It's good to see our government holding those accountable who contribute to continuing opioid abuse. We hope this sets a precedent moving forward so that pharmaceutical companies and medical professionals won’t take advantage of patients who need help. It’s important for patients to be able to trust those that take an oath to help them and for physicians to not be swayed by financial gain from drug company incentives.
There have, and always will be “writing doctors” who can be tracked by the computerized prescription program.
The system has also been used to strip physicians of their Schedule II prescription privileges because, though fully trained in pain management, they aren’t “specialists” - we’re talking psychiatrists here. And good pain specialists are harder to find anywhere than abortion providers in the Bible Belt.
Why people who don’t live with chronic pain don’t want me to enjoy full quality of life is beyond me.
so what happens to the 20M? is any of it being spent on therapy for the addicts? and is anyone going after the pharmacies?
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What is the relationship between the fine imposed and the profits generated from the sale of the opioids in percentage terms?
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I remember a cartoon from the National Lampoon. It was a farmer in coveralls and a straw hat sitting on the witness stand in a court room. A lawyer in a three piece suit was questioning him.
“So, let’s get this straight. You grew the corn that was sold to a grain broker who sold it to a food distributor who sold it to a distillery who sold it to a liquor distributor who sold it to a restaurant who sold it to my client and that’s why he got a DUI?”
No one gets an opioid from a pharmacy without having a prescription written by a licensed doctor.
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The Shirley Chisholm monument is hideous, not to mention a little frightening.
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@Lifelong Reader
I must agree. I'm not impressed with it either. Is it the color? The size? or the fact that there's nothing really recognizable about Shirley Chisholm in it at all?
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I am disappointed to see what's been selected. It's hard to tell from the pictures what it looks like but what little I can see looks awful. it will be huge in its setting, and will overwhelm the corner of Ocean and Parkside. This is the best we can do to honor Shirley Chisholm???
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@N. Smith
All of the above. I was willing to allow that maybe the problem was the photo but I clicked on the story to see if there were any other that put it in a better light.
As for her being unrecognizable, she was a big figure during my youth. I even met her briefly when I was a little girl. She never wore her hair in an afro. Like many mature black women of her era, she wore her hair straightened or wore a wig. Her hair was dark brown.
I think Chisolm deserves better.
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RE Metropolitan Diary: Wow cool you blew through a red light and the cop let you off. Thanks NYT for allowing this guy to publicly trivialize reckless driving in the middle of Manhattan. Can’t wait til he gets slapped with Congestion Pricing.
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@Emma My thoughts exactly. Thank you.
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Hi Emma, I'd read this
"I eased through the turn just as it changed."
as saying he knew he had not broken the law. But the Diary item's New York story seemed to be about the value of telling a story as cordially and relatably as possible over getting into an argument, especially on a hot day. (I can't imagine the writer would've sent it in if he'd thought he'd gotten away with breaking the law.)
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_ Re Dear Diary: I had a similar experience many years ago. I had just graduated from the USMC boot camp in Parris Island and was home on furlough. I borrowed my Dad’s car and drove to Brooklyn to pick up my girlfriend for a night out together. As we left her house, I made a right turn at the corner just as the light changed to red and was immediately pulled over.
_ When the cop asked me for my driver’s license and registration he noticed the “slick sleeve” on my uniform. Having no chevrons on my arm indicated that I had the lowly rank of private and was therefore a recent graduate from boot camp.
_ “P.I. or Dago?” he asked, using jarhead jargon to ask me whether I had graduated from the boot camp at Parris Island or the one at San Diego in California. There has been a long standing rivalry between graduates of the two boot camps as to which one was tougher and more Gung Ho.
_ “P.I.” I answered. At that point the cop handed me my license and registration, winked and said “Get outa here”. He must have been a P.I. graduate too.
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When the old Penn Station was demolished, it was a signal to New Yorkers that they should be satisfied with garbage; that the masses had no use for architecture that lifts the spirit.
Everyone, even the most jaded, who walks through Grand Central must be aware of how beautiful it is, even fleetingly.
And for those who routinely disparage rich people: Thank goodness for Jackie Onassis, who helped save it.
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