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Florida to Health Coach: No License, No Speech

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The old maxim that “a license is no more than permission from the government to do something that is otherwise forbidden” is more true than ever. In the old days, the government required licenses in order to protect the “chosen”. Remember when the government granted the American Medical Association a monopoly on deciding who can provide healthcare, the first thing they did was to close medical schools so that there would be less doctors and the remaining doctors could make more money. These days, it’s transitioned to a money making venture for governments. And we all lose.

Pensacola, Fla.—In Florida, giving someone advice on what to buy at the grocery store can land you in jail for up to a year. That is because Florida has given licensed dietitians and nutritionists a monopoly on giving paid, dietary advice. But a new First Amendment lawsuit, filed in federal court today by the Institute for Justice(IJ) and Fort Walton Beach-based health coach Heather Kokesch Del Castillo, seeks to change that. Read more here.