Opioid Crisis in OK; Who’s to Blame?

[druryj]

I believe it was because some were able to (or could be used in conjunction with other stuff) make things go boom. I was just thinking about it in the context of relatively innocuous items, like fertilizer and other items, that we've come to track closely when purchased in large quantities. Just getting at the discrepancy that manufactures report suspicious activity for those items, yet not for 21 million pills, to a town of 3000, over a 10 month period.

Huh. Maybe they think those things called bath bombs really are real bombs? I think they just go fizz and get all bubbly but ianase so I dunno for sure.


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[CHenry]

Johnson and Johnson investors saw it a win to only have to pay out 572mil (yes I said only because they saved 16.5 billion)
So the stock goes up 5% and JandJ have already recouped 572 mil. Because of that.

 

[DavidMcmillan]

Not to disagree entirely, but i believe there are instances where drug companies pushed incentives for doctors to prescribe these drugs for ailments that the drug wasn't approved for. And wasn't there a company that shipped something like ~21 million pain pills to a town of 3,000 people or some such? While perhaps not illegal, certainly should have raised some concern. Heck, a friend's parents own a soap company and get calls from the ATF for ordering large quantities of fragrances...

We want to hold the users accountable, which i do agree with, yet why are we willing to give a pass to the people who knowingly engaged in false marketing, kickback programs for outside uses meant to boost sales or for willful ignorance to potential problems?

Could the same thing be said about rebates, free mags, etc. from firearm manufacturers enticing users to buy their product?

Nothing stands by itself anymore.

This ruling will be used in support of additional legal action, affecting us.

 

[donner]

Could the same thing be said about rebates, free mags, etc. from firearm manufacturers enticing users to buy their product?

Nothing stands by itself anymore.

This ruling will be used in support of additional legal action, affecting us.

From the limited articles i've read, there is a difference since 1) gun makers aren't bound by ethical restraints and aren't forbidden from marketing in some forms (as far as i know, anyway)

an excerpt from a quick google search

article below.

According to the indictment, the executives of Chandler, Arizona-based Insys conspired to get doctors in various states, many of whom operated pain clinics, to prescribe Subsys, a fentanyl-based spray, in exchange for bribes and kickbacks. Subsys has Food and Drug Administration approval for breakthrough cancer pain, but the doctors were mostly prescribing the drug off-label for patients who did not have cancer. Although it is legal for doctors to prescribe drugs for any use, as long as it is within the parameters of medical ethics and there is a scientific basis, drugmakers are forbidden from marketing their products for off-label uses.

Insys launched Subsys in March 2012, but the executives quickly became dissatisfied with its sales and, starting in May 2012, devised a plan whereby they used pharmacy data to identify doctors who prescribed a high volume of rapid-onset opioids. They then provided speaker fees, honoraria for marketing events, food and entertainment, administrative support and fees in exchange for the doctors prescribing the drug. Between May 2012 and December 2015, sales of Subsys went from $3.7 million during the first nine months of 2012 to $329.5 million for fiscal year 2015.

 

[SoonerP226]

I want to throw this out for consideration too: This $572 million judgment, if upheld, is supposed to go to treatment and prevention programs. Now, if that happens; that is a good thing in itself. But will it? Or will it somehow not all be spent as it is said it will be? Remember all the things that were going to bail out the sorry state of affairs in education? This money, if it ever really comes, is going to go to the State. I hope we see it put to proper use.

You know what they ought to do?

Liquidate the effing Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust and use it for addiction treatment programs. If they're so up on tobacco cessation programs that they can be spending money on anti-sugary drinks ads, their mission is done, and that money needs to go to a useful purpose.

 

[mhphoto]

My problem with all of this is that people are lumping legitimate pain patients in with addicts. People are lumping together death statistics from illegal and legal opioids trying to prove a point about abuse. Living with chronic pain sucks, I know because I've been dealing with it for over a decade now. I think most people here don't understand the stress that comes with wondering if they're going to try and cut your dose down when you go in for a refill. And the frustration that you feel when people like our former AG go on some macho ******** "just take some aspirin" rant.

I've lost family members to heroin addiction. I have other family members who have been in pain management for 30 years with zero issues. There's more than one side to consider here, and lives are affected by poor and biased news reports and peoples' own misconceptions about opioids. I think it's pretty clear that the pendulum swung too far into the realm of cavalier script writing in the 90s, but it's swinging right back the other way right now, and ruining the lives of chronic pain patients. Getting into the mindset that anyone who seeks to ease their pain is an addict is ridiculous. Opioids, while incredibly dangerous when misused and abused, have saved the lives of millions over the years who would've either committed suicide from not having adequate relief, drowned themselves in liquor to numb their pain, or otherwise led an entirely truncated existence, having been abandoned to wallow in their own pain.

That said, I'm fine with big pharma losing this one. They willingly misled docs and patients, and made an awful lot of money in the process.

 

[CHenry]

My problem with all of this is that people are lumping legitimate pain patients in with addicts. People are lumping together death statistics from illegal and legal opioids trying to prove a point about abuse. Living with chronic pain sucks, I know because I've been dealing with it for over a decade now. I think most people here don't understand the stress that comes with wondering if they're going to try and cut your dose down when you go in for a refill. And the frustration that you feel when people like our former AG go on some macho ******** "just take some aspirin" rant.

I've lost family members to heroin addiction. I have other family members who have been in pain management for 30 years with zero issues. There's more than one side to consider here, and lives are affected by poor and biased news reports and peoples' own misconceptions about opioids. I think it's pretty clear that the pendulum swung too far into the realm of cavalier script writing in the 90s, but it's swinging right back the other way right now, and ruining the lives of chronic pain patients. Getting into the mindset that anyone who seeks to ease their pain is an addict is ridiculous. Opioids, while incredibly dangerous when misused and abused, have saved the lives of millions over the years who would've either committed suicide from not having adequate relief, drowned themselves in liquor to numb their pain, or otherwise led an entirely truncated existence, having been abandoned to wallow in their own pain.

That said, I'm fine with big pharma losing this one. They willingly misled docs and patients, and made an awful lot of money in the process.

Well said.