How are Drug Addiction and Big Pharma Related
How are Drug Addiction and Big Pharma Related?
According to the U.S. Government Agency, Center for Disease Control (CDC), the death rate from drug overdose had increase from 16,849 in 1999 to 70,237 in 2017. Opioid (pain medications) were the prime suspect for the increase in deaths.
Drug addiction usually connotes an illegal type of behavior; however in today’s environment big pharmaceuticals are now the major source of opioid problem. The people involved are not some young rebelling kids but adults that have become addicted to prescribed opioids.
How it started
It all started in 1996 when Purdue Fredrick Company Inc. (Purdue Pharmaceutical) started selling OxyContin (oxycodone hcl Schedule II substances). These type of drugs are supposed to be controlled by prescription approved by the FDA and written by a health care provider.
This new drug used a time release method to have the medication released into the blood stream over a period of 12 hours.
Purdue set up various educational classes and incentives for medical personnel to prescribe the product. An assurance was given to the medical personnel that this drug caused less addiction than other opioids and the pain would be relieved for 12 hours.
When questioned about the 12 hour relief, the simple reply was the recommended dose was too low. Unfortunately, people would increase the dosage exasperating the addiction.
In 2007 Purdue was taken to court for misrepresenting the addiction rate. Even though Purdue admitted they had mislead the medical personnel and public the case was settled with a fine.
Purdue continued to aggressively push the drug to the medical system.
The Real Truth
The real problem started when the “boomers” started to retire. It was discovered that the people who became addicted to the drug had chemical changes in the brain after prolong use. This caused debilitating effects in the patient leading to more extensive care issues.
Medicare was seeing more patients with an addiction problem. The long term use of the pain medication was causing a monetary drain on the Medicare system. The addicts were becoming greater in number as the years pasted. Their condition was getting worse requiring more care from a system that was already strained.
Soon the burden was being shared with the states, counties and even cities. The solution put forth by many was to require Pharmaceuticals to reach into their deep pockets and pay for the care of the addicts.
Slowly court cases were won by cities and counties to get some relief. Purdue’s OxyContin which had made $2.8 Billion in 2012 was down to $1.8 Billion in 2017. Other companies who produced opioid drugs had seen a similar drop.
The Next Step
There is now a larger effort of 37 states to get monetary support for the people of the opioid drugs for their required treatment.
Purdue from the start was only interested in making money and unconcerned about the people’s health. After all, they were being true to the moto of the controlling elite- Power to the people with the money!
Now the real test will see if the justice system still works for the common people.