Thursday, January 25, 2018
Can We Finally Have an Honest Discussion about the Opioid Crisis?

The economy no longer generates secure, purposeful jobs for the working class, and so millions of people live in a state of insecure despair.

The opioid epidemic is generating a lot of media coverage and hand-wringing, but few if any solutions, and this is predictable: if you don't face up to the causes, then you can't solve the problem. America is steadfastly avoiding looking at the causes of the opioid crisis, which is soberly reflected in these charts of soaring opioid-caused deaths:

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If we are going to have an honest conversation about the opioid epidemic, then we need to recognize the real causes of the epidemic:

1. The Pharmaceutical industry falsely claimed synthetic opioids were non-addictive, and a complicit, toothless regulatory system did nothing, egged on by politicians who were bought off by mega-bucks campaign contributions from Big Pharma.

2. Our sickcare system is very good at over-prescribing painkillers as a substitute for treating the source of the pain, which is often complex. Our "healthcare" system, much of which consists of endless TV adverts promoting one costly medication after another, is basically a conduit from Big Pharma to poorly informed "consumers" (quaintly referred to as "patients" to mask the actual dynamic).

This system has trained "consumers" to expect a magic pill for every ailment or pain, and any doctor who refuses to over-prescribe is risking blowback from the "patients" and the rest of the system. Americans have been trained to avoid treatments that require effort and changing their lifestyle; they demand a magic pill that works right away, with no effort required.

3. The economy no longer generates secure, purposeful jobs for the working class, and so millions of people live in a state of insecure despair, a state devoid of purpose, meaning, and ways to contribute to their families and communities. People stripped of meaningful livelihoods are prone to finding escape in destructive addictive drugs and habits.

4. The counterproductive War on Drugs has effectively outlawed cannabis for decades, depriving the public of a pain-reducing natural product. While the law-enforcement status quo, exemplified by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, still makes factually false claims about the dangers of cannabis, the truth is that if cannabis were legal, affordable and easily available, tens of thousands of Americans would still be alive, because cannabis doesn't kill people and you can't overdose on it.

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http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/201...discussion.html



Dark Secrets Behind the Drug Overdose Deaths of Tom Petty, Prince and 42,000 Americans Per Year
January 22, 2018
JW Williams

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The Sacklers’ Purdue Pharma created a new market for their very powerful drug by deceiving doctors and the public by claiming, “There is no evidence that addiction is a significant issue when persons are given opioids for pain control,” per a video the company released in 2000. The Sacklers paid $635 million for false marketing of Oxycontin in 2007, and three Purdue executives have pleaded guilty to criminal charges. None have served prison time.
The Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, have reaped $14 BILLION by pushing opioids on the American public.

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https://needtoknow.news/2018/01/dark-sec...icans-per-year/



How One Painkiller Ignited The Addiction Epidemic
Steve Birr
Vice Reporter
9:25 PM 08/28/2017

The national drug crisis, which is estimated to have claimed more than 60,000 lives in 2016, is expected to worsen this year and one family-owned company helped set the crisis in motion.

President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency Aug. 10 on the advice of a White House commission that pointed out, “with approximately 142 Americans dying every day, America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks.” Purdue Pharma, the maker of the popular painkiller OxyContin, often faces the brunt of the blame for the crisis due to the role the company’s marketing played in hooking the nation on opioids.

Purdue Pharma is owned by the Sackler family, listed at 19th on the annual Forbes list of wealthiest families in the country at a worth of $13 billion. The family’s fortune largely comes from OxyContin sales, which their company branded and introduced as an extended release painkiller in 1995.

Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty in 2007 to felony charges for false marketing of OxyContin and paid $635 million as a result. The company overstated how long the effects of the medication lasted and severely downplayed the addiction risks of the drug. Three executives also pleaded guilty to criminal charges but dodged prison time.

Dr. Richard Sackler became president of Purdue Pharma in 1999 and co-chairman of the board of directors in 2003, formative times for the company during which it intensely marketed OxyContin and pushed doctors to prescribe opioids for nearly all forms of pain. Despite the company’s admission of guilt during the 2007 lawsuit, Virginia U.S. Attorney John L. Brownlee found no evidence linking Sackler to any misconduct.

Purdue Pharma reformulated OxyContin in 2010 to be “abuse-deterrent” in an effort to cut down on people crushing the pills to snort or inject. There is evidence this reformulation indirectly fueled greater heroin use in the U.S. Addicts could no longer get their high from the pills, so many substituted heroin to get their fix.

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http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/28/how-on...ction-epidemic/