How can one company that provided just 4% of all opiate prescriptions be faulted for all those opiate deaths and addiction … especially when ADDICTION is a mental health issue – perhaps this Father can’t deal with the fact that his family’s gene pool has a “mental health gene”. Our legal system is suppose to separate the assets of a corporation’s and that of the stock holder assets.. what should happen if our legal system goes after Coke & Pepsi for “causing diabetes” because of all the “sugars ” in their products and after this type of settlement… should all of those people, retirement funds and mutual funds besides seeing the value of their company stock holdings becomes valueless and then those who have suffered from diabetes the court system goes after the assets of all those entities that own stock in Coke & Pepsi. Isn’t’ that what is happening here to the Sacklers. Why aren’t these law firms going after all the assets of the employees of Purdue Pharma… they made a living from the selling of Oxycontin ? OR just the sales people that called on doctors to convince them to prescribe Oxycontin. Seems like the mindset behind the Salem Witch Trials is still alive and well.
Filed under: General Problems
Just because a dr /dentist wrote several people a one time script or maybe 2, that patient liked it or a friend said I can get that cheaper or without a script, patient continued use of illicit opioids,then was in full addiction, he can’t blame the dr for not taking as prescribed.
Where are the other million pain patients who didn’t addict to their pa I n meds? They took as directed with responsibility & Accountability.
This the difference. One script does make the addiction the fault of dr, pharmacy, distributor or manufacturer.
No alcoholics sue Jack Daniel’s or Anheuser Bush!!
As someone who trained and helped patients with interview skills and résumé creation in the clinic, I can tell you that the clinic received a rush of 65% more patients the day Opana went off the market. Because, apparently, those patients knew that nothing would compare except heroin so they were hoping that getting help would help.
I firmly believe that the OxyContin and the fentanyl and the morphine and the Opana is responsible for at least half of our country’s drug addiction. We never needed to prescribe something like Oxsee or Opana, something that amazingly strong. And then doctors being told that it’s not as addictive when pharmaceutical companies kept creating stronger opiates because they knew what the result would be. A country addicted to them yet they believed that their lobbying would continue and that federal regulation would never stop them. And it did.
I believe the other half that’s responsible is the doctors who completely over prescribed in the medical profession that allowed lobbying of drug manufacturers into doctor offices. Doctors believed those companies when they promised that the new and exciting painkiller was not addictive. I can’t tell you how many people in that clinic’s addiction started from a broken leg or a car accident or an accident skiing…
Think about this. Our country has invested billions upon billions in the development and manufacturing of better and better opiates. Yet we have collectively spent a couple hundred million on opiate education, withdrawal and treatment. Every pharmaceutical company that sells an opiate should be legally forced to fund and create, as well as ongoing funding, a certain amount of clinics in every state of the country which are federally ran. That would be a really great first step.
Substance abuse and addiction have very little to do with the abused substances. Substance abuse, which is what can lead one to addiction, is often triggered by the need to escape reality and/or self-medicate emotional pain (usually caused by underlying mental health disorders, past abuse and trauma, poverty and despair, etc).
“We never needed to prescribe something like Oxsee or Opana,“
I take it you’ve never been around someone with advanced cancer of the bone. How about chronic regional pain syndrome? The pain from that disease is up there with the pain from advanced bone cancer & way past the pain caused by giving natural birth. Just remember – you are just a second away from a cancer diagnosis or a car wreck that renders you disabled with traumatic inoperable injuries which requires strong, potent opioid-based medicine. Do you want your government dictating who deserves pain relief and who doesn’t? Do you really want your possible pain & suffering years from now to be in your government’s hands? Think long & hard about that.
Michelle, darling, I believe you are incorrect on a few points, and I will outline them below:
1) FDA asked Endo pharmaceutical to voluntarily withdraw from the market brand name Opana (oxymorphone) the brand name abuse deterrent and extended release formulation; Notably, their sales were roughly$ 400,000,000 per year at this point in 2017, and that is due to the expense of the medication NOT correlated to the number of pills dispensed-
2) Further, there are still authorized generics which are produced, prescribed, and dispensed for people who genuinely need them in clinical settings in our US. My estimation is less than .25 percent of legit patients receive this specific molecular medication. The generics include abuse deterrent and extended release formulations as well as instant release formulations;
3) Lastly, I think it is important for you to research the history of these medications that you are seemingly vilifying. Oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone were all synthesized over 100 years ago for pain relief. Morphine, by itself, has substantial side effects which are even more burdensome than these other molecules which were synthesized,again, over 100 years ago. It is my estimation that these additional medications/molecules were created/synthesized because of the side effects of morphine not necessarily due to tolerance or a desire by the general public to have extremely strong “drugs” Although the CDC seems to think otherwise.
As far as your last paragraph is concerned, the government is in fact taking over Purdue Pharma, and their plan is to continue producing and selling OxyContin and to use some of that money to fund treatment for addiction. So, that’s already being done. I would recommend you read the history of these medications, their synthesizing, discovery and the end result of many of these lawsuits. It’s very interesting to me that rehabs will often allow smoking and sometimes even alcohol but always vilify opiates and opioids in the current environment. I can personally tell you that if I don’t have enough caffeine in a given day I will get headaches, restlessness, and extremely sleepy; Caffeine in coffee or even energy drinks are not scheduled or controlled substances though.
Have a blessed day and I’ll pray you realize God given medicines are essential and helpful to our fellow beings.
Maybe the staggering amount of misinformation will stimulate interest in the truth, …or maybe not.
Prescriptions from a doctor of medicine for legitimate severe pain had nothing to do with THE illicit use, illicit fentanyl and heroin overdose issue.
Severe confusion about what is “addiction” is the biggest piece of misinformation and enables the whole thing, addiction being believed to be ubiquitous for anyone swallowing an opiate.
And who is in a better position than the DOJ/AG to know the truth, to lie, and to pay off everyone (under the table) to agree and then walk off with and divert these billions into their own pocket?
It’s either that or the stupidity is enormous all around, the public, the Sacklers, law enforcement and doctors too.
One thing is for sure, the DOJ/AG will not reverse themselves or apologize.
Since they must meet their Maker some day for this theft and murder of the innocent I can not envy them. These must certainly know shame and dread, …for this alone.