This is a big ugly mess... but I think this lawsuit and this article may be a little.... slanted. "Go get the big evil drug companies! Forget the accountability of the people popping the pills for the wrong reasons." No doubt the drug companies have a part in this... but so do the insurance companies, the doctors, the government, and the people taking these pills. I have a prescription for an opioid. I take one about once per year when a migraine is really out of control and all of the other options haven't worked. I can thank this kind of lawsuit for making it more expensive this year. blergh... I know... it's a real problem... and shame on them for "engaging in a sustained marketing campaign to downplay the addiction risks of the prescription opioid drugs they sell and to exaggerate the benefits of their use for health problems such as chronic pain." but shame on the doctors for prescribing the drugs incorrectly. and some shame on the people taking them too much. and shame on me for being an asshole.Asked by NPR's Robert Siegel whether doctors had a role of their own in overprescribing potentially dangerous medication, DeWine says more fault rests with a culture created by these companies.
I dunno. We've known that for a long while now that a decent chunk of people are susceptible to very strong opioid addiction. Morphine addicts aren't new. Heroin addicts aren't new (in fact, I think heroin was originally created to help ween people off of morphine, but don't quote me on that). This really shouldn't strike us as new because it's not about ethnicity, culture, or economic status. Opioids are a type of drug that literally rewires your brain to get you hooked. The fact that the medical community, from doctors to pharmaceutical companies, have known about the danger for decades and somehow things still got out of control? Maybe it's not fair, but they seem to be a reasonable target for a lot of this blame. The layman though? How many people really expect them to know how dangerous this stuff is? Worse yet, it's been ingrained in American cultures to trust doctors. Your doctor knows better than you. His knowledge overrides your doubts and concerns. You don't know what you're doing in regards to your health, he does. Talk to your doctor. Trust your doctor. Listen to your doctor. Victim blaming is just as much a part of our culture. Someone becomes an addict though? It's not the doctor's fault. It's their fault. Vices are the symptoms of being spiritually flawed, weak willed, or some other fault in character value. But reality is much more nuanced and much more unfair than that. So yeah, maybe shame on everybody. But maybe less shame should go to the addicts and maybe the gatekeepers should get the lions share.
Ahhhh, but who profits? Insurance companies have to pay for the drugs (with premiums). Doctors are net zero - once you filter out the junkets and swag. The government? I think I linked this somewhere but suffice it to say, they get to deal with a public health crisis. The people taking these pills? Well, let's agree they're not coming out ahead. They sure as shit aren't popping up on Forbes worth $14 billion. And you have my sympathy and my admiration. My mother in law has two prescriptions for Oxy and she refused to fill either. But the compounding pharmacy next to where my kid gets her hair cut has a big sign that says "WE HAVE NO OXYCONTIN" and bars on the windows. And my wife's medical sample boxes were stolen three times by pillheads who think anything that says "medical" on it is worth the risk. And I can be mad at junkies for junking but dollars to donuts they likely wish they weren't stealing fuckin' urine samples either. There's a powerful profit motive behind the opioid crisis. Wars have been fought over profits. Meanwhile, the drawbacks are externalizing all over everyone else. No less than St. Milton Friedman made this argument: if the public interest wants any control over the externalities of trade, they need to litigate to limit that trade. If they don't litigate, they don't get to bitch.No doubt the drug companies have a part in this... but so do the insurance companies, the doctors, the government, and the people taking these pills.
I have a prescription for an opioid. I take one about once per year when a migraine is really out of control and all of the other options haven't worked.