Caught, treated & released or ignored, neglected & dead?
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SUBSTANCE USE, ABUSE & ADDICTION |
Drug addiction
can be defined as the compulsive seeking and taking of a drug despite adverse
consequences. Although addiction involves many psychological and social
factors, it also represents a biological process: the effects of repeated drug
exposure on a vulnerable brain. (Human Genome Nature 409, 834-835 (15 February
2001) In 2014, drug overdoses overtook crashes as
the leading cause of accidental death for the first time in history (TREATING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC: THE STATE OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKETS FOR ADDICTION MEDICATION, HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATORY REFORM, COMMERCIAL AND ANTITRUST LAW OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016).
The
Justice Department and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals reached a $35 million
settlement Tuesday to resolve allegations that the company failed to report
signs that large quantities of its highly addictive oxycodone pills were
diverted to the black market in Florida, where they helped stoke the opioid
epidemic. The agreement is the first with a major manufacturer of the opioids
that have sparked a crisis of overdoses and addictions across the country … The
settlement and the relatively small fine reflected the government’s difficult
legal challenge in proving that Mallinckrodt — or any drug manufacturer — knew
its product was being sold and used illegally by people far down the supply
chain. (Justice Department reaches first settlement..., Washington Post, July 11, 2017).
Rather than addressing the malfeasance of the pharmaceutical companies, the Justice Department and other governmental representatives and officials appear to be taking a lenient view in regarding the pharmaceutical companies’ culpability. Indeed, where have the increased safety standards in product and its use originated, if at all? Rather than taking responsibility, each party involved is pointing a finger in another’s direction. The pharmaceutical companies are not to blame despite their failure to acknowledge excessive demand, it’s the physicians’ fault over prescribing them. It’s not the doctors’ fault, it’s the patient for abusing them. It isn’t the pharmacies’ fault to turning a “blind eye” to excessive prescribing. Not only is no one responsible for the "epidemic of despair," no one is responsible for correctly identifying and addressing the genuine problems.
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| “It is not enough that dangerous drugs are illegal,” Sessions said before the DARE conference today. “We have to create a cultural climate that is hostile to drug abuse.” [Abuse or Abuser?] |
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| Shonda, a mother of two children now taken as wards of the state, wanders to an abandoned building where like a feral cat she has been living for the past year with six other people. |
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| A MAN SHOOTS UP |
And as recognized by the by the House of Representative Judiciary Committee – “One aspect of the opioid epidemic that has not received significant attention is the market for the drugs that treat opioid overdoses and addiction" (TREATING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC: THE STATE OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKETS FOR ADDICTION MEDICATION). While necessary to address the physical crises and in order to save lives, these drugs provide a remedy of sorts. But how felicitous for the pharmaceutical companies that they not only initiate the problem and make a profit but now can provide a remedy and make a profit. And the other silver lining is that people are willing to pay more to save “non-black” lives.
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HEALTHCARE |
New Medicaid worry emerges for centrists
Treatment, street, dead -- all three are grim choices
NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you.
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