This is my first posting and it’s going to be primarily a quotation from an article from the NIH website dealing with opioid addiction and the sources and extent there of. This will be followed up by some speculation given President Trump’s suggestions today in New Hampshire. Since there is an option to share on Facebook for the NIH article, I’m going to quote most of it.
Every day, more than 115 Americans die after overdosing on opioids.1 The misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare.
How did this happen?
In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. This subsequently led to widespread diversion and misuse of these medications before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive.3,4 Opioid overdose rates began to increase. In 2015, more than 33,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.
What do we know about the opioid crisis?
- Roughly 21 to 29 percent of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them.6
- Between 8 and 12 percent develop an opioid use disorder.
- An estimated 4 to 6 percent who misuse prescription opioids transition to heroin
- About 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.
- This issue has become a public health crisis with devastating consequences including increases in opioid misuse and related overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome due to opioid use and misuse during pregnancy.
Having identified the problem and it’s extent, thanks to the NIH, what should we do about it?
From the data above, it would appear that those with primary responsibility are:
1. The major pharmaceutical manufacturers.
2. Doctors over prescribing opioid pain killers.
Now, I want to know if the Justice Department is going to begin an investigation of the above listed to include the responsible executives of big pharma that has been profiteering off people’s pain and misery. Since the primary source of these addictive drugs is big pharma as noted earlier, it appears clear that they hold primary responsibility for the problem of addiction and need to be prosecuted as drug dealers. However there are probably legal reasons why they can’t, unless like the cigarette companies, they were aware of the dangers of addiction and told us there was no problem.
Next come the doctors and pharmacists. Perhaps pharmacists are not responsible since they’re merely “obeying orders”. If it can be shown that a physician has over prescribed these drugs, then he or she should be prosecuted, and immediately lose their license to practice, having violated their oath, “first do no harm”. If it can be shown that the physician has received benefits from the drug companies for prescribing opioids then we have a criminal conspiracy which should be prosecuted.
Why hasn’t Congress or the Justice department acted, especially considering the costs to Medicaid and subsequently those taxpayers who aren’t addicted, yet. Shouldn’t Congress and the Justice department be “following the money”. Opensecrets.org identifies the following table of political contributions by pharmaceutical companies during the 2017-2018 election cycle:
House |
# of Members |
Average Contribution |
Total Contributions |
Democrats |
177 |
$18,079 |
$3,199,983 |
Republicans |
204 |
$25,941 |
$5,292,066 |
Independents |
0 |
$0 |
$0 |
TOTAL |
381 |
$22,289 |
$8,492,049 |
The US House of Representatives has 435 members and 5 non-voting delegates.
Totals may exceed 440 due to mid-term replacements. |
Senate |
# of Members |
Average Contribution |
Total Contributions |
Democrats |
46 |
$38,777 |
$1,783,742 |
Republicans |
44 |
$31,464 |
$1,384,441 |
Independents |
2 |
$7,667 |
$15,335 |
TOTAL |
92 |
$34,603 |
$3,183,518 |
The US Senate has 100 members.
Totals may exceed 100 due to mid-term replacements. |
Perhaps the President should be made aware of the source of the opioids. I’m sure he’s totally unaware since he’s completely unaware of anything except how to lie, and cheat subcontractors. Mr President it’s not street dealers, or MS13, or the Cosa Nostra, it’s our very own drug companies and doctors. Taking the President’s approach, we should try, convict the guilty and execute the guilty. I’m generally opposed to the death penalty as being inhumane, egregiously expensive, irreversible, and an ineffective deterrent to crime. In this case, I suspect that those multimillionaire CEOs and millionaire doctors might find forfeiture of assets and the death penalty an effective deterrent.
If you managed to read all of this, I thank you. Comments and criticisms are welcome. if I’ve violated site policy in any of my statements, please advise and I’ll correct my errors.