Opioid Crisis in OK; Who’s to Blame?

[Grendelshooter]

Who is to blame? Everyone involved.

Woody

Probably this.
My mom killed herself with these over a period of many years. Opiates were her go to.

That being the case I’ve devoted some thought to the subject.

First and foremost my mom. I love her and miss her dearly but we begged her to stop, but she just wasn’t strong enough to walk away from them.

And there lies the crux of the problem. It’s easy to Boomer post and say “Muh personal responsibility!”, but that’s a falsehood. The addictive nature of these opiates is stronger than the will power of most people. They are incredibly difficult to walk away from especially after years of use. The insidious part is that they are designed to be so.
That’s why I blame the corporate entities that created these things-they knew EXACTLY what they were doing and SPECIFICALLY targeted Caucasians with these drugs.

“In 1996, a company called Purdue Pharmaceutical launched a new opiate painkiller called OxyContin. At a party celebrating its release to the public, Richard Sackler, a scion of the family that owns the company and its senior vice president of sales, made exuberant predictions about its success. ‘The launch of OxyContin tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition,' he said, according to a lawsuit recently filed against Purdue. ‘The prescription blizzard will be so deep, dense, and white …' (emphasis is mine).

So corporate pharmaceutical agencies are specifically targeting white people for addiction and profit. If only we had elected officials and agencies to stop this sort of thing?

Oh what’s that you say? The FDA accepted the claim from Purdue in 1996 that OxyContin had a less than 1% rate of addiction. I don’t personally believe that the technicians at the FDA are that stupid-they were paid off, as were the politicians that allow these drugs to be mass marketed online and on television. As are the doctors that are rewarded for prescribing more drugs.

So who do you blame? The creator/marketer who knowingly releases a nearly irresistible poison? The government that backs the drug as safe and non-addictive and bans research into genuinely benign alternatives? Or the doctor who, knowing what it is, prescribes these poisons for long periods of abuse?

Or do you blame the poor working class woman who through a life of physical labor gets a permanent back injury, who goes to a doctor she trusts to “do no harm” to her, who sees her elected representatives tell her that the drug her doctor gave her is safe, created by benevolent scientists in the pursuit of health and better living.
I remember the woman my mom was before OxyContin. The thing I buried was just a shell.
She was 51 years old. She never even got to meet her grandchildren.

 

[CHenry]

Probably this.
My mom killed herself with these over a period of many years. Opiates were her go to.

That being the case I’ve devoted some thought to the subject.
Thats very sad and entirely true. I burred my cousin 4 years ago from abuse and addiction to these pills. He only lasted 4 years once that Dr. prescribed them for some odd condition he had with his head causing him sever pain. He went through 2 surgeries in Houston to try and fix the condition and both failed. So he just depended on pain pills to be able to keep functioning in life.
He was 44 yo.
First and foremost my mom. I love her and miss her dearly but we begged her to stop, but she just wasn’t strong enough to walk away from them.

And there lies the crux of the problem. It’s easy to Boomer post and say “Muh personal responsibility!”, but that’s a falsehood. The addictive nature of these opiates is stronger than the will power of most people. They are incredibly difficult to walk away from especially after years of use. The insidious part is that they are designed to be so.
That’s why I blame the corporate entities that created these things-they knew EXACTLY what they were doing and SPECIFICALLY targeted Caucasians with these drugs.

“In 1996, a company called Purdue Pharmaceutical launched a new opiate painkiller called OxyContin. At a party celebrating its release to the public, Richard Sackler, a scion of the family that owns the company and its senior vice president of sales, made exuberant predictions about its success. ‘The launch of OxyContin tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition,' he said, according to a lawsuit recently filed against Purdue. ‘The prescription blizzard will be so deep, dense, and white …' (emphasis is mine).

So corporate pharmaceutical agencies are specifically targeting white people for addiction and profit. If only we had elected officials and agencies to stop this sort of thing?

Oh what’s that you say? The FDA accepted the claim from Purdue in 1996 that OxyContin had a less than 1% rate of addiction. I don’t personally believe that the technicians at the FDA are that stupid-they were paid off, as were the politicians that allow these drugs to be mass marketed online and on television. As are the doctors that are rewarded for prescribing more drugs.

So who do you blame? The creator/marketer who knowingly releases a nearly irresistible poison? The government that backs the drug as safe and non-addictive and bans research into genuinely benign alternatives? Or the doctor who, knowing what it is, prescribes these poisons for long periods of abuse?

Or do you blame the poor working class woman who through a life of physical labor gets a permanent back injury, who goes to a doctor she trusts to “do no harm” to her, who sees her elected representatives tell her that the drug her doctor gave her is safe, created by benevolent scientists in the lee suit of health and better living.
I remember the woman my mom was before OxyContin. The thing I buried was just a shell.
She never even got to meet her grandchildren.

 

[druryj]

Thats the d\\most ridiculous thing I've heard today. I hope every state in the nations sues just like this and you can bet your ass, its coming
These companies are killing people and lying about the addiction possibilities.
Drug manufacturers sent half a billion opiates to FL last year..really?

Ridiculous? How so? Lying about the addiction possibilities? Huh? What? Everybody knows opioids are addictive. How far under a rock does someone have to be to NOT know that? If a Doctor prescribes 3 pills per day, and you take 12 pills instead, and you die, how is that Johnson & Johnson's fault? How is that anybody's fault but the person who purposely took more than they were supposed to take? I still say the majority of the burden and the root of the problem of the so-called opioid crisis is on the individual. Yep, it's squarely on the person who failed to follow instructions of the prescribing physician. I also hope this gets overturned on appeal. It's damn travesty of justice; seeking a scapegoat is all this was.

(Now if the Doctor prescribes 3 pills per day and you take 3 and THEN you die, well that's another matter).

 

[druryj]

Probably this.
My mom killed herself with these over a period of many years. Opiates were her go to.

That being the case I’ve devoted some thought to the subject.

First and foremost my mom. I love her and miss her dearly but we begged her to stop, but she just wasn’t strong enough to walk away from them.

And there lies the crux of the problem. It’s easy to Boomer post and say “Muh personal responsibility!”, but that’s a falsehood. The addictive nature of these opiates is stronger than the will power of most people. They are incredibly difficult to walk away from especially after years of use. The insidious part is that they are designed to be so.
That’s why I blame the corporate entities that created these things-they knew EXACTLY what they were doing and SPECIFICALLY targeted Caucasians with these drugs.

“In 1996, a company called Purdue Pharmaceutical launched a new opiate painkiller called OxyContin. At a party celebrating its release to the public, Richard Sackler, a scion of the family that owns the company and its senior vice president of sales, made exuberant predictions about its success. ‘The launch of OxyContin tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition,' he said, according to a lawsuit recently filed against Purdue. ‘The prescription blizzard will be so deep, dense, and white …' (emphasis is mine).

So corporate pharmaceutical agencies are specifically targeting white people for addiction and profit. If only we had elected officials and agencies to stop this sort of thing?

Oh what’s that you say? The FDA accepted the claim from Purdue in 1996 that OxyContin had a less than 1% rate of addiction. I don’t personally believe that the technicians at the FDA are that stupid-they were paid off, as were the politicians that allow these drugs to be mass marketed online and on television. As are the doctors that are rewarded for prescribing more drugs.

So who do you blame? The creator/marketer who knowingly releases a nearly irresistible poison? The government that backs the drug as safe and non-addictive and bans research into genuinely benign alternatives? Or the doctor who, knowing what it is, prescribes these poisons for long periods of abuse?

Or do you blame the poor working class woman who through a life of physical labor gets a permanent back injury, who goes to a doctor she trusts to “do no harm” to her, who sees her elected representatives tell her that the drug her doctor gave her is safe, created by benevolent scientists in the pursuit of health and better living.
I remember the woman my mom was before OxyContin. The thing I buried was just a shell.
She was 51 years old. She never even got to meet her grandchildren.

Having said what I said above, and reading what you wrote, I am sorry about what happened with you mom. My position did not allow for the fact that these drugs are very powerful, and very insidious. So...I'll temper my above statement with that. Sorry.

 

[Grendelshooter]

Having said what I said above, and reading what you wrote, I am sorry about what happened with you mom. My position did not allow for the fact that these drugs are very powerful, and very insidious. So...I'll temper my above statement with that. Sorry.

Not what I intended brah. I won’t try to guilt anyone out of their position.

You’re not wrong. We are in the end responsible for our own well being. We have to do the best we can.

My mother was one of the first people prescribed this drug. The doctors and creators marketed this as a non-addictive alternative to other opiates that would give long lasting pain relief via time delayed release.

Now we know that the reason it had such a long period of effect was that it contained something like 80% more opioids than other contemporary drugs of the same type.

By 2009 everyone knew, but in 1996? Her doctor did everything he could to assuage her fears of addiction. She even told him addiction ran in our family. Don’t worry ma’am this new wonder drug is non-addictive!
By the time she died she had had several back surgeries that just exacerbated her original injury so they just kept upping her dosage.

And so at 51 she had a brain aneurism and died.

My stance is that you can’t blame a person who is told their whole lives to trust their doctor and their government, for trusting their doctor and their government.

She just wanted the pain to stop so she could work.

 

[Grendelshooter]

Interesting read in the subject for anyone interested:
https://www.realclearbooks.com/2019/04/12/a_blizzard_of_prescriptions_17337.html#!

 

[druryj]

I get it. Still sorry.

 

[Shadowrider]

Ridiculous? How so? Lying about the addiction possibilities? Huh? What? Everybody knows opioids are addictive. How far under a rock does someone have to be to NOT know that? If a Doctor prescribes 3 pills per day, and you take 12 pills instead, and you die, how is that Johnson & Johnson's fault? How is that anybody's fault but the person who purposely took more than they were supposed to take? I still say the majority of the burden and the root of the problem of the so-called opioid crisis is on the individual. Yep, it's squarely on the person who failed to follow instructions of the prescribing physician. I also hope this gets overturned on appeal. It's damn travesty of justice; seeking a scapegoat is all this was.

(Now if the Doctor prescribes 3 pills per day and you take 3 and THEN you die, well that's another matter).

100% agree. My dad was on opiates for years. He was medically retired out of the ANG with back problems in the very early '80s. Later on he got so bad and his other health issues precluded doing a surgery, so these were his only relief. He probably took them for at least 20 years. He was never addicted. Know why? He simply took them as prescribed. It really is just that simple.

This was/is just yet another shakedown of a large company with deep pockets by an Oklahoma DA. A shakedown under color of law, but a shakedown nonetheless.

ETA: @Grendelshooter I also state with druyj. Condolences for you mother.

 

[tRidiot]

Eh, there's no way to win.

Either you give the medicine because people are begging for it, and you're trying to help them...

Or you tell them no, they can't be trusted with it, and they're just going to have to suffer.

As a provider, you really can't win. Either way, you're the bad guy.

And this is why I don't prescribe this s***. If you want/need/gotta have it, you gotta go to someone else, I ain't doin' it. But you know how many times a week I get guilted, sometimes even threatened?

Yeah, f*** all this s***.

 

[Grendelshooter]

Eh, there's no way to win.

Either you give the medicine because people are begging for it, and you're trying to help them...

Or you tell them no, they can't be trusted with it, and they're just going to have to suffer.

As a provider, you really can't win. Either way, you're the bad guy.

And this is why I don't prescribe this s***. If you want/need/gotta have it, you gotta go to someone else, I ain't doin' it. But you know how many times a week I get guilted, sometimes even threatened?

Yeah, f*** all this s***.

Yeah, it’s a crappy deal for good docs.
Though there are not very good ones to whom their oath means nothing.