ABSTRACT
Political actors face the dilemma of having the formal/legal responsibility of reconciling these competing "legitimate positions." In the case of Laetrile, there is an important additional political dimension. In the short-turn the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has devoted substantial resources to public education, testimony before state legislatures, and legal as well as compliance actions. At the federal level, the FDA has been very active; however, there has been no specific legislation concerning the legalization of Laetrile. There is a group of proponents for the legalization of Laetrile who concentrate on what they call "the freedom of choice" issue. The freedom of choice issues are at stake and not Laetrile qua Laetrile. The State Health Department has delegated to their Bureau of Drugs the responsibility for implementing and enforcing the Laetrile Act. The legal status of Laetrile only represents one dimension of the problem. The analysis of the Laetrile movement serves to illustrate how competing definitions of a complex problem influence policy making.
