHQ Staff.

Just completed the level 1 course at Rio Grande Crossfit with two of the best instructors/coaches, Eric and Nicole, I have ever experienced in my 5 years of CF. Not only did they give expert coaching, teaching, and instructions, but they were so damn personable and funny! Keep up the good work you two. Your passion is infectious!

I had a blast this weekend at CrossFit NapTown!! I learned so much and my confidence grew so much in being able to move well. A huge thank you to Kolin, Joe, Sarah, and Alex for making this weekend awesome! 

Gotzsche's 6th paragraph (Above all, avoid the biggest killers...) has particularly damning implications with regard to our ability to accurately assess the net impact of our medications on overall health. We have a reasonable sense of how a drug affects its targeted condition - i.e., how a heart disease drug affects heart disease morbidity / mortality. But it seems hard to believe we could understand the various incremental ways a drug, or a combination of drugs, could affect morbidity & mortality (and other, softer outcomes like quality of life) related to a variety of other conditions. We can capture some of this in clinical trials, of course, but this may fail to capture negative effects felt by a subset of the treated population, or negative effects that are not obviously connected to the drug and so are minimized or dismissed.

Of course, some of the reliance on drugs likely stems from an often-fatalistic  attitude toward lifestyle interventions - egregiously illustrated by the growing chorus of recommendations to push for bariatric surgery as the first line of treatment for morbid obesity. If we can show lifestyle interventions can be MORE effective, and consistently so, then the perceived NEED for drugs decreases dramatically. And that would be an improvement by almost any standard.

Impressionism is the best of the art periods.  Monet is the best of the impressionists.  And the soleil levant is perhaps his best work.  Well done.

Let the comments begin!

Going through the CF-L1 course at Crossfit Naptown in Indianapolis, IN was a AMAZING experience!
I want to give a huge shout out to Joe, Sarah, Kolin, and Alex for being the best instructors the could be, every minute this weekend!

Joe- For sharing all his knowledge in a whole! With sharing all of his years that are under his belt, helping with random questions through out the lessons, but also helping even outside of the class time!
Sarah- Being the most inspired/uplifted instructor! I have never seen someone so passionate for Crossfit as Sarah was when she taught us all of her lectures this weekend!
Kolin- Being the class clown all weekend, but also for sharing his knowledge extremely well and calm through out his lectures!
Alex- Being the most energetic person in the gym, moving around everywhere, and making the learning experience a fun energetic experience!

I have never stayed so focused in a class before.- Not because I knew I had to, but mainly because I wanted too!
They were all amazing with teaching and sharing a lot of information at once, but also explaining it as little as possible in order for us not to be overwhelmed.

I know for a fact, if the were all different college teachers, I would easily have a A in all of their classes!

Tips to all of you(instructors) for giving my first CF-L certification class a amazing experience, helping me learn even more on what I know now, and helping be develope- not just as a trainer, but as a Athlete as well!

And thank you all to everyone who joined me and helping the experience become even better!

I am jealous! This is awesome and thank you to all of the 10-year affiliates for paving the way. Also, thank you to any of the gyms who are no longer affiliated but still helped build a solid foundation. They were all important.

I hope we can get some video from the gathering!

Just finished up a really great level 1 course at Rio Grande CrossFit. I appreciated the vibe of the group and the support everyone showed for one another throughout the weekend. I was also very inspired by coaches Nicole and Eric who gave a really fun yet meaningful course and were very helpful to answer any questions we had. Thank you all for a great weekend!!

I had the best experience taking the level 1 course!!! CrossFit NapTown was a great gym and the community was wonderful! Big thanks to the best coaches and instructors, Joe, Sarah, Kolin, and Alex! You guys were great, thanks so much for a great weekend! 

Excelente curso ,muy buen nivel de enseñanza y couches de alto nivel de conocimientos  viva el crossfit 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

How many 10 year plus affiliates are there?