….except that the drugs were homeopathic, so all we got was a maybe a bit of a sugar buzz.This morning, about 35 members of CFI Ottawa and Ottawa Skeptics assembled around the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill, as part of the world-wide 10:23 Campaign to raise public awareness about homeopathy.Dr. Chris Hassall distributed vials of assorted homeopathic preparations — all guaranteed, according to the labels, to contain not one molecule of the stated active ingredient. (I did worry slightly that a patrolling cop might consider this activity to constitute some sort of illicit drug dealing — right on the steps of Parliament! Now that would make an interesting court case). At 10:23am (or thereabouts) we up-ended our respective vials and choked down the contents. Here we are a few minutes later, when (so far) no one has died, fainted, or suffered any other dramatic (or indeed, noticeable) complication from taking hundreds of times the recommended therapeutic dose of homeopathic medicine:As you can see, we are all wearing our fashionable and warm white toques bearing the embroidered 10:23 campaign logo. We have a bunch left over, so if anyone out there would like one for their very own, they are available for $10 each plus shipping, with proceeds going to CFI’s Extraordinary Claims campaign.My wife and I both took Arnica montana 30CH (for those who don’t know: “30CH” means a 100-fold dilution, repeated 30 times. The final dilution is therefore 10^-60, ie: the last trace of the original herb was washed away at least ten dilutions ago!). Arnica¹ is recommended homeopathically for pain relief, and the reduction of bruising and swelling following an injury. I have no idea what an overdose of something with that activity should look like, but as of 4:30pm, my wife reports that her sporadic recurrent back pain is still present, and I report that the trigger finger in my right hand is active and slightly painful, and the post-surgical swelling in the left hand (which was operated on to correct the condition, about two weeks ago) is still present.

1. It should be noted that the Arnica plant does contain the chemical helenalin, known to have anti-inflammatory (in non-homeopathic concentrations!) properties.UPDATE:There is now a video online, on CTV’s website click on “Campaign against homeopathy comes to Parliament Hill, or watch on YouTube.and also a written report here