For every person who became addicted through prescription opioids, there are thousands of patients who did not become addicted. I have several half filled bottles of pain meds prescribed to me after surgery that I took until I didn't need them, then stopped.
I think it is absolutely foolish and counter-productive to not enlist pharma in this battle - in fact they are eager to stop being demonized. It is not simply the pharma companies to blame - there are the doctors who prescribe the drugs, the pharmacies who don't scrutinize prescriptions, individual responsibility of the patient, etc. There is more than enough blame to go around.
It's time to stop fixing the blame and time to start fixing the problem.
2
First step, don't allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise. We are not prescribers. If you need to know of a medication for a specific ailment, you can go to the internet without the million dollar attractive advertising hype You can then ask your doctor for if a prescription would better your life. Big Pharma commercials falsely promise, in slo-mo with the beaming sun and nature in the background, that after taking their drug you will feel oh, so much better and be able to play catch with your grandchildren while gitty with joy. Of course, the multiple side effects are sped up at inaudible speed.
And let's not forget that not everyone has a predilection to addiction and those of us who have not, should not be punished for those who do. And that conclusion is easily attained by any medical practitioner.
6
---------- ALL drugs should be legalized and available to anyone, all the time.
we are responsible for ourselves.
Big
1
Yeah, Big, you're drinking from the wrong watering hole.
This problem began not with people picking their poison, but with desperate patients doing what their doctors told them to do.
And doctors, bless their lazy little hearts, were doing what the excellent scientists and altruistic executives of Sackler and the rest of Big Pharma assured them was both beneficial and relatively harmless.
Their million dollar marketing was built around statements that Oxycontin is so safe it could be prescribed, unmonitored, for months at a time with no fear of addiction.
Despite the slavering hysteria against doctors here, this is a problem dreamed up, implemented and nursed to fruition by the criminals running our major drug corporations. Respected, rich and politically influential all.
If doctors are at all to blame, it's for their easy acceptance of information from people incentivized to cause harm, and their failure to pay attention.
Their lust for free champagne lunches and those super cool free pens probably didn't help.
4
Ms. Nickel has been bought. We can't believe a word out of her mouth any longer
5
These opioid drugs are manufactured by PhRMA and recommended to physicians for patients. They are 100% responsible for disclosing all significant side effects of the addictive nature of these drug, which is no different from illegal addictive drugs. PhRMA legalized the opioid drugs paid mostly by health insurance focusing on profits and ignored the devastation of addiction creating an epidemic with number of deaths not seen before. As experts, PhRMA knows about the extreme difficulties to recover from opioid addiction. PhRMA even came up with a drug to prevent sudden deaths but not a drug to cure addiction.
Whatever programs they are advocating now: 'It unveiled a set of policy proposals that include supporting seven-day limits on opioid prescriptions for acute pain, and announced a partnership with the federal government on initiatives to battle addiction.' Why wasn't this program implemented on Day 1 of sale?
2
"Ms. Nickel insisted that her group was not beholden to PhRMA in any way. The drug industry, she said, should be viewed as a partner in fighting addiction, not an adversary. "
RIGHT. PARTNERS IN PROFITS.
2
There is a series on Netflix called "The Naked Truth", 1 segment is on opioids. One drug company makes (and promotes heavily) both a major opioid addictor (fentanyl?) AND the overdose interrupter (Narcan). Another has bought up smaller opioid producing companies, stripped out all research expenditures in the companies (typically 18% of revenue) to boost immediate profits. Ain't Big Pharma grand?
4
So glad the NYT caught Big Pharma trying to influence the addiction/recovery advocacy world. They are shameless and disgusting to do this. Haven't we had enough suffering from Big Pharma's reckless greed already?
Anybody who believes a word these drug companies have to say ought to have his/ her head examined. Liars all. Domestic terrorists. The lowest of the low- Drug Pushers.
5
Pass the bill please.
Record deaths...Record Profits.. We know exactly where the problem is...Big Pharma needs to be hit with a MASSIVE "Recovery America" Tax.. They are the last ones we should care about...
2
Both sides are trying to make a buck on the back of people's pain and suffering. It is about right usage and elimination of abuse. Trying to use the survivors whose loved ones were hurt by the addiction is no less a pusher
1
Did you see the 60 minutes special on opioids and Big Pharma? They are guilty as the tobacco industry was in their lies and peddling drugs. It is shameful that they blood on their hands and thousands of deaths they are guilty of by prescribing opioids.
The tax will only harm those who are truly in pain. I am not aware of any illegal drug pusher paying taxes. Feel free to point me to any credible stories that you have found that shows the illegal pushers pay taxes.
3
Sick of my intelligence being insulted by corporations who pay bribes and institutions who accept them and then claim it doesn’t affect their judgment.
The Pharma industry created this crisis and are morally responsible for the fallout. Unfortunately they are too powerful and connected to worry about legal responsibility. To pretend they care about anything other than protecting revenue streams is to be hopelessly naive.
3
Ypu can pour a billion dollars into a propaganda campaign but the country knows big pharma started it and doctors are complicit.
2
It's pretty simple, It's called selling out!
It's not a perception that they have caused the opioid crisis. It is a fact that they did.
2
That seems like a lot of funding for a small organization. The drug companies know how big the legitimate demand for their product, and knowingly produce a lot more product than there is a legitimate demand for.
Battling a perception problem! No, trying to avoid criminal charges in flooding this country with prescription opioids
2
Absolutely, tax them and tax them heavily, squeeze every penny out of them that we can and use it to battle this crisis which, they, the pharmas triggered.
Ms. Nickel is one naïf little puppy. However, she may be a very well paid naïf little puppy.
1
It's not Big Pharma vs the people, or drug pushers killing innocent kids who somehow die of overdoses. If someone with an addictive personality wants to get high, they will get their drugs one way or the other. Why do the rest of us have to pay for drug abusers by losing access to medication? Patients who need pain relief for cancer, for post-operative pain, should not be punished for the behavior of addicts. So pharmaceutical companies make money on their opioid products -- they make money on all their drugs: their cancer drugs, their diabetes drugs, their me-too antiinflammatory drugs. They're for-profit businesses. That doesn't make them evil. To the parents who display photos of their children who OD'd on drugs: look to your own culpability in their demise, and stop trying to take medications away from legitimate patients to ease your sense of guilt.
4
Your arguments are the same used by Big Tobacco. "They're for-profit businesses, that doesn't make them evil." What's evil is that these are giant corporations putting profits ahead of people's lives and pretending they're not responsible for all the misery their products cause.
2
I use pain medication for multiple back issues that are chronic and non fixable. I follow my pain management protocol and have always in complete compliance. I was informed that the 1 pain med was going to be reduced because of "opioid crisis and changes in protocol" They are taking pain meds from people that have 100% legitimate reasons to be on them because "everyone has to be cut back" I asked how does that benefit my particular circumstances and make it better. Response- opioids are bad for you. No- not being able to get out of bed in the am or do any minimal task will not happen if you take the only thing that allows me to function to the best of my physical ability. Do no harm is what the motto a MD must follow and it will harm me to take the only thing away that helps because of this crisis. Legitimate people have no rights now because of this. I wonder every month when I go to my apt if that is the day I will get them taken away. People are now committing suicide or taking other things for pain because of this initiative and loss of pain meds. Yes there is a problem with some people getting prescriptions with larger quantities and over dosing, but the real patients are paying the price for that. Where are my rights to be treated for chronic pain? No one is out there advocating for us and what we are being put through because of this. I have enough medical documentation to justify my need.
13
That's a first . . . can't find enough prescription pain medication or a doctor who will prescribe them? The market is flooded with both.
1
Health care and pharma are in the business to make as much money as possible. So they want to sell, sell as much as possible. (Too bad health care is such a mega profit center - perhaps that is where the problem starts)
Drugs companies will never tell you NOT to use their drugs. And until a few years ago docs where handing out pain meds in mounds. I used to get 120 a month for a bad back.
And there are folks who legitimately need meds for a bad heart, skin conditions, and multitude of other needs. This includes chronic pain - thus the U.S. waffles back & forth on policies with no clear answer. Unless we as society & government would decide Health Care (insurance, pharma, hospital chains, and docs) unless we decide Health Care Should Not be a source of unending profit - we will continue to have this problem.
The Health of our People Should Not be a limitless profit center for business.
2
All Big Pharma wanted was a legal way into the opioid market big time. Once they secure that, they don't have to worry about the DEA or law enforcement or anyone. All they have to do is push the product all the while publicly wringing their hands for the anguish and making millions.
27
Keep chasing that money player.
9
Disgraceful. Tens of millions of dollars. These companies have caused unbelievable misery and destruction. And you are their shill.
10
"These companies have caused unbelievable misery and destruction."....Do "these companies" to which you refer have names? Most drug companies do not sell opioids.
1
The doctors who recklessly proscribe the opiods are the ones who actually put them in the hands of folks not the companies.
Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories (makers of trademark Vicodin), Amerisource Health Service Corp, Cardinal Health, Drx Pharmaceutical Consultants Inc, Eckerd Corp, Hospira Inc, Mallinckrodt Pharm. Quality Care, Pdrx Pharmaceuticals Inc, Physicians Total Care Inc, Rx Papoos Packaging Inc, and Watson Pharmaceuticals, among others.
Of course the 'non-profit' is a front for the drug companies. Much like Exxon or Marlboro, a sliver of the profits will go toward ad enticing or attempts such as this to further trick the public into thinking we are all solving the epidemic together - teamwork, right? What a ruse.
Are we going to be that stupid again or can we possibly see a corporate/capitalist pattern here?
6
News flash: we have a capitalist economy. And as a patient, I have no interest in "solving the epidemic" if it means going back to the time when pain was ignored by medical providers.
6
PL, we don't live in a capitalist economy, even less a 'free market'.
And you who spout such nonsense as an excuse in the face of corporate criminal behavior and regulatory malfeasance, are fakirs.
In a capitalist economy corporations would never act in such a manner, because they would be held responsible for the real cost of their actions or destroyed by "the market".
In a sustainable capitalist economy government, capitalists themselves, insist on robust regulatory schemes knowing, as they do, that capitalists left unchecked will devour the society in which they operate, and the capitalists who thrive there.
As an intellectually functioning patient you would probably not take the black-or-white, one-extreme-or-the-other position of saying 'either everyone can have all the Oxycontin they can convince greedy doctors to prescribe or there will be no Oxycontin available to anybody ever'.
Oxycontin exists, it should be used as appropriate. But this isn't that. This is drug labs and dealers with a government license, made possible by people like you with broken ideologies and a terminal lack of subtlety.
Let's say you are a capitalist in the true sense: when does Sackler and the gang start paying for their behavior? When do they pay the real costs of their 'production'? When does government shake off its drug-induced lust for money and protect the "the market"?
Because nobody buys anything when they're dead.
Pills create profits; no doubt; it's an industry that paid big bucks when I was in college; it still pays big bucks; greed eventually causes more greed; increasing the concentration in pill form to give effects stronger than natural drugs can buy a Mercedes, great home; blah, blah, blah.
Addiction is mean; psychiatrists are telling you truth; you think anyone hears? No. Patient advocacy says big Pharma is paying. Will there be a happy medium?
2
This is nothing new. Just look at Joe Califano's anti-drug organization. They've been in bed with corporations like Coke (caffeine and sugar addiction), and drug companies for years.
10
The US is one of only 2 countries that permit prescription drugs to be advertised on TV.
Luckily, Canada is not the other country.
Switching between Canadian TV channels and American TV channels presents a vivid contrast in the types of ads that are presented.
Canadians typically live almost two years longer than Americans.
Coincidence? Probably, probably.
But, it might be worth considering eliminating all those TV ads. Hard to see how it would hurt. Maybe try it for a year and see if things improve. If they do, the suspension of TV ads can be extended. Just a year - does not seem an extreme step to take.
13
Drug commercials are a sick farce. The general public are not knowledgeable enough to weigh one brand vs another. They should not be cajoled into talking to medical professionals about products, only symptoms.
Imagine how much auto components would cost if their manufacturers marketed directly to the public, and how much trust in dealerships would tank if like doctors they were incentivized for running up service and repair bills.
Opioids cannot be advertised on TV
1
Big Pharma = Blood Money
14
This is why Americans are sick and tired of the hypocrisy of the pharma companies. They have pushed, pushed, and pushed doctors to increase their prescribing of drugs across the board, including opioids at many times the percentage consumed by other recipients around the world. But rather than act responsibly, these same pharma companies hire a "spin doctor" to make it appear as though they are kind, benevolent, and caring. It makes me want to vomit.
7
Whether the Minnesota Legislature or Congress, America has the best politicians money can buy.
In their wisdom and greed, these politicians have chosen to inflict the cost of addiction and death upon the American people, leaving the corporations who fund their lies to rake in the profits for the 1%.
5
When the tobacco industry was finally forced to admit its complicity in aiding the addition of the public to its products they were punished and sued. The pharmaceutical industry deserves the same treatment.They should be called out on their elaborate schemes to seem responsible when they are all about the money these dangerous drugs bring to their balance sheets.
5
"When the tobacco industry was finally forced to admit its complicity in aiding the addition of the public to its products they were punished and sued."....I would point out that anyone could buy tobacco products, without the requirement of a prescription approved by highly educated well paid physician. This isn't exactly the case with opioids. Why is there no suggestion here of any culpability of the physicians who are approving the use of opiods.
5
"At the same time, drugmakers are fighting to protect their profits in the face of measures such as the proposed tax in Minnesota. Gross sales of narcotic painkillers totaled $8.6 billion in 2016."
This pretty much says it all. These companies are, and have always been, out for their insane profits, not the health and well-being of our population. They need to be held accountable, not allowed to buy off non-profits and lawmakers.
9
What is missing in the national discussion, and certainly in the NYT comments, is the over-arching personal responsibility for one's actions.
If anyone needs prescription pain meds, and are denied access to needed medicines by the irresponsible behvior of those who abuse these drugs and cannot or will not take responsibility for their actions, then that is detrimental to all in our 21st century society.
We don't blame the liqour makers for alcoholism, which is much more widespread and damaging to our social fabric.
7
Just as troubling as the association with the phrmaceutical industry, or even more so, is the sponsorship of the Nichols group by Alkermes, the maker of a once-a month injectable long-acting naloxone (the very expensive drug Vivitrol). The line between self-promotion, advocacy, treatment, and greed is very thin. In our broken heralthcare system, this all too often the case.
2
Yes - they created the Epidemic because they made much $ just like any other drug dealer.
4
I would sincerely like to know what percentage of people addicted to opiates got there after treating legitimate pain and what percentage got there because of recreational use. We seem to want to blame everyone else for our personal choices. If I am ever in terrible physical pain, I want access to pain relievers and I don't want to be told I can't have it because others have become addicted. I already have to stand in line and submit my driver's license to get a decongestant for my sinus headaches because the chemical is used recreationally to make meth by a significant number of idiots. Really, does this opioid epidemic consist of people who were surprised to become addicted to pain medicine they at one time needed? Or is it a case, again, of people taking drugs for fun and escape who should have known better? If it's the latter, they can stand at the back of line as far as funding and sympathy for their cause as far as I'm concerned. Are there any statistics as to who these addicts really are?
4
Big Pharma taking a page from the playbook of Big Tobacco. Nothing new under the sun.
Unfortunately most MD's get their 'information' about pharmaceuticals from the drug salesmen/women who entice them with pens, mugs, trips, lunches, dinners - the list goes on and on. For years I owned a PDR. I won't take any drug until I've done independent research. Drug interactions with other drugs should also be checked.
In today's computerized world, I subscribe to Worst Pills/Best Pills. Additionally, Worst Pills/Best Pills sends out regular alerts concerning to toxicity of drugs that incorporates cutting edge medical research. A quick check reveals numerous highly profitable prescription drugs in America that have been banned for decades in Europe.
Caveat emptor - it is only your life and well being after all.
2
So the killer corporations want to shape the narrative, and "true and honest and good" Ms. Nickel has her hand out, wide open, for their thirty pieces of silver.
That's lobbyists for you. That's Big Pharma for you.
6
The drug industry "...should be viewed as a partner in fighting addiction, not an adversary." Puh-leez. They bought and paid for studies which concluded that long-term use of opioids for chronic pain relief is effective and safe, then let the proverbial horses out of the barn. Now they want to pretend they are part of the solution? The profits they gained are stained with the blood of thousands of victims and I for one will not let them simply try to wash it away. Neither should Jessica Nickel.
3
Don't be fooled. Pharma companies make staggering amounts of money from the sale of opioids. They have absolutely no intention of doing anything that will curtail sales. If they are giving you money it is so they can control your message and if you think they are not, you are on the wrong side. Spending a few million dollars to have a say in what you say is a pittance compared to what they would lose if you actually succeeded.
4
The Sackler family and their family-owned Purdue Pharmaceuticals bear almost all the responsibility for the current epidemic.
Biggest pushers of all time...
7
I put all the blame on Big Pharma. They knew what they were doing, same as tobacco company's.
They told Dr.'s it would not be harmful or addictive and if the patient is in more pain, prescribe higher doses. Now the doctor's and patients are caught in the middle between their patient's and the Fed's. The patients need pain relief and the Dr.'s are now too afraid of writing them for fear of getting busted as has happened in my town of Boulder, Colorado.
2 very fine compassionate doc's here have lost their licenses as a result of trying to help their patient's.
Now you must go to a pain clinic where you are not treated as a person in pain, but as an addict. It is demeaning and demoralizing and these creeps are making a fortune on unnecessary urine test's, and other test's.
I know about all of this first hand as i've been thru it, and been thru withdrawal with the help of a kind understanding doc.
It is all on Big Pharma and their greed. Period. They are still pumping out this death drug in record numbers. You tell me.
2
I am a surgeon and I too am incensed at what the pharmaceutical industry did. But let's not oversimplify things. Face it. The government and quasi-governmental agencies were complicit too. Has everyone forgotten that JCAHO pushed pain as "the 5th vital sign" not that long ago? That hospitals and physicians were penalized for "undertreating" pain. Heck, there are cases where people lost their licenses! But finally, let's not forget that the addicts bear some responsibility, too. I was just talking to an ER doc I know. He told me his ER looks like it did when he started in medicine 35 years ago - it's filled with heroin users again. Go ahead and take away the opioids. In a few months we will be reading about the crisis caused by the re-emergence of heroin.
8
I am an addiction psychiatrist in the western suburbs of Chicago. I believe this is well-intended but wrong-headed, and really won't make a significant dent, at least judging from my demographic, which runs from teens to AARP. With the exception of health care profession diversion, far and away the majority of my patients are either using heroin purchased on the street, at roughly $5 a bag (much cheaper than $20 for a Oxycotin tablet) or buying their drugs on the Dark Web. As noted by others, this should be approached as a demand side rather than a supply side problem. Yes, some of these addicts were originally prescribed opioids for acute pain, a fractured pelvis, for example. But so often, these patients fit a profile of having a background of trauma and abuse, of facing adversity or stress, or of having other identifiable psychiatric disorders: they would be fairly easily to assess as being high risk, and thereby address the other factors impacting their health and well being - an in the meantime, by treating these, will probably enjoy a by-product of a degree of pain relief.
6
What a surprise. I watched a patient advocacy non-profit step away from an interaction to educate on how profiteering on drug prices (for Harvoni from Gilead) harms patients and the only reason I could figure out why they did that was, well, you guessed, they get pharma funding.
4
I often wonder what would have happened if Rush Limbaugh's addiction to opioids wasn't swept under the rug in 2006. He was ultimately convicted of doctor-shopping for opioids and got a slap on the wrist. This could have been a 'hair on fire' learning moment for the pharmaceutical industry but was handled more to protect Limbaugh's reputation than used as an instance to warn the general public to the ease of one getting addicted to opioids.
6
A recent health condition put me in a situation which could have changed my mind on these drugs. Being concerned at the ease in which I could have remedied my pain without searching other avenues made me seek alternatives. I am currently on my third month of chiropractic treatments, acupuncture , and smaller doses of acetaminophen . This is all out of pocket . I also had testing I had to pay for. I am gradually getting back to a normal ,independent lifestyle . I wish more people could seek out treatments this way. I was lucky. This was done as a last resort before going from one doctor to another, forgoing serious drugs, costlier and timely referrals. If this government truly wanted to stop this "genocide" they could. Too many big donors, too many lobbyists. Why are their words anymore meaningful and heard than the loved ones of the opioids victims?
3
“They” could stop it how, exactly? Difficult problems have difficult solutions.
I am not in any way , pulling a Trump, "oh who knew healthcare was so complicated?" What I want is more voices, more effort on both sides of congress, from medical industry, and yes the Pharma. They are making billions on this , and I haven't heard any legitimately come forward and say"Yes, we contributed to this situation and we will do all we can to see that no more people die because of our greed." And you are absolutely right. It is difficult. Our government is too busy making donors happy.
They may not have created the epidemic, but they've mightily profited from it.
15
Undertakers profit from death and other people's heartache. That doesn't mean they are in any way responsible for it.
3
In medicine, for better or worse, clinical trials of drugs are sponsored by drug companies regularly. It's not a perfect world and often times to get things done, there is a need to work with different groups, even ones that might have the opposite or not exactly the same agenda as your own. There are some ways to safeguard bias to some degree. For some contracts I've seen, the scientists involved have phrasing that the funding pharma company cannot have a direct say in the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, or report of the results. Similarly, medical journals often require both disclosure and a similar statement published when results are published. Now, I'm almost sure shenanigans still happen but at least readers can judge for themselves somewhat if/ how the funder influenced results. Maybe something similar can happen for these nonprofits. I'm well aware that there are many "patient advocacy groups" who are solely or mostly funded by pharma to serve the latter's agenda so this story is not news to me.
(For the ultimate solution, stop funding wars and military interventions without a clear goal. And we'll have more than a few billion to properly fund projects and nonprofits.)
4
It will help if this tax is used for effective medical detoxification and mental health care. Addiction is not the issue, but the consequence of a distress, usually emotional. Unless we start focusing on the individual and acquire an adequate diagnose, in order to decide the path of treatment, this epidemic will keep on claiming lives.
5
The blame and the tax mentioned here are irrelevant, and won’t put a dent in the problem.
Painkillers serve a purpose. They are also inherently dangerous. Putting common sense limits and checks on how prescriptions are written will help, a little.
But like every other drug crisis, the issue is not supply but demand. And given the scope of the current problem, my guess is that most of the supply is obtained illegally anyway.
It doesn’t make sense to punish doctors, patients, and the industry itself. Common sense regulations can regulate the flow of legally produced and distributed drugs.
But to tackle the opioid crisis, or any addiction crisis, the most effective way is to influence demand, meaning to decrease it. Another way is to make clear where there is help.
I’m a recovering alcoholic, 7 years sober now, and I was an opioid abuser as well. I don’t expect liquor to vanish from stores, and I don’t expect drugs that do serve a purpose to vanish from pharmacy shelfs. I take responsibility for my addiction, and do what I can to stay sober through AA and other means.
We need to look at how to 1) prevent the abuse from beginning (very difficult) and more important 2) put more resources into addiction counseling and recovery. The current cycle of detox/30 day rehab doesn’t work well. It can and should be improved, and that’s where money and resources need to be spent.
25
There major distributors and one or more are knowingly enabling the illegal distribution of opioids for their profit. They are fighting DEA reporting rules by refusing to report deliveries of millions of pills certain small town pharmacies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dea-launches-new-...
I knew the GOP was genocidal, with a wide group of victims, when Romney gave his "47%" pitch at a fundraiser in 2012. This implied that some 150 million fellow Americans were somehow "life unworthy of life," to vanish at little or no cost: the poor, the elderly, people or color, LGBTQ people, Muslims, and "illegal immigrants."
The GOP recipe for genocide involves making a profit out of having people kill themselves. No muss, no fuss, and you get to blame your victim classes. It makes the costly Final Solution, with its roundups, firing squads, and using costly rolling stock to transport victims to remote murder facilities which had to be constructed and staffed.
The latest step is the GOP tax-cut bill, enacted unilaterally and in more-or-less secret, which will raise the deficit by over $1.3 trillion to enrich those already rich, and create a pretext for cutting the social safety net, education, and public health. The joke will be on them when epidemics cross the boundaries of walled communities and the doormen of top Park and Fifth Avenue buildings.
To hear "Freedom Caucus" Congressman Mo Brooks decry the new Senate agreement on funding the government as reducing our ability to borrow money is an act of extreme hypocrisy: he was all or shutting down the government in 2013. See https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/32-republicans-who-...
3
You all understand Big Pharma is not PhRMA? I don't want to weigh in too much, beyond stating the immediate gut reactive uproar is extremely problematic, because it is based on a misconception. I am in long-term recovery from opiate addiction, I have had countless people around me die from opiate addiction/overdose, but I still understand and respect that opiate painkillers have a purpose and place in the medical world. All of this is really beside the point, however, because this article is not about Big Pharma.
7
“Big Pharma” is the pharmaceutical industry. PhRMA is their lobbyist. PhRMA represents, stands for, and stands with Big Pharma.
After reading some of the comments to this article I’m needing some anti-depressants.
1
The processed food and animal processing industries pay health related charities like Susan Komen, American Diabetes and other charitable organizations to avoid any negative positions or press around their unhealthy pathogens. Big Pharma has the same incentive to keep people sick, so Ms. Nickel and her organization play the role of shill for them. We could say this is all fine and good capitalism, except that millions are dying because people trust and fund these organizations to address their health problems. To make matters worse, politicians buy into the same gravy train of death with campaign donations. Hopefully, the day will come when the American public wakes up and they face the consequences.
2
I suffer from severe arthritis. I use 5-7mg once a day. rarely twice a day. I have been using it for years. What I find difficult to accept is that I am being denied the use of it because the abusers. My doctors of the years know I don't abused my controlled meds. So I am to turn alcohol to cut through the pain? Thus killing myself that way? Why not give ID cards out to people who can be trusted. I keep my meds locked up. I have a nephew is addicted to some kind of drug and have seen or talked to him in 3 years. It will most likely come to a sad ending.
I know the US has a serious problem on their hands but I don't think I should find it impossible to get help.
22
Like tobacco, and big tobacco - it's 100% certain that the Pharmaceutical industry created the current opiod epidemic.
Opiod based pain medicine - is - heroin.
The Pharmaceutical industry pushed these drugs onto doctors and pharmacies - and ultimately they were prescribed to college athletes, trauma victims and others.
And ultimately they became heroin addicts.
The culpability and the evil circle of denial, deceipt and addiction - is - Big Pharma- Doctors- Pharmacies.
How do we face this down?
5
"Like tobacco, and big tobacco - it's 100% certain that the Pharmaceutical industry created the current opiod epidemic."...Really. You can't get a prescription without the approval and signature of a physician. And I might point out that physicians are rather well compensated for their education and expertise. It would be impossible for the opioid epidemic to have originated from pharmaceutical drugs without a major contribution from physicians.
2
I also want to point out—and this is MK here - the terrible plague on our veterans whom have been prescribed opiates for pain management.
We need an uprising against Big Pharma-Doctors-Pharmacies.
We need a narrative, that will drive this home.
We found it for Tobacco.
What will it be for Prescription Opiates/Heroin?
When are we going to simply state that lobbyists do not have special expertise, they have but one agenda---and that agenda is simply to do the bidding of their contracted employers.
7
Big pharma will do anything to stop us from thinking about how much they overcharge and even bankrupt us with their greedy pricing. Come to Indianapolis where Lilly is one of the city’s biggest charitable donors. Nice, but it serves to whitewash their prices, among other things = supporting addictions.
4
Please tell us what opioid drugs are sold by Lilly. Most drug companies with names you recognize, often referred to as big Pharma, do not sell opioid drugs. With regard to the opioid epidemic, it would be useful if people would call out the names of those specific drug companies who do sell opioids rather than painting everyone with the same brush. Education, information, facts.
1
It is a PR campaign by Big Pharma to convince the American People that they are on our side in the fight against opioid addition (that they are ultimately responsible for). This PR campaign is to guard against damage of future sales for whatever cocktail they want us to buy for whatever ails us. I can hear it now, "we had no idea and mea culpa, we are giving millions to help, so please buy this new product for your......fill in the blank--It is not addictive".
There is an alternative out there that may help addiction-medical marijuana-that should be explored and evaluated. And guess what? Big Pharma is not in that field (pun intended). Yet.
7
When the tax is levied and collected and the proceeds then used to fund projects to help the addicted or prevent addiction how does this actually work. Who will actually pay. Will insurance companies end up paying more and will this affect premiums. It in no way discourages drug companies or doctors who over prescribe.
2
It's not the pharmaceutical companies who bear the entire blame. Chemical precursors have to come from somewhere, and there are not that many regions in the world where poppy is harvested.
Opioid-replacement therapy typically operates more in the fashion of a legal substitute with no end in sight. Pharmaceutical companies make more money when their end users are more reliant on their poisons, and corporate personhood should not obscure the abhorrent manipulation that is going to continue to cost so many lives.
4
As a physician, I am aware that the pharmaceutical industry carries a share of the blame for the opioid epidemic but I am concerned about taxing a specific class of medications for political reasons.
Several years ago, scientologists pushed their agenda and tried to get a legitimate and well proven treatment for depression, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), banned. What is to stop them from trying to get a tax on antidepressants or antipsychotics or the anti-vaccine people to get a tax on vaccines based on their claims that the use of these need to be limited?
And considering how many office holders we have had who believe these claims to be true, there is no guarantee this will not happen. And how about putting a tax on antibiotics as we know that these are overprescribed and, because of this, have resulted in many new antibiotic resistant and lethal bacteria. The overprescription of these has resulted in more deaths than have the overprescription of opioids.
26
One Flew over the cuckoo’s nest. Wait a second, ‘anti-vaccination’… (anti-vacards). Over prescription of antibiotics.
Too many issues, But a very good point!
1
Opioids killed 42,000 in the US in 2016; the CDC says antibiotic resistance accounts for 23,000 deaths yearly.
Regardless of the figures both problems are growing and must be addressed. Is Steve aware that the antibiotic resistance threat is also being addressed by other agencies and organizations? It is. Assuming that a supposedly larger problem is not being addressed is no reason to not act to ameliorate a supposedly lesser problem.
1
To Stourley,
The high rate of opioid deaths as just been in the past 2-3 years; deaths due to antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria have been high longer than that and continue to climb and there is no apparent limit in site. And although opioid deaths occur only among those who choose to use opioids, deaths due to resistant bacteria strike those who have not had anything to do with too many antibiotics being made available.
And I'm not sure if you are saying that you believe a tax on opioids is the only way the opioid epidemic is being attacked.
I wonder how many people who blame the pharmaceutical companies, doctors and distributers for this crisis also don't want "socialized medicine"?
When we treat healthcare as a free market business, with very little regulation this is what we get.
I would also point out that doctors are not required to prove that they know the ramifications of drugs, which only they can prescribe.
They get most of their information from drug companies reps. Making this a requirement would raise costs for them and the patients, but what are all those lost lives worth?
People hate regulations, because they cost money, but valid ones save lives and usually save money for society as a whole.
14
Are you saying that doctors are to be required to conduct their own Empirical studies, To determine individually, the effects of any new medications they may or may not prescribe?
1
Once again, Big Business reveals itself to be an enemy of the people, an enemy of humanity. We see this in sector after sector -- Big Ag, Big Food, Big Health Insurance, you name it.
In this particular instance I don't understand why the legal concept of joint and several liability cannot be employed to try the CEOs of these companies for the murder of persons unknown. I am willing to bet that epidemiological studies would show beyond any doubt (or whatever the strictest legal standard is) that at least a thousand people had died from opioids. We might not be able to name 1000 spoecific people, but there would be no doubt that that many had died. Let the trial determine if there was wilful intent on the part of the drug companies, and if it is found that there was, give the death penalty to the CEOs.
3
The mess that we have is complex and not attributable to any one group.
Purdue Pharma, which invented oxycontin, spent many many millions of dollars lobbying the Joint Commission of Hospitals, nurses and physicians in an attempt to equate pain with failure. Hospitals want high satisfaction scores and that means pain relief.
Better education of health care professionals, appropriate regulations on prescription amounts, medical and pharmaceutical board oversight AND setting appropriate patient expectations of their post operative pain will go a long way in stemming this epidemic.
13
Seriously? Doctors didn't know opioids are addictive? Purdue Pharma didn't know it was selling smack to seniors?
Not too late to wake up and make the guilty pay for their malfeasance.
3
Lies, lies, lies, and more lies.
The record is crystal clear. Purdue Pharma hijacked the medical establishment, got the prescription protocols changed, sponsored self-serving conferences and media outlets, and created a huge demand for opioids that were formerly prescribed sparingly. Then they satisfied this newly created need with compounds that they knew were addictive, aggressively marketing their toxic products to communities powerless to resist. Then they lied about their products' deadly consequences. They covered up the pill mills that poured money into their coffers. And as soon as they made it safe, the rest of the Pharma industry went all in.
Now they want to co-opt a malleable, useful idiot in the addiction industry. Here's a better idea.
1. Ban all opioids immediately and completely.
2. Put everyone into rehab paid for by the government.
3. Pay for it by taxing the Pharmas to death, including....
4. Reach through the corporate shield of the privately held Pharmas and force the shareholders to disgorge their tainted profits.
15
And Bayer Pharmaceutical were the first to put Heroin on the market. And Methadone was created by the Third Reich. And a similar surge in Heroin use happened as a direct result of the war in Vietnam.
Wars over opium are not new. This kind of human parasitism is.
5
And what should have been at the top of the list, jail the executives.
3
I can wholeheartedly assure you that if you ever have attacks of pancreatitis, as I did for two years, you are going to want morphine or dilaudid. I think that you should rethink your position.
9
Sorry big Pharma but you guys did create the epidemic. It's called making money at all costs, or greed for short.
62
The Dutch East India Company was a thing, too. Papaver somniferum has existed in close proximity to humanity for as long as we have historical records.
More opioid addiction = more overdose deaths = less human beings destroying the planet = good news. Keep at it, Big Pharma! The sooner humanity is erased, the better.
6
No, no they can't be allies in the 'war' on opioid addiction.
Not until they admit their role in creating, nurturing, expanding, and profiting massively from this human debacle, and not until they pay (not offer, pay) substantial reparations to their victims.
Not until their financial and marketing guys are fighting the good fight to stay out of jail, and their presidents are quaking in their limos.
Not until they teach our President that this is what business, unfettered, is capable of, and make him believe.
Not until they convince that cute little justice munchkin that, no, marijuana is not the problem.
And, yes, marijuana is a part of the best solution. And, no, Big Pharma doesn't mind if marijuana is fully legalized to help stanch the crisis they created, even though they have yet to figure out a way to profit from it.
Then, maybe, we'll let them loan us a stapler or something.
10
Do they want to do that or do they want to sell more drugs?
The swamp swallows everyone and anyone who provides protective coloration for special interests fluent in dirty tricks, double-speak, victim-shaming, and full court press lobbying against even the most feeble public intervention.
The situation as reported is obscene and reprehensible. Ms. Nickel is the soul of bad faith and cynical financial calculation. She had a price tag hanging off her forehead and Big Pharma gladly paid it from tax-deducted business expenses.
The opiate epidemic has generated tens of billions in profits for the Sackler family that owns Perdue Pharma, which designed their best-selling narcotic painkiller with a powerful built-in addiction mechanism they touted as a major selling point. Despite the chorus of outrage and denunciation, very little has been done to address the continuing lethal toll and immense public cost the Sacklers and Perdue have inflicted upon vulnerable communities already wracked with social pathologies.
Their blueprint comes from Big Tobacco -- dodge, hedge, re-victimize victims, denial and deflection.
While billions are spent fighting Mexican drug cartels, the government actually pays the Sackler cartel billions in Medicare prescriptions.
Corporations have lobbied fiercely for legal recognition of rights that generally pertain to individuals and the courts have gone along. When they kill, there can be no corporate shield -- as there's no shield for individuals -- against criminal sanctions, including the death penalty.
39
Brilliant synthesis!
The "perception"? Really? The "perception?"
They made the opiate drugs
They came up with the falsehood that opiate-based pills were "safe" to prescribe for pain (they aren't, like any other opiate, they are addicting, pure and simple)
They lobbied the FDA and other government regulators to allow them to keep increasing the total amount of opiate pills they were making each year
They ignored the doctors warnings that the number of opiate pills being manufactured and the number of prescriptions being written for vicodin and oxycontin did not in any way correlate to the amount of pain that the American public needed to control.
They ignored the public health and safety professionals warnings that opiate addiction and death were on the rise in this country because of their manufacturing countless tons of opiate pills each year
Most importantly - they profited from the sale of these opiate drugs.
That's the reality. It's no "perception."
52
Yeah that’s a good point dude. If they are making and selling more drugs than needed, they should identify where these drugs are going.
Although I believe most of the supply is coming illegally, from elsewhere. Drug cartels can be creative as long as there’s demand.
If opioids were being over prescribed, that blame lies with the physicians, not the industry.
The recent untimely overdosing death of singer Tom Petty can be traced to Big Pharma and Purdue Pharma according to many addiction specialists. By misleading physicians about the safety of OxyContin in order to earn $35bn in sales revenue from the drug between 1995 & 2015, addiction specialists say that its manufacturer, Purdue Pharma & its owners, the Sackler family, bear the “lion’s share”of the responsibility for many deaths & today's opioid crisis.
Purdue Pharma revolutionized the prescription painkiller market by inventing OxyContin, a drug that is a legal, concentrated, chemical version of morphine or heroin. It was designed to be safe; when it first came to market, its slow-release formula was unique. After winning government approval it was hailed as a medical breakthrough.
It was aggressively marketed to physicians, & many were taken on lavish junkets, given misleading information & paid to give talks on the drug, while patients were wrongly told the pills were a reliable long-term solution to chronic pain, & some were offered coupons for 1 mos. free sample.
In a '17 New Yorker exposé of the Sackler family ties, Allen Frances, former psychiatry chair, Duke University, said “Their name(Sackler/Purdue Pharma) has been pushed forward as the epitome of good works & of the fruits of the capitalist system. But, when it comes down to it, they’ve earned this fortune at the expense of millions of people who are addicted. It’s shocking how they have gotten away with it.”
33
You do not need narcotics like PerduePharma's OxyContin to ward off pain. Here's a piece which appeared recently in, where else, the New York Times, about an American woman who underwent major surgery, a hysterectomy, while she was in Germany and was prescribed nothing more exotic than Ibuprofen.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/27/opinion/sunday/surgery-germany-vic...
I had shoulder surgery a few years ago to fix a torn rotator cuff and to ward off the pain I used Naproxin Sodium, aka Alleve.
Heroin-like narcotic pain killers like OxyContin get people addicted while making the manufacturers and the prescribers, who get wined and dined by the manufacturers, a ton of money. 64,000 Americans died because of them last year. If there was justice these people would be sitting downtown in prison with El Chapo.
From the aforesaid piece: “Pain is a part of life. We cannot eliminate it nor do we want to. The pain will guide you. You will know when to rest more; you will know when you are healing. If I give you Vicodin, you will no longer feel the pain, yes, but you will no longer know what your body is telling you. You might overexert yourself because you are no longer feeling the pain signals. All you need is rest. And please be careful with ibuprofen. It’s not good for your kidneys. Only take it if you must. Your body will heal itself with rest.”
10
I wonder if medical cannabis can ween people off of opiates...?
I'm sure some will criticize that we're just trading one drug for another, but nobody has ever died from a cannabis overdose, and it's not physiologically-addictive (though one may develop an affinity for tie-dye clothing over time). It may smooth-out the "crash" from opiates, and later take its place. Then sleep like a rock, and go to work the next morning...
7
The doctor were the ones that started it.
2
Some Non profit groups have begun to be nothing but shills for those against whom they should be standing tall. It is an appalling situation. Tax exempt but it seems fatally biased and corrupt.
No one can rely on a big Pharma to do anything but think about profits!
4
Big Pharma loves blaming providers when they are investigated or sued. The ugly truth is that doctors believe everything their told by these companies and their charming pharmacuetical reps. Many courts and juries have found these companies guilty of withholding or falsifying information in their drug trials --information that had busy physicians known about, would have changed their confidence in many of these meds. Paying industry experts to write articles favoring the medication in question is so prevelant now, that all providers should be suspicious of any endorsement by those in the medical field. (See Wendy Dolin v GSK, among others)
4
HOLD DRUG COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE. My cousin just intentionally overdosed after 20 years of being addicted to OxyContin. He first started using at 13. Why are drugs which are so highly addictive legal when there are other alternatives? $$$$$
2
alcohol? tobacco? fast food? soda? where does it stop?
4
The pharmaceutical companies which manufactured this epidemic, Perdue Pharmaceutical in particular and others, need to offer an enormous settlement for reparations. Instead, they are continuing to wage a self-serving pr campaign to protect their profits and their reputation. The disgusting p.r. campaign even includes "opioid advocates", paid shills who you find on every thread making the same disingenuous "what about those of us who need opioids" argument. Also specious are the manufacturers of substitute opioids/MAT like Braeburn Pharma, a fifth column which has also profited handsomely from this epidemic, stealthily waging a p.r. campaign of its own through a cleverly titled advocacy group known as Advocates for Opioid Recovery.
5
Jessica's 25 years of work in this area speak strongly to her dedication and integrity as she continues to fulfill the Addiction Policy Forum's mission of seeing fewer lives lost to addiction and expanding resources for families and communities impacted by this disease. The 8-point plan outlined by APF provides a comprehensive, inclusive approach to turning the tide on the current epidemic. The ideas and priorities of APF, led by Jessica, have remained both consistent and directly focused on providing a clear pathway toward call to action for policymakers, community leaders and other stakeholders. As an impacted family member myself, I have chosen to join and work collaboratively with several organizations, I would never choose to do so if I did not believe whole heartedly in the mission and vision of the Addiction Policy Forum and its leader, Jessica Nickel.
3
I don't think holding the drug companies to blame is very productive, even if it is an easy fix in some people's minds. I have no connection to "Big Pharma" other being a consumer. Their drugs keep me alive and breathing so I don't see them as evil or the enemy.
The epidemic of opioid use has happened rather quickly and is puzzling in many, many ways. I understand that some people have turned to heroin when their doctors would no longer write them prescriptions for opioid pain killers, but these a predominantly middle aged and older patients. All these teen OD on heroin were unlikely to have ever been prescribed pain pills, at least on a regular basis.
If there is "blame", it's the doctors who prescribed opioids as if they were candy. Some, did so in good faith - it was several years before anyone realized that Tramadol was highly addictive - it had been thought to be a safe and effective drug to keep people off the more powerful pain killers. For some people it is; for many others, it is a big problem.
But those asking for pills are part of the problem, too. People don't go to PT after orthopedic surgery - too much bother - rather take a pill. Won't lose weight to take the strain off these old joints - just take a pill.
And then there are the young. I have no idea how they have become so unable to handle stress that they would turn to heroin. That would have been unthinkable 5-10 years ago. I can't help but think it's due to unstable family life.
2
India
You, and Weisman below, are the problem. This is an "epidemic" purposely concocted and sustained for profit. This is what you get when whining about "costly and burdensome" regulations is a cover for regulatory inaction and corporate malfeasance.
There's nothing complicated here. Oxycontin was created, falsely marketed, prescribed by lazy and unethical physicians to produce precisely this result. Not the massive number deaths, I suppose, but maximum sales and heedless sales of a hideously addictive substance.
Doctors should be in jail. Sackler should be burnt to the ground. No agency, non-profit, or government actor should provide Sackler with a further bloody penny.
We know Sackler lied outright. We know doctors didn't protect their patients. We know government rolled over and approved an insane level of production. And we know they are destroying families and communities, burdening law enforcement and medical facilities. These people should be made to pay.
It'll be quite a jolt in the arm for the also ethical private prison industry. So, profit.
People like you need to stop being neutral, stop being 'wise' in your magnanimous willingness to stop fixing blame. Solutions will be impossible once Ryan and the Republicans start hacking away at medical care in earnest.
This is the ultimate American success story: billions in profit with no responsibility. This is American capitalism at its purest. This is murder, pure and simple.
1
There are multiple sources to blame for the opioid epidemic and resulting deaths, but we need to stop pointing fingers and begin fixing the issues. Focusing on legislation alone doesn’t save the lives of people currently addicted to opioids. We need to focus more strongly on medical treatment and use the latest medical science to save lives. There are effective medical detoxification options (not replacement drugs like Suboxone) that aren’t available to the vast majority of patients. Opioid dependence is a physical issue, and patients need treatment accordingly. Addiction is a consequence of an untreated condition. The psychological aspect can be addressed efficiently once a patient detoxes safely under proper medical care.
1
This is a tried-and-true strategy also used by the tobacco companies and the sugary beverage industry. Throw loads of money around to try and control the narrative and minimize any regulatory impact.
76
I'm no fan of the pharmaceutical industry, but they are not the ones who wrote the prescriptions for opioids. It started with our highly educated doctors and dentists who gave them out like candy.
6
it started with pain societies who sincerely felt untreated pain was a health problem; doctors were then (reluctantly) enlisted to overcome their bias of not treating pain; and pharmaceutical companies were enlisted to support the movement (which they did)
no one knew an epidemic was coming; or those who did know weren't heard
all three parties: patients, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies thought they were doing the right thing by addressing pain: that's what gave opioid use and ensuing epidemic legs-
2
Const
And the doctors (educated maybe, but none too smart) started with million-dollar marketing from Sackler and others, claiming the drug was safe and could be prescribed for months on end with no ill effects.
It's time we begin to see corporate America for the enemies they truly are.
It's time we stop assuming people with medical degrees care about anyone but themselves.
They've spent heavily to teach us these lessons; we just haven't wanted to hear it.
Big Pharma is nothing but another cartel, with government contracts and much nicer suits.
2
Do you realize how Trumpian this global generalization is? I've been a doctor for decades. I know of two who "gave them out like candy." Neither is practicing any more (yes, as a result of their careless practice). Do you really believe that all physicians behave in such an unthinking and irrational manner?
Narcotics have and always will be dangerous. They have been overprescribed. But please, let's avoid zealous overreactions.
For the record, I treat arthritis for a living and have very few patients on chronic opioids. But for those who need it, these remain critically important medications.
5
Is anyone directing any questions towards physicians' and surgeons' (medical and dental) organizations--since physicians and surgeons are the people prescribing these drugs?
Only a licensed physician/surgeon can give (legal) access to prescription opioids. The drug industry can push their product to the hilt, but ultimately, it's the physician/surgeon who gives it to the patient. Why have physicians handed out these prescriptions so freely?
The drug company made the product, but the doctors are handing it out. Are the doctors going to be held accountable for their role in this crisis?
15
I applaud Ms Nickels efforts but it's almost too late to help someone once they are addicted because kicking drugs is not an easy thing to do. Better to make it less likely people will get addicted in the first place. If drug manufacturers really wanted to help they would restrict production of opioids and work with doctors to make stricter rules for prescribing addictive pain pills. And law enforcement and State licensing boards would aggressively pursue, discipline and prosecute bad doctors who overprescribe opioids. Reduce the amount of drugs available and make it less likely people will get addicted don't wait until they are addicted then try to solve the problem.
10
I agree. Here in France, it's very hard to get opiods.
1
15 years ago, the media was filled with accounts about how American physicians were collectively guilty of under treating patients' pain. In response to all the bad press, hospitals and healthcare organizations started calling pain "the fifth vital sign," and all patients were queried about it, and health care providers were expected to act upon it. Then NSAIDs were demonized as killers (from cardiovascular events and GI bleeding), and national groups began recommending narcotics as first-line agents for pain, given their relative "safety." Then Press-Ganey scores became everything to large healthcare organizations, and an unhappy patient - say, one who didn't get appropriately-treated pain -- filling out a Press-Ganey survey would create hysteria in the administrators. So things are a little bit more complicated than your reductive reasoning would imply. But please, by all means, blame the docs. We have so much power.
8
Equating the pharmaceutical industry to the tobacco industry is a false equivalency.
The latter knowingly made products that were unsafe and that had no redeeming value to society. They are the epitome of vice makers.
The former developed a suit of products under the strictest of regulations, with oversight on safety and efficacy throughout, and in support of high patient unmet need. We can argue that a few actors underestimated the impact of their sales and marketing activities, and we can hold Purdue accountable for withholding addiction data, but let's be clear-eyed about this: from the moment they launched, these products were highly scheduled (schedule 2) and everyone knew they were highly addictive.
There is more than enough blame to go around, including physicians and dentists who happily prescribed months of scripts for minor or temporary ailments. If anything, they bear the largest blame: they know what a schedule 2 drug does to people and they chose to prescribe irresponsibly. Yet we aren't pushing them away as partners in this battle.
Pharma companies created a product that has helped millions of people. And they are now working on anti-abuse formulations to continue to do that. They don't want to see opioids abused, misused or overused any more than society does. Why push away a potentially powerful ally, especially when "allies" like the federal government are dropping the ball?
6
One need not "equate" the two--whatever that means--to argue that pharma is primarily responsible for the opioid epidemic. Sure, as with any other social problem, there are other actors as well, and questions of personal responsibilty.
But your framing the issue is itself a red herring.
5
Max
"under the strictest of regulations"?
Please...
Big Pharma is a social evil. They pressure and incentivize and bribe doctors to over prescribe to meet targets. They game the generic system in order to keep prices high. They raise prices well beyond rates of inflation or average worker salaries thru pure greed, forcing ordinary Americans to self deny medication or choose between drugs and food. They spend more on advertising than research, and lobby legislatures to prevent Americans from having access to cheaper imported drugs. They bribed politicians not to place caps on drug prices. They deliver impossibly expensive therapies to market and collude with insurers to squeeze Americans while hiding the true costs.
In short, they bought her off, turning what probably started as a well-intentioned and genuine effort into an astroturfing organization. They probably swore up-and-down to Ms Nickel that she wouldn't have to change what she was saying. But then, after she was committed to using her funding, told her behind the scenes what her party line had to be.
As for whether the prescription drugs are addictive: Both of the people I've known killed by their heroin addictions were people who had taken opioid pain medications prescribed by their doctors. By the time their prescriptions were up, they were addicted, and turned to street heroin to get their fix because it's chemically similar and easier to get.
71
Dave,
Do you know how many studies support the "evidence" of your anecdote? How about zero. There are none that have shown that patients prescribed opioids for legitimate pain complaints eventually turn to heroin. Even among those who always used prescription opioids for non-medical reasons, i.e., illicitly, studies have shown that less than 5% end up using heroin.
1
If by chemically similar you mean to say that Heroin (diamorphine) is not actually toxic, while oxycodone does irreparable harm to the brain's opioid receptors, then you are correct. If harm reduction were a priority of the government, or of pharmaceutical companies, then they would do quite a bit more to spread accurate information. Instead, the war on drugs happens to conveniently be ramping up.
Remember kids, cannabis will cause you to commit heinous crimes due to reefer madness, but Methamphetamine is Schedule II.
It's hard for people who haven't experienced something like this to believe that this type of thing is possible. But as a competing, healthy athlete who had never taken pain medication, I became addicted after a badly broken bone required 10 surgeries over a month and a half--during which time the hospital liberally pumped opioids into my body. When I finally went home, I tossed the hydrocodone that they prescribed for me when I left the hospital (because I'm tough and I don't need that junk, right) and that night realized I was in serious trouble. It took me months of "stepping down" (each day of which was torture) before I finally was able to get off that garbage. No one tells you about this when you check out of the hospital...
1
The Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation helped create this problem a decade ago by forcing every provider to address subclinical "pain" in their patients, even if the patients did not complain and the pain was not apparent.
How many pain questionnaires have we all filled out? The patients obviously have easy access and widespread familiarity with over-the-counter non-prescription NSAIDS and acetaminophen, so obviously if they are having concerns, then they MUST be addressed by the next level of solution- prescritpion optiates. How many opiate prescriptions were made just to check off the box that pain was addressed? Misplaced concerns and not seeing the big picture, and not trusting provider judgement, by a bully organization that no one risks arguing with, at the cost of their medical accreditation.
24