Everyone is concerned about opioid overuse, while the stimulant market, like Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, etc. goes through the roof, unnoticed. Everyone and their kid is on these drugs. Everyday users think they need them to function competitively. I call that addiction. What is it about our society that makes us think we have to have drugs to survive?
18
Many are to blame for this crisis but bottom line is Perdue. Without the drug there would be no distribution problem. All profits form this drug should automatically go into prevention.
6
Your headline is misleading. "Giants" implies people of greatness;"heart" implies warmth, and capacity to care.
The driving force at ground zero of the opioid crisis is an icy, monstrous capitalist conspiracy devoid of humanness.
6
@Kitt Richards
Totally agree, we need to explore/understand why the medical community is not developing drugs for pain management that are not addictive. We could develop them but researchers took the easy way out. Time magazine wrote about the addictive nature of these drugs. The company used technology to create zip code profiles so that vulture capitalism could be at work. Selling their wares to an unsuspecting patient, drs and pharmacies. Chronic pain needs to be addressed and not with the Mickey Mouse approach of physical therapy and aspirin. People are suffering from pain and God knows people are working longer and harder. Most people have back,cancer issues. People have real pain and the medical community needs to be accountable for there patients. No one needs to be addicted and no one needs to be in pain constantly.
Capitalism greed created these unforgivable results. No one enjoys watching people suffer because of a slavish addiction due to pain medicine. The company ,board members need to account just like a herion dealer once arrested would have to atone for there deeds.
3
Fine article. But let's put some numbers in perspective. Otherwise all these articles do is stigmatize the legitimate chronic pain patients for whom opiates are a lifesaver.
1.6 billion pills from 2010-2018, holy moly that sounds like an awful lot. To simplify the math, divide by 8. 200 million pills per year. 20 million folks living in New York state. So 10 pills per person. My gosh, is everyone taking a pill every 36 days?
No, let's assume 1% of the population has legitimate chronic pain issues. So that's 200 thousand. 200 million pills per year. A thousand per patient, just under three per day. Guess what folks? Most chronic pain patients take more than 3 opioid pills per day. And more than one percent of the population suffers from chronic pain severe enough to warrant a prescription for something stronger than Tylenol with codeine or Vicodin. Something just like oxycodone in fact. Adults reading this, ask yourself- if you know a hundred people well, surely one of them has a legitimate reason for taking these pills? Severe rheumatoid arthritis or other auto-immune diseases, failed spinal surgery, trauma from a horrific accident, intractable headaches, metastatic cancer, a lengthy list.
We have an opioid crisis in this country. Simultaneously legitimate patients and doctors prescribing opiates are in a quandary. The former can't get their physicians to write them scripts, the latter are afraid to provide them, and pharmacists are loath to fill them.
14
@foodalchemist The AMA published a study a couple years ago. It found over the counter pain medicine is as good, if not better than, opioids at treating pain. It’s about greed, pure and simple.
8
Suing and even prosecuting people to force changes in the practice of valuing profits over all else, including human life, is fine as far as it goes. Pointing fingers and trying to assign blame for this long-running problem does nothing to solve it.
Governments need to invest money and other resources in getting treatment for people who are addicted to these and other substances. Society needs to drop the pretense that there is some moral stigma or individual failing involved in these cases. These folks have a disease and it can be treated, but it needs to be viewed as such and addressed as a public health issue, not a pathway to incarceration.
2
Perhaps I am unusual. I have been prescribed Oxycontin and Tramadol after breaking my arm and a minor surgery.
They did little to help with my genuine pain but made me constipated. Nor did they make me high. A little groggy perhaps.
I took a couple of each and left the rest of the pack in the medicine cabinet.
I can't imagine why someone would want to prevent themselves using the bathroom and would take these things if they didn't have to.
3
@norman0000
Opioids affect different people in different ways. The fact that the brain of an addict responds differently to this substance - due, possibly, to the hard-wiring of an addict's brain - is the reason they crave a repeat of the sensation they got when first exposed to the drug.
You should consider yourself lucky.
7
The "fox guarding the henhouse" is an inappropriate metaphor. One fox can only kill so many hens. What McKesson has done is enable addiction and death at scale for years, involving millions of people. The scale of death alone is staggering and without ready comparison.
10
My sister was a Rx addict.
She died too young.
When the cops asked about what killed her we said, "Drugs".
They asked, "Prescription?".
We replied, "Yes".
They left.
And that was that.
All perfectly legal.
7
@Just Me If there was a “crying” emoji here, I would use it. May she Rest In Peace.
3
Meanwhile you keep hearing about Marijuana being a gateway drug??
Really? Looks like our pharmaceutical companies are the gateway drug- truly despicable and shows where our government is!!
After watching John Oliver last week with the fines they get for making Billions - paying millions makes you realize crime does pay for greedy old white guys!
12
Trump uses the drug abuse crisis in the US to push his anti-immigrant agenda. If he really cared, he'd be using the presidential bully pulpit to go after the oioid manufacturers & distributors.
7
@Bill
He can’t go after them because the CEO’s are members of his golf clubs stay at his hotels attend his parties live the high life with him. They are his rich white friends.
Trump lied to the parents of children who passed away from prescription drugs. He has yet to do anything but give it lip service because he wanted there votes.
When it’s vote time he will give another lip service speech blame the Mexicans as the evil drs prescripting the drugs.
2
60+ percent of overdoses are by people that do not have a legitimate prescription. This is a well documented number. The DEA gets a monthly copy of every single order that goes to pharmacies and always has, while the wholesaler does not have visibility of what the other guy is sending the same pharmacy. 60 minutes did a show on the issue in FL and WV at least 7-10 years ago so it was a known problem. Until the last few years the states could not tell you if a person was going to multiple pharmacies to get an oxy script filled, there was no tracking mechanism. At what point is the person putting the medication is their mouth responsible for what goes in their bodies. I have had 4 knew surgeries and each time given a script for oxy and only took 2 pills in total each time even though I was given 20 each time I had surgery. Now we have issue with Fentanyl coming across the border creating bigger issues.
2
@Mike Coming across the border via aircraft from China https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47772484
2
This needs to be included in health care reform, be it "Medicare for All" or some other approach.
4
So explain to me again why we must protect "the finest medical system in the world" from Bernie Sanders, Social Democracy and single payer Medicare for all.
The current Big Pharma System in this country is so corrupt as to deserve nothing short of nationalization.
These people are killing our fellow citizens with highly addictive opioids and yet they get to sit in their plush offices and collect the proceeds. This needs to end.
13
@Richard From Massachusetts. And plenty of our politicians are speaking out of both sides, screeching piously about the OPIOID CRISIS and walls to stop them--- laughable at best--- while taking large "donations" ie BRIBES to promote or defend these same drug companies. Looking at MY R Rep here in NY 21, who is the very poster child for this self dealing behavior.
4
How do those executives sleep at night?
No coffee after 6PM probably.
2
Boeing, Purdue Pharma, McKesson, Winchester...the list goes on and on. Corporate greed at the cost of people's lives, we'll being or personal safety. And in every case they knew and know well what they are doing, then stand in front of that American people and deny it.
Capitalism run rampant kills.
10
Indeed, the addiction to money, money, money! Are not these lines from Cabaret! I'm a socialist through and through...and also a psychotherapist...and must add to this, most folks know these meds are addictive...so what's up with that! What about saying...NO! I understand there are folks who are completely naive about narcotics, but I can't stand when society paints a weak and victim mentality to the consumer.
Here are the Lobbying numbers (from opensecrets.org) for 2018 Pharma/Health Care sectors:
Lobbyists: 1,441
Spending: $281,462,919
If you add Health (Hospitals, Drs. groups, nursing, etc) the above numbers are doubled. Historically, leading all other industries in spending and lobbyists.
The data answers all questions. They've calculated the ROI and these massive amounts of money to politicians reward them many times over.
Does the American public have the will to hold their elected representatives responsible? The results say no.
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?id=H04
6
@gc
The American public might try to "do the right thing".....die hard Republicans who see the Democratic Party as hypocritical and the party "of the elite" vote for grifters like Trump. Democratic voters vote for Dems who, unfortunately, are also on the corporate payroll. However, in this presidential race, there are at least two candidates who refuse to take the corporate and 1% cash. Keep an eye on them!
2
As a former prescriber, I look back at the propaganda that we were given about pain meds. We were lied to when told that these pills were NOT addictive if taken as directed for pain. A BIG LIE! This deception is not only about pain meds. We were given the same spin about amphetamines, sedatives and hypnotics. All are potentially addictive and all should be prescribed with great care. (Do not discontinue any prescribed medications without medical supervision)
I went so far as to contact 2 law firms with intent to challenge these drug company practices. I was told that there was no use to try to sue these companies or those doctors that were spreading this misinformation. They told me that it would take $1,000,000 just to file suit and that there would be at least 16 drug company staff attorneys waiting to answer any legal complaints.
7
This is just a reflection of the country's worshiping of (and addiction to) money. And it's matched by who get elected to govern. Not only shouldn't this surprise anyone, but it probably reflects feelings shared by most Americans, if not most people in the world.
In other words, the stronger addiction behind the opioid one - is the addiction to money, which has been the driver of all this.
47
How many overdose deaths are caused directly from the over-prescribing of the oxy-products, and how many are actually caused by street drugs? The law suits against the pharmaceutical companies is probably a good thing, but it certainly won't stop addiction and overdose. The addicts will find a source. I don't see any alcohol or tobacco companies involved in high profile law suits. BTW alcohol and tobacco deaths far exceed those of oxycodone deaths. If there was no demand for addictive substances, there would be no production of the pain medication. Yes, there is money to be made, but why? What is the root cause? No one grows up and thinks, hmmm, I want to be an addict and risk an overdose death. No one is willing to address the real problem: The Pain. Sure people might get hooked after 6 weeks of pain meds after knee replacement surgery, most don't. But there is a deeper pain that is being masked by oxy-products (and alcohol), and that is a psychological pain. Low-self esteem, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, poverty... the list is long. I find it odd that our country takes a hard look at the end results (overdose and over prescription) and not at the root causes.
40
Check out the book Dreamland by Sam Quinones, it will answer all your questions and many more. It is a disturbing tale of greed over human life. You will never feel the same about the drug industry after reading this or listening on audio, also excellent. Should be required reading in high school and congress!
22
@Dave
According to the CDC, approximately 25% of opioid OD deaths are due to prescription opioids.
6
Tobacco products lead to 480,000 deaths per year in the US. And I know more people that have died from Cirrhosis of the liver than all other causes combined.
6
This is the story we need. BUT, lawsuits are not enough. Drug pushers need to be criminally prosecuted. Let's see if America really believes "corporations are people." If they indeed are, it's past time to "lock 'em up." After clawing back the wrongfully obtained enormous wealth of the execs and board members.
91
@karen
Agreed. Though too little too late for many of us. They as much as murdered my son and so many other parents’ children. And many children’s parents.
They must be stopped. At the very least they must pay for the treatment of those addicted who remain living.
21
Hmm, a situation where everyone involved made huge amounts of money, and noone was held accountable for the egregious abuses that occurred consistently. The sad thing is it doesn't seem as though the situation is yet being properly addressed, despite all the illegal and / or immoral acts uncovered. Proving once again nothing in the US speaks as loudly as the almighty dollar.
84
America’s pharmaceutical industry is like a malignant cancer that destroys the lives and livelihoods of her people.
6
FilmMD. And God forbid that you ever require one of the many amazing new therapies for "malignant cancer" that have been developed by those pharma companies NOT involved in the opioid crisis. Because surely you would turn it down on principle, correct?
1
Civil suits? This isn't a civil issue, it's criminal. Why is it that people so love money that they'd rather sue than bring these CEOs, and other executives, to a criminal trial. The healthcare field is highly regulated, they broke many laws. Why aren't they going to jail?
8
The Shacklers (Purdue Pharmaceutical) provide a good example of behavior in the later stages of capitalism when the government has been effectively bought and controlled by the private sector.
In this instance The Shacklers carefully targeted and planned released so many opioids into our civilian population that tens of thousands were killed and families torn apart with suffering and remorse, children suffered the loss of family unity and cohesion. The Shacklers made hundreds of billions in profit.
In China, The Shacklers and their henchmen and women would be taken out after trial, placed against a wall and shot dead.
In America they will pay off everyone with their billions in dirty profits and rethink their strategy for the next parasitic assault on the citizenry.
America needs an honorable government. Unfortunately the GOP (Greedy Old Parasites) has lost its way and celebrates profit over duty. You who still trust the GOP should take a hard look at cognitive dissonance and see if you fit the description when it comes to unfounded party loyalty.
5
The problem begins with the physicians who prescribe the drugs without adequate regard to the risk of addiction, it is exacerbated by physicians who over-prescribe or ilegally prescribe,and by the pharmaceutical distributors who oversupply the pharmacies and the pharmacies who oversupply the consumers, and everyone is making money from the manufacturers right down through the supply chain, and the consumers want the drugs of course. So the authorities must now find a few scapegoats and nail them with fines that seem large but really aren't, and meanwhile the opiod abuse just continues. Crazy.
I would like to know what is the pass through profit percentages that the distributors make. I assume these fees provide them with the incentives to put profits over ethical behavior. Have we the consumer paid the 114M bonus of Mr. Hammergren indirectly like mafia extortion? These executives should only get stock options: stocks in the town square!
2
And this is why we need to elect legislators that refuse to take money from these corporate interests. No PAC money, no bribes from corporations. I will only support individuals running on small donor support......unless he or she is running against Trump. In that case, I'd vote for Mickey Mouse.
5
@Sue Salvesen
"I will only support individuals running on small donor support." Yes. There are many of us out here who will only do just that. To vote for a compromised candidate just perpetuates the terrible, immoral situation we have.
2
If private companies can't do the job then the DEA should directly distribute all opiates. Losing their profits will change their story. Any executives of companies that swamped suspect pharmacies should be put in cells with inmates going cold Turkey. Pushing is pushing, period.
4
To me, this should be the theme of the Democratic campaigns in 2020. Not the drug epidemic, though that is bad enough, but the greed that hides under the Republican Party’s push for what they euphemistically call, “deregulation.”
What R’s are really calling for isn’t truly about correcting an overzealous liberal conspiracy to shackle the competitiveness of American business, though they try diligently to make it sound like that. It is simply old fashioned greed, and D’s should be proud to run on how that greed, and the growing economic inequality it promotes, is bad for America.
They like to preach that a rising tide lifts all boats, but they must know that’s untrue, because the data clearly shows that isn’t happening.
They like to to piously intone, in the manner of Gordon Gekko, that greed is the lifeblood of a capitalist system, because, though greed does play some role in making capitalism succeed, it mostly works to the advantage of those who are already ahead.
We can all agree that businesses have to make profits for our system to work. We don’t, however, have to go along with blatant gaming of the system that creates inordinate, and often shameful, excess.
So let’s make that the theme of the election, and let’s shame the R’s who protect the avaricious greed perpetrated by their corporate enablers.
4
@Marshall Doris
Marshall, sorry to stay that the avaricious greed perpetrated by corporate enablers infects both political parties. Only a small donors presidential candidate has a chance to be untainted.
2
Every medical decision ultimately is a costs versus benefits one. The collateral damage of pain relief via opioids is the risk of very costly addictions from such treatment. As with nicotine vaping, the benefit of having a possible nicotine withdrawal device to treat smokers is to increase the risk of teenagers' addictions to it. For example, Time magazine's Digital site contains a March 21, 2019 article by Jamie Ducharme titled: "As Kids Get Hooked on Vaping, Parents Are Desperate for Treatment That Doesn't Exist;" which seems eerily pertinent to the opioid crisis, too.
When any business faces an almost 0% change in quantity demanded for very large percentage increase in price, as occurs with many addictive agents, then CEOs and other execs will not readily surrender such pricing power, with the demand curve termed perfectly inelastic, in such cases.
[JJL 04/22/2019 M 1:10 pm Greenville NC]
1
Criminal prosecution for all those involved and nothing less than that. There is absolutely no difference between these while collar murderers (and that is not too strong a term) and
El Chapo. Essentially, they are all El Chapo- they are just wearing suits and medical white coat attire - getting paid huge bucks in dealing drugs and murdering unsuspecting people and patients.
2
Every medical decision ultimately is a costs versus benefits one. The collateral damage of pain relief via opioids is the risk of very costly addictions from such treatment. As with nicotine vaping, the benefit of having a possible nicotine withdrawal device to treat smokers is to increase the risk of teenagers' addictions to it. For example, Time magazine's Digital site contains a March 21, 2019 article by Jamie Ducharme titled: "As Kids Get Hooked on Vaping, Parents Are Desperate for Treatment That Doesn't Exist;" which seems eerily pertinent to the opioid crisis, too.
When any business faces an almost 0% change in quantity demanded for very large percentage increase in price, as occurs with many addictive agents, then CEOs and other execs will not readily surrender such pricing power, with the demand curve termed perfectly inelastic, in such cases.
[JJL 04/22/2019 M 1:10 pm Greenville NC] 1:50 pm
1
A settlement for grievous crimes that is less than the retirement package for its CEO: it boggles the mind. Why aren't settlements in dollar figures where it really hurts.
How about settlements equal to 25% of a company's valuation!
If anyone doubts the reach and determination of the entire Pharma industry to increase their profits at any cost to us, consider the case of my 7 month old puppy, who was given Oxycontin at a 2.5 mg dose (half the human dose) to suppress a cough. Not to cure it, but to make if go away, presumably so I would feel better about the efficacy of my vet visit. What did they pay the vet to entice him to engage in such madness? Can anyone imagine getting a puppy off smack?
4
My mother, 90, is back in her apartment. She had rushed to help a friend grab her loose cat, fell and ended up in the ER, badly bruised, but sound. They gave her OxyContin and sent her home. That night, disoriented by the opioids, she went to use the bathroom, fell and broke four ribs. She was admitted to the hospital and stayed until her breathing and oxygen levels normalized. Now she's home, in great pain, on OTC and non narcotic pain and sleep aids. It could've been much worse. She was helped quickly. She's mentally sound and generally healthy, two of her sons were able to show up for support. Many elderly and many who are not, lack such helps and deteriorate or even die, sometimes after great expense and suffering, from similar circumstances. Whose fault is this preventable situation? The hospital for releasing her after the first fall? Doctors prescribing oxy for a 90 year old with pain but no breaks or other damage? Companies (i.e., American human beings in companies) that convinced prescribers to choose useful, but dangerous, medicines in inappropriate situations, and lied about the dangers? Complacent or corrupted lawmakers? All bear some blame, none will receive sanctions for the problem they caused but could have easily avoided. Similar continue playing out many times a day, nationwide with no end in sight. Those we trust to address this nightmare, are its creators. Will they step up and remedy it?
4
Milo Minderbinder would be proud.
2
The 7th and 5th Amendments entitle the people of the United States to be made whole again following the depredations of these criminal enterprises who engaged in a sham pharmaceutical business that did unspeakable harm.
3
The US has to be one of the most morally corrupt countries on the planet ..
22
Stats can lie. All I’ve actually seen from this “crisis” is that people in need can’t get their medication anymore. Yet this article makes it sound like pain meds are literally falling off every tree in America. People with severe arthritis and multiple spinal problems should be able to get their pain meds no matter what a bunch of crazy, addicted black-market buyers are doing. I’d like to see the stats on ODs in ‘68 v now. Not fair, of course, as the population is larger. One last thing: People die from alcohol or alcohol-related accidents all the time. Where’s the outrage against the manufacturers there?
9
@Anonymous
statistics don't lie, people do.
The numbers are what they are.
This particular class of drugs are highly addictive and represent a problem of uncontrolled access and a dependence in the Western Medical community to use chemicals to mask pain and symptoms.
There are many pain alternatives that are not addictive or far less addictive.
Opiates should always be a last resort class of drugs and used in only limited and controlled amounts.
I wonder how many young, poor black/brown people are rotting in prison for smoking cannabis, while big pharma CEO's in expensive suits, are raking in billions by peddling a far more nefarious product - opioids? These executives belong in jail.
37
@joly
Pharmaceutical executives from Eli Lilly paid the largest fine in U.S. corporate history ($1.4 billion) for civil/criminal acts around illegal marketing of its then blockbuster drug, Zyprexa. Lilly corporate executives from the era now run Purdue University and HHS, among other lofty jobs.
3
The owners and executives of the makers of this crisis, are all no doubt super rich and powerful.
They are also the biggest drug pushers on the plant.
15
This going to require a long overdue regulatory effort for these pharmaceutical giants. One of the main problems is that once drugs clear original approval, marketing arms take over. They are primed to sell, and with drugs so obviously a potential problem for large swaths of the public, they should be constrained in their actions.
So far there appears to be little congressional appetite to tackle the far-reaching problems.
Looking back over the last half century, this happens too often: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/05/09/527575055/one-third-of-new-drugs-had-safety-problems-after-fda-approval ("One-Third Of New Drugs Had Safety Problems After FDA Approval," May 2017). We currently consider FDA approval enough: it isn't.
3
@JSK
Yes, when released to the public it's the start of the beta test. Prefer drugs that have been around for a while, the problems may have been discovered.
@JSK
This is the reason that Public Citizen says to wait for seven years before taking a prescription drug - by then the real safety profile has become clear. Beware the new ones - lots of marketing hype but dubious safety reports.
Equal justice for all?
El Chapo will spend the rest of his life in jail for selling narcotics. And the Sacklers and drug distributors will get off with civil penalties which are rounding errors given their outrageous profits? Not right.
Manufacturers, distributors, Federal, State and local governments all passed the buck as the body counts mounted. Prisons filled with non-violent drug offenders while these white collar criminals made billions.
What's happened to our country?
58
@Pat This is unfettered capitalism. A sale, a profit under any circumstance. Worse than the gun situation and far more profitable.
6
@Pat, Thumper got elected and all regulation has gone to heck. We need Congress and the executive to do their jobs.
3
@Pat
Greed.
5
Why is Rochester which is smaller in size than the other distributors is the only company whose leaders are under criminal investigation?
Like always, the small fishes are the easiest target.
As for the DEA, I'm sure they don't have enough agents left to look into those distributors since most of their agents are focused on those marijuana dealers, who can't bribe members of Congress with political contribution.
As the article pointedly states, it's the lack of political will that is at the origin of this epidemic. Nobody cared as long as money was being made and everybody getting his/her cut.
The CEO getting $154 million pension, the politician getting his campaign contribution. 218.000 dead Americans, that is just a number for all those involved. Nothing else.
Unless children or politicians relatives become victims , nothing will be done.
5
Before we malign every pain medication let's take a moment to consider those who truly need them to lead a normal pain free life. A number of years ago I developed two ruptured vertebrae rendering me in so much pain I could not walk, sleep, sit, and I would have gladly ended it all if a very empathetic doctor had not prescribed an oxycotin. Granted I do not have an addictive personality and was able to curb my use of said oxycotin when my vertebrae healed, but that said, I, to this day, thank that doctor for relieving me of that debilitating pain.
21
Government is and has been run by the interests of business groups with special attention to lowering taxes and avoiding regulation.No matter who is elected they get to Washington and are flooded with money to buy their votes. These problems with Pharmaca's were proven on 2000 law suit but the department of justice (with lots of political influence) let them off with a small fine and allowed them to continue.
7
This was promoted and known under Obamas administration! The crowns and other Oligarchs were Obamas backers (better than the Koch bros?), take the money out of Politics: elect Sanders and get K. Harris ( or Warren) on his tag,then there is hope!
5
Hail free enterprise and capitalism!!
5
Good for the attorneys general of New York, Vermont and Washington.
8
"Recent court filings also suggest that doctors who met with opioid drug reps were 10 times more likely [than doctors who did not meet with drug reps] to have prescribed opioids to patients who later died of an overdose." (Daily Beast)
Another fun fact: if you take opioids for seven days in a row, there is a 90 percent chance you will still be taking them a year later.
Increasingly, addiction is coming out of the shadows. I know more and more people, particularly older people, who are suddenly in a crisis because their life is falling apart due to pain medication they cannot kick. I know a guy who runs a company, a sweet, smart man with a noticeable limp, who would send these long strings of emails after 5-6pm that made no sense and contained redundant questions and accusations. Replying was an exercise in futility. I know what that means. I have another old friend, very capable and a great mom, who had hip surgery. She fell off the radar and then got arrested for a Facebook scam last winter. I know what that means.
These distributors need to be shut down and their board of directors need to face criminal charges and be put in prison. The settlements to date are a joke. This is a criminal matter. They are destroying our society and laughing at all of us on the way to the bank.
However, it is not yet an issue for the Presidential candidates, including Trump. Why? If the drug makers and distributors feel they are in jeopardy, they will contribute more to campaigns.
21
@Brian Prioleau
While I agree with many of your concerns, there are people who need these drugs and you overstate the risks of long term addiction: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6610a1.htm ("Characteristics of Initial Prescription Episodes and Likelihood of Long-Term Opioid Use — United States, 2006–2015," March 2017). Here is the concluding statement:
"When initiating opioids, caution should be exercised when prescribing >1 week of opioids or when authorizing a refill or a second opioid prescription because these actions approximately double the chances of use 1 year later. In addition, prescribers should discuss the long-term plan for pain management with patients for whom they are prescribing either Schedule II long-acting opioids or tramadol."
This is not to deny the enormity of the problems we face due to lack of adequate regulation of these pharmaceutical giants.
7
@Brian Prioleau - check the enormous donations these corrupt executives make to our greedy politicians because we know what that means.
4
@Brian Prioleau
Big Pharma's lobbying presence and campaign cash are among the top five, if not at the top. Other greedy and dangerous corporate entities right up there - Big Military, the Corporate Health Insurance Industry, Big Oil.
I hope this doesn’t just result in a fine for these big corporations. The executives should go to jail.
7
Corporations are people too!?
I will believe that when a corporation is executed for murder. And when their management are held personally responsible.
2
It always amazes me how these CEO’s who tout their leadership to justify multimillion dollar salaries suddenly know nothing when there is illegal activity. Seems to me if you are the top guy you would want to be asking questions about what is happening under you.
Leadership, it seems, means one thing - keeping profits and stock prices up no matter what.
10
At its heart this is no different from what Big Tobacco continues to do with worldwide marketing and infection with the Death that it peddles.
Mammon has no soul, nor do his followers.
2
@ThomasPayne. Yes, those who helped facilitate the opioid crisis represent the absolute worst of the pharma industry. But please let's not paint all manufacturers with the same brush and, good grief, let's not equate those firms with the tobacco industry! I have friends and relatives who are alive today only because of various breakthrough cancer therapies brought to market by certain pharma and biotech firms. I know others with serious chronic disabilities who are the first to credit new therapies for allowing them to enjoy their lives free from pain. Yes, there are some bad actors among pharma companies, but let's not be hypocrites. I for one am grateful for the many amazing therapy options available to me and my loved ones.
1
There is this myth that the bad actors are always disenfranchised people, the poor, etc. and the drug cartels. Where ever there is money to be made, it is often, the educated, and those who should know better, old money, doctors, corporations. They have the deep pockets, to sue, for the millions of dollars in healthcare costs, each state has had to tax for, in the costs to treat, prevent, and deal with dead people across this country.
7
"How do the C.E.O.'s...sleep at night?" Quite a naive statement coming from a state's attorney general. This is precisely how C.E.O.'s sleep at night: by ensuring huge profits, using any means possible regardless of legal or moral imperatives.
10
These craven corporations need to be punished severely, not just with hefty fines but with serious jail time for the execs who turned a blind eye in the service of corporate greed. The federal government won’t lift a finger, not with Trump in the White House and Azar, a former big pharma CEO, running HHS. It’s up to the states. This is what happens when lobbyists control Congress and corporations are pampered by the GOP.
5
The wealthy have absolutely no shame or conscience, fines do nothing. Prison and poverty are the only punishment Wall Street understands, CEO's and executives of these companies should experience both.
4
http://time.com/magazine/us/3908624/june-15th-2015-vol-185-no-22-u-s/
You might want to check out this Time magazine article. You can probably find the edition at your local library. It documents the evolution of this opioid mess in great detail. The pharmaceutical industry lobbied Congress to change laws which limited doctors' ability to prescribe opioids. Once they were changed, there aggressively pushed the medical profession to buy their product and dispense it. It's an eye opener. These people are no better than the heroin dealers on downtown street corners.
7
@sheikyerbouti
Wurst! The dealers may be selling to support their habit, or paying off medical debt.
1
The Health Industry has literally been getting away with gouging pruces, drug peddling and therefore
homicide for the sake of making huge profits....
5
This was a long time in the making. Why did the Obama admin allow this to happen?
4
@JP Why would anyone allow this, because this country is completely and totally corrupt.
1
In terms of the death toll, 9-11 was just a minor event compared to this opium scourge. What really separates the CEO’s from the likes of El Chapo? Certainly not profits or collateral deaths.
6
There is so much wrong here I don't know where to begin. However, at a minimum we should prosecute these executives, pharmacists, and doctors for the murder of the tens of thousands who died taking these drugs.
7
Nothing but a smokescreen. The government goes after doctors and companies while refusing to provide free, long-term rehabilitation for people suffering addiction. The government continues to obstruct authorization for use of Suboxone to enable addicts to gradually taper off over months. The only result will be to push the opiate dependent to affordable heroin to control withdrawal symptoms which in turn will cause more deaths, and destroy more lives. Meanwhile patients suffering pain are denied medication by frightened doctors. What a murderous scam.
5
The narrative presented in this article is misleading. The fact is that the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma invented OxyContin and got the country addicted. The”genius marketing “ of the Sackler brother founders is what created the Drs and distribution network. Israeli Teva Pharmaceutical is not mentioned, tough it’s the world’s leading producer of generic drugs in general and OxyContin derivatives specifically. Yes, all other large Pharma cos. that followed-up should be punished, but don’t diminish the Sacklers and Teva’s’ responsibility
5
These are well informed companies. Figures documenting the massive and unusual distribution of their opioid products appear in their monthly/quarterly sales reports. They knew full well what was transpiring and there is no plausible deniability. Their criminal acts have resulted in more fatalities than Boeing 737 MAX, Roundup and Takada airbags combined. Marketing culpability is well documented and now it is the legal system that is on trial.
7
@W. Ogilvie Government is a corporate capital enterprise bought to promote their interests. Social Democratic is a government to promote the citizens interest. We are in a big battle to decide which one we want.
3
The government decided, during the Reagan administration, that commercial interests of business would take precedence over the interest of the people. Other advanced countries did not follow, of course. It is only the US where opioid profits killed people every year in a massive scale. This was known throughout the medical "industry" for years but nobody cared. It is only one example of the unique moral bankruptcy of the United States at present.
18
The fed cuts the budget at DEA, states can’t afford oversight personnel for triple scripts (prescriptions for scheduled drugs) or up-to-dat data capture tech—plus needing the tax revenue—and major healthcare product distributors and major pharmacy chains receive fines so puddling it’s not worth hiring sufficient personnel to monitor.
So, let’s hold hearings.
4
@Citizen60 NO , no hearings, a waste of time lets go to court.
All opiods are lumped together to add to what is seen as simply as a crisis, not separating the obvious criminal suppliers and addicts from legitimate users, who never touch fentanol or often not even oxycontin. The use of far less dangerous hydrocodone, an opiod is placed, even among people who use doctor prescribed amounts needed to control crippling pain. Without this drug, patients would have their lives needlessly disrupted, interfering with the ability to work or perform household and self care tasks. This would make them even more dependent on others. This is an era of politicization, with pain patients becoming pawns, a highly unacceptable outcome.
11
Yes. I have three back injuries, including a fracture. I took opiates for agonizing pain for over a decade. It enabled me to be functional and have a family life. With better treatment and time my pain decreased, and I weaned off gradually over a year. Now I only require intermittent pain medication. However, it was a never-ending fight and nightmare over the years as the current cynical war on drugs constantly interfered with my medical care. What is needed is free, long-term government rehabilitation clinics, which is precisely what the government is refusing to provide. Everything they are doing is aimed at making the crisis worse.
5
It is truly amazing what people will do for money. No level of depravity, corruption or evil is too low if there is a dollar amount attached.
They spent all that time, energy, focus and ingenuity on money. And not on the medical problem that needed a solution. To say that money is an incentive for anything other than making money seems to be a very dangerous belief to adhere to.
Sadly, I think they slept well at night, believing they had achieved the American Dream.
5
@Morgan Perfectly said. And they never have enough money or power - like Trump. They must all be taken down.
2
These murderous robbers conspired for years to promote the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans to grab cash for themselves and their already rich stockholders. More overdose deaths than eight Viet Nams. While the government chooses to scream about refugee immigrants. This is America at its most rotten level. Money buys politicians to insure they do nothing. Money buys elections to keep voters fighting about guns, abortion, LGBQ, and each other. While Americans die because the GOP fights to erase regulations to protect us. We don't have a government - we have a candy store for the evil rich. It's Les Miserables for everyone else.
16
I don't see too much coverage of what the REAL problem is. Blaming the doctors, blaming the manufacturers, not many people blaming the purchasers, but they have a role in it too. For some reason, not much is being said about, 1), Why they have combined prescribed opiate death statistics, with heroin, illegal usage of prescription opiates, and fentanyl laced illicit drugs like heroin, and 2), Why the Chinese aren't being called out by our authorities, for importing into the US, 55 gallon drums, and shipping containers full of 55 gallon drums, of illicit Fentanyl. Most of the deaths from opiates are caused by the Fentanyl, the majority of which is imported from China.
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@BorisRoberts
First, the Chinese already HAVE been called out by authorities. This article not mentioning that fact does not mean it does not exist. Other front page NYT articles have already discussed the US response to illicit Chinese opiates.
Second, the purchasers are largely dragged into this by having opiates prescribed to them by Doctors. This means people with authority and who a person in pain is trusting with their health is telling them to take a drug to manage that pain. Said person has no clue what a proper dosage is, nor should they be expected to. They trust a doctor to tell them. Doctors in turn are over prescribing these drugs or prescribing them for people who should use other pain killers. It is largely pointless to blame the victims here. Addiction is not a switch that can be toggled off, and many of them did not ask to become addicts.
Lastly, they combine those statistics because the over prescription of medical opiates has a direct causal link to the rise in heroin and fentanyl usage. Separating those statistics downplays the role of medical institutions and prescription drug suppliers in the creation of this crisis.
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@BorisRoberts
You and your defense of these robber barons are also part of them
1
@BorisRoberts
The CDC separates out deaths from illicit opioids from those due to prescription opioids.
1
Who can forget "The Wire" or "Breaking Bad" -- two television series that dealt with the criminal drug trade? But D'Angelo Barksdale and Walter White were pikers compared to the executives that pushed narcotics on hundreds of thousands of unwitting victims through their local pharmacies. Perhaps we need a new series -- one set in executive offices and corporate board rooms. In the final episodes, they don't end up dead or imprisoned. They end up driving off into the sunset in their Porches -- scot free.
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@Rey Buono Perfectly said.
2
Phooey. I wish these "lawmakers could experience a week of what I do . That'd change their minds in a hurry.
Just another drug war in service of profits and attacks on doctors and pain patients
6
Does it not boggle the mind that prescription opiods which killed over 20,000 people in America in 2017 is still completely legal yet cannibis which may well have many more medicinal benefits remains completely illegal for the Feds?
7
They are businesses catering to a need. If there was no market for the opioid drugs then this would not have happened. Just as Mexico is not causing drug abuse in the US, these companies did not create the addicts who are demanding the drugs. Nor did it create the large cohort of doctors who prescribe these drugs unethically. Let's stop pretending that drug addiction is a disease, and hold addicts responsible for their actions.
2
I wouldn't say that doctors are being unethical, they work for the patients and are giving them what they want. People know/knew the dangers of opiates, for decades, and then they get strung out on them anyway. Just like everything else, profit comes first.
3
I have a friend with severe back pain for years and her pain meds have been cut from 3 a day to 1 a day. She is in agony and they won’t let her have more than one a day.
People who need are suffering because of those who have abused it
17
Boeing, Purdue Pharma, McKesson, Winchester...the list goes on and on. Corporate greed at the cost of people's lives, we'll being or personal safety. And in every case they knew and know well what they are doing, then stand in front of that American people and deny it.
Capitalism run rampant kills.
4
............and who is going to pay to clean up this mess created by multibillion dollar corporations run by multimillion dollar earning management? Why the American taxpayer of course.
3
Republican Conservative judges always have their eye on business tills when passing judgment. The victims of the market flooding of opioids will suffer, the manufacturers not so much.
3
Please incl. reporting on role of JCAHO & Hospital Admins in analyses. Who placed lg.signs in ERs, waiting rms and hospital wards: "Pain is the 5th Vital Sign. If you have pain, notify the Nurse"? Who reprimanded/fired Nurses if they didn't immed. page the MD to prescribe whatever dose of Dilaudid the patient requested? Who reprimanded( Patient Rep in all hospitals) or fired the MD if they didn't write for "x" mg iv dilaudid q hr for pain? Who fired MDs at Kaiser who refused to give patients lg. rxs for potent narcotics for pain, for not "being a team player" ( a colleague was told: The patients are members of Kaiser. They can't go elsewhere for rxs. You must write for them).. Who told State Boards of Medicine to host required "teaching sessions" for MDs, at which Physicians were told they were inappropriately fearful of rx massive doses of narcotics; at which cases were cited where MDs were sued for refusing to rx lg. doses of narcotics ( they cited a case in CA) - b/c the MD "refused to adequately treat" the patient's pain? I do not disagree w/ analyses about Pharm. Corps. I also like critical thinking: State Boards, Hospitals, HMOs, were ALL taken in - they should have known better! ( I do not expect the corps to have critical thinking, or a moral compass....what did Milton Friedman say? 'The only duty of the corporation is to generate revenue for the shareholders'?) I DID/DO expect a moral, scientific, and intellectual compass from the other organizations.
3
Instead of sending any of these people to jail I say get them addicted to these opioid pills and let them learn what having a conscience feels like.
3
The U.S. healthcare system is the most expensive in the world yet ranks (depending on the measurement criteria) 37th in outcomes (link: http://thepatientfactor.com/canadian-health-care-information/world-health-organizations-ranking-of-the-worlds-health-systems/).
The system thrives on over-treating and over-prescribing. This fuels wealth into the pharmaceutical, device, and equipment manufacturers that are further integrated into the distribution systems of the Cardinals, McKessons, etc. Moreover, there are the explosive administrative costs featuring an inverted compensation pyramid of administrators and for-profit insurors over clinicians.
For the sake of argument let’s naïvely assume for the moment that the above operates with the “good intent” of patient care. And, let’s accept, for the moment, that the Sacklers and their accomplices in the supply chain (from manufacturer to human) exercised “bad-intent” as they knowingly violated the oath of “Do No Harm.” Not only was harm done, but it was done with intent to do so i.e., the intent to knowingly do harm. This is a criminal, not civil case.
But the country’s present chief law enforcement officer is William Barr, and the country’s president is Donald Trump, and the country’s Congress is indebted to corporate sponsors, while the country’s judicial system becomes tainted by specious appointments. So let’s not hold our breath hoping for accountability, justice, and cost-effective improvements to the system. We deserve it.
2
Our prisons are full of people, many with drug dependencies, convicted of possessing small amounts of drugs like opiates or marajuana. We need look no farther than the opiate scandal to show that big pharma are the real drug kingpins and pushers in many cases.
Reagan re-ignited Nixon's "war on drugs" as a partisan weapon, just like immigration today; I'm sure many of the pharma shareholders and prescribing doctors- many Republican- who benefited most from their own drug dealing will never face any consequences for their costly, and deadly actions.
https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11325750/nixon-war-on-drugs
https://www.aclu.org/other/drug-war-new-jim-crow
1
That's a myth. This isn't Texas in 1968, there are very few people in prison for a small amount of weed.
Jail time for corporate executives <- that would quickly resolve the problem.
Too bad we worship money and applaud those with money even to our own detriment. Evil and rot starts at the top and is rotten all the way down...at big pharma...in the government....
By last year [2018], executives were summoned by Congress. Both Mr. Hammergren, of McKesson, and George Barrett, the executive chairman of Cardinal at the time and its former chief executive, played down their roles in the supply chain.
During the hearings, Representative Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat, picked out a single drugstore in rural West Virginia that had been swamped with opioids — 4,000 pills a day at one point from Cardinal, 5,000 from McKesson.
“Don’t you take responsibility?” she asked, adding, “You saw that paying the penalties on your settlement agreements was a cost worth paying because you were making so much money?”
“I wish we had moved earlier to stop shipping to that pharmacy,” Mr. Barrett said at the hearing. Mr. Hammergren echoed that, saying, “I would have liked to have made a decision faster.”
Ms. Castor was not satisfied. “This was the opposite of due diligence,” she said.
My question is: "What did the members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, actually do as a result of these hearings conducted in 2018?
The year 2018 was an election year for all the members of Congress, including the House members participating in the referenced hearing. I hope that each and every member of the Committee conducting this hearing on the "swamping [of the nation] with opioids" did something other than accept large campaign donations from these corporate criminals, For example, was severe enforcement legislation passed?
4
1.6 billion oxycodone pills in NY state with 20 million people, 80 pills for every man, woman and child. We can determine how many people actually recieved the Rx's used to obtain these pills, since only some folks did. We get average pills per user per year. We then determine who got how many Rx's, we will see who the problem users are, which pharmacies supplied them, and who wrote those problem Rx's. This will lead directly to distributors who aided and abetted them.
These records exist (unless deliberately destroyed), and we owe it to the victims, dead and living, and their families to root out these ruthless profiteers.
1
But the road still leads back to the Sacklers. Life sentences should await them and their finances liquidated and provided to support addiction clinics.
What the distributors did was not illegal, the patients had legitimate prescriptions, from legitimate doctors, to sell a legal painkiller. If I'm not mistaken, they are REQUIRED to fill them if everything checks out.
1
Yes, @BorisRoberts, the Rx's were (mostly at least) legal, but the misconduct of distributors with respect to the federal reporting requirements meant that DEA and FDA could not do their jobs. They distributed such drugs only because the Feds allowed them to, and they flaunted the requirements which would have alerted policing agencies to the growing epidemic of abuse much sooner. And they profited mightily from their misdeeds.
In the chemical industry companies must report every sale and shipment of precursors for drugs like P2P and lysergic acid that are precursors used to make speed and other controlled drugs to the DEA. This has broken up many drug rings. Such reporting was required of McKesson and the others. They broke the law in failing to do so. They should be banned from distribution of such drugs in the future.
@JPH the Sacklers made and mismarketed Oxycontin, but many other companies made oxycodone that addicts used when Oxycontin was unavailable. These distributors helped many besides Perdue Pharma avoid the Feds.
What is really important to know about these organized opioid drug cartels is the color aka race, ethnicity, national origin, and faiths of the people who owned and operated them
What is really key to identifucation and prevention of this white European American Judeo-Christian majority crime wave is why it was all apparently legally immune from any criminal prosecution.
1
So much for the theory that market pressures will lead companies to police themselves. If this epic crisis doesn't blow those arguments to smithereens, I don't know what will.
1
In plain terms, the companies, but especially their executives and very especially their chief executive officers, have without conscience made themselves into drug pushers, dealers -- comparable to the pusher on the street corner. In fact they are the middlemen suppliers not just for pharmacies but for street corner pushers.
Here is one reason then that prescription drugs cost more in this country: The distributors -- the inevitable big markup middlemen. Except that in the business of pharmaceutical drugs the markup is a tax on every prescription.
Can we cut them out? Yes. It can be done. Nationalize their industry as part of a single payer system not merely to exercise more control over opioids but to reduce health care costs universally.
Meantime send one of the drug pusher CEO's to prison to make a point that, apparently, needs to be made. I am sure there is a criminal charge that applies, Prosecutors can be creative
5
@Carl Zeitz
I agree. The CEO’s always get off despite being the “leaders”. If one or two of them went to prison we might see businesses begin to clean up their acts. If they are making the millions to be the leader then they should be responsible.
This is just like the financial collapse in 2008. The guys at the top had no idea what was going on under them. What the heck were they doing to justify their salaries besides occupying a big office?
With the courts being packed by McConnell, et.al., will there be any justice for the American citizenry in the future? I am beginning to realize why they are focusing on the courts and do not want any other topic (i.e. education, student debt, health care, infrastructure, retirement, climate change, upholding their constitutional vows, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ) to interfere with their progress.
16
The fines are a small percentage of the profits. Lawsuits are basically a kickback or royalty to the government. Business, regardless of its harm to health or environment remains profitable.
8
Thank you for the article... keep them coming. I'd like to see an in depth article on how the 2016 federal law was passed gutting the D.E. A.'s ability to do its job (!), namely to freeze suspicious drug shipments, and I'd like the names of the enablers included. Constituents should know what their elected representatives are up to. It bears repeating... "How do these people sleep at night?"
44
According to the WaPo article the law was essentially a finesse by pharma lobbyists. Passed unanimously in the Senate and negotiated by Sen Orrin Hatch. Perhaps we should be asking how does Sen Hatch sleep at night?
27
He just counts Pharmaceutical kickbacks like some people count sheep. And Ambien.
5
When pharmacies process narcotic scripts where do they go? Does the state receive a report? Is there a database?
I have to show my drivers license to purchase Sudafed. Where does that Data go?
The states have the power to collect that data and identify the pill mills and over prescribers - the question is what do they do with that information and why don’t they act to shut it down?
21
Thanks, important article! Given that most of the article is quite specifically about the role of the Rochester Drug Cooperative in supplying large amounts of opiates with abandon to pharmacies in New York, I hope to see several follow-up articles on the New York-specific situation. Especially helpful would be details on the lobbyists with ties to Governor Cuomo who worked hard to thwart the opioid surcharge bill, and the apparent lack of action at the New York State department of health after the Comptroller's audit in 2012 found that the department's narcotics bureau overlooked hundreds of thousands of opiate prescriptions over only two years. Both happened on the watch of the current administration (Cuomo), and I wonder what, if anything, has changed. Lastly, a statement by the governor's office on these matters would be interesting. I wonder if you (NYTimes) asked for one?
14
We are always going to have dishonest doctors who only care about making money and will do anything to do so including prescribing opioids.
However, the vast amount of the opioid crisis stemmed from uneducated doctors who thought they were doing the right thing by prescribing these drugs. Until we get better education on pain management in medical schools, the crisis is going to continue.
And one other thing The Times has overlooked in its coverage of the crisis is that in virtually every teaching hospital, pain medicine is under the aegis of departments of anesthesiology. As anesthesiologists are among the physicians with the least amount of training in substance abuse and addiction, you think this might be part of the problem?
There is absolutely no reason why the management of chronic pain should be part of anesthesiology other than that anesthesiologists want to continue to do injections and procedures that provide little benefit to most patients who receive them. It only has to do with money, not science.
9
@Steve Your suggestion that "uneducated doctors" thought they were doing the right thing ignores the role of pharmaceutical companies in misleading doctors about opioid dangers. It appears that they intentionally did so to get patients hooked and make outsized profits.
Fines are too weak. The folks that did this should be in jail.
4
@Ned
Doctors who knew what they were doing couldn't be misled.
I am a pain management physician who actually did a full year fellowship (and that was after 4 years of medical school and 4 years of residency). I was told the same falsehoods by Purdue reps but I knew that what they were telling me was false. Any doc who could have been misled shouldn't have been prescribing opioids in the first place and should be held accountable for misprescribing them to patients.
4
Thanks, important article! Given that most of the article is quite specifically about the role of the Rochester Drug Cooperative in supplying large amounts of opiates with abandon to pharmacies in New York, I hope to see several follow-up articles on the New York-specific situation. Especially helpful would be details on the lobbyists with ties to Governor Cuomo who worked hard to thwart the opioid surcharge bill, and the apparent lack of action at the New York State department of health after the Comptroller's audit in 2012 found that the department's narcotics bureau overlooked hundreds of thousands of opiate prescriptions over only two years. Both happened on the watch of the current administration (Cuomo), and I wonder what, if anything, has changed. Lastly, a statement by the governor's office on these matters would be interesting. I wonder if you (NYTimes) asked for one?
1
What’s the value of these middlemen. Do they just increase the cost of the product.
But the basic reality is that there is a market for opioids etc and someone will try to fill it,
3
@F Varricchio Are you questioning whether distributors have a role in commerce?
This is all about lawyers suing the deepest pockets in search of the highest payouts. The Joint Commission compelled doctors to prescribe narcotics to patients who complained of pain, regardless of whether or not the patients truly were experiencing pain or whether narcotics were the best option. But lawyers don’t want to sue the Joint Commission, they want to sue huge corporations where they think the juiciest payouts will be.
Journalists should look much more closely at the role of the Joint Commission in creating the opioid crisis. I’m a nurse and I know what the Joint Commission was doing.
9
@Bill Griffiths Yes! I keep writing about this, and Journalists keep covering only a small part of the story: the Pharmaceutical Corporations. Journalists please look into the following: Joint Commission, Boards of Medicine in all states, Hospital Administrations and their Patient Representatives. As Mr. Griffiths says: We know what the Joint Commission was doing. Why didn't they stand up for what was right?
2
Okay, I will bite--joint commission is/was bad. but this drug pushing needed a conduit and the monopolistic distribution corporations, run by perfectly evil people, were the avid stream. Going after deep pockets is smart: let McKesson et al pay for the needed solutions, not innocent taxpayers like you and me. We can only hope the claw back includes the top executives who were knowingly enriched by their drug pushing. Some should go to jail--perhaps they can share cells with all our young black citizens who are there for selling small amounts of pot.
2
@Bill Griffiths They can get some CBD. Cheaper and less addicting. Instead we have a government who drags their feet on the issue and wants us all to be a slave to big pharma and just banish the laywers. Your solution amounts to the same.
1
This is corporate American. The face of the No Regulations Republican Party.
96
Did you hear or see obama going after these companies? Sorry: this evil negligence has been bipartisan.
10
The Republicans, by no means, have the market cornered on profiteering. That is the ONLY TRUE bi-partisan issue. You know that. I know that.
9
@Chris. That is a tasty sound bite, but the Democrats are as much at fault. NYS has been under Democratic control for eons and a Democrat sat in the white house as much of this evolved.
7
Lawsuits? That's fine, but these should be criminal cases.
101
I totally agree. If corporations are people then first degree murder charges are in order.
10
@mark
Heck, at this point, even charges of manslaughter look good. As long as the makers and pushers walk free, the behavior will go on - the bottom line being greed, after all.
5
That's what happens when political parties are run by corporate donors. Where was the Obama administration as the deaths mounted?
The statistic that we need now is the amount of campaign cash per overdose death. That way, we would know the exact value our political leaders place on voters' lives.
41
both political parties are corrupt in some ways; the us vs them ideology doesn't apply. Pogo put it well...I have met the ememy and it is me.
4
Luckily for them the corrupt Trump administration will run interference.
22
@mja
As opposed to the corrupt Obama administration who oversaw this during the formative years?
3
Tax deductible fines?! Did they “punish” the Mafia bosses with fines? Parents who bought their kids admission to USC? A mother & her child who crossed into the US illegally?
Serious jail time is required. Nothing like violent roommates, bad food, a concrete bunk to get across the fact that the opioid crisis is murder!
78
Agree, the Sacklers need life sentences in the same prisons housing people impacted by opioid addiction and not Club Fed.
9
"After a public backlash — a Forbes headline asked if it was “The World’s Most Outrageous Pension Deal?” — the company later reduced the retirement pension for John H. Hammergren to $114 million." My heart aches for this poor fellow. Let me be the first to offer Mr. Hammergren some supplemental Zooperbucks from my teensy retirement income. Won't other generous Times readers join me? And also, of course, he will continue to feature prominently in my most earnest prayers!
6