7 ms·

I’ve worked plenty with drug addiction and am a recovering addict. The idea that marketing is responsible for drug addiction is delusional. The idea that doct

I’ve worked plenty with drug addiction and am a recovering addict. The idea that marketing is responsible for drug addiction is delusional. The idea that doctors are so stupid as to not know Oxy is addictive is laughably untrue. If you want to blame anyone blame the people ordering patients to consume opiates. The lack of supervision and education is the doctor’s responsibility not the drug maker. Every doctor in the US knows Oxy is addictive and has for a very long time. Doctors overprescribe OxyContin not pharmaceutical companies. If you want to play a blame game there is no way Purdue comes out on top. Doctors are the ones who put opiates in peoples hands https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6140023/es https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6140023/es

munk-a 7y ago
No one person is to blame and trying to do so will just leave you frustrated as that person passes the buck, this whole market is rotten from PBMs, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Payors, Pharmacies and Providers - both individual doctors and institutions like clinics and hospitals that set guidelines for preferred treatment options and guidance of care. I've emigrated but when I was still working in the US a co-worker of mine was given a 90 day script after an injury, which is far _far_ more than is appropriate for mild pain relief. He was a neuroscientist and enraged that a doctor would prescribe him such a stupidly dangerous quantity, he just grunted and bore it for two days then got over it.
defterGoose 7y ago
...Except doctors are very busy people who often rely necessarily on drugmaker-published literature to update their knowledge on those products and ailments. They don't generally have the ability to conduct their own research. Therefore, your assertion that all doctors 'knew' that these drugs were addictive is simply untrue. Now, there is definitely a spectrum of responsibility/guilt that could be applied to all parties here. In some ways, the buck even stops with the patient: it's their decision what to put in their mouth and swallow, and no one was holding a gun to their head and forcing them to take the meds they were prescribed. But that of course is a very skewed view on the subject of addiction. The crux of the issue is how society decides to assign blame. Collectively, we seem have a hard time dumping more responsibility on patients. Plenty of doctors have been fined, lost licenses, and gone to prison. Heck, my own childhood physician lost his license. But we also understand that many doctors who made mistakes deserve some leniency because they were tasked with helping people in pain. But the drug companies...it's hard to imagine that they deserve even a shred of clemency. Their only job was to produce a product and represent it truthfully. Their failure mode was knowing, made them vast sums, and destroyed many lives.
Aloha 7y ago
I would not go as far to say they're blameless, but you're correct we knew as far back as 2003-2004 that oxycontin was highly addictive. NPR story from 2005 - https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5061674 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=506167...
- munk-a 7y ago
  Can you clarify who the "we" is who knew this in 2003? I think it's unfair to say that was general knowledge before 2017 or so.
  - Aloha 7y ago
    I remember seeing news reports back that far - particularly about how people were crushing the drug. Reporting about Reporting in 2003 - https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/orlando-sentinel-opioids.php https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/orlando-sentinel-o... (and the pressure applied by Perdue Pharma on the paper after) 2005 - https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5061674 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=506167... 2007 - http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20327132/ns/health-health_care/t/painkiller-use-rising-alarming-rate/#.XXw0qi3MzcM http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20327132/ns/health-health_care/t/p...
  - roland00 7y ago
    Purdue knowed about the drug was highly addictive in 2003. The raw components in Oxycontin were known to be highly addictive before the drug hit the market. Oxycontin was supposed to "solve" the addiction problem, thus it got special drug labeling saying it was less addictive than other drugs of its class. They had data that it did not solve the problem but they massaged the data, and hid the data that showed it was addictive, and then later hid the data that after the drug was on the market of the ways it was being abused. Misleading Doctors and the FDA since 1996 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxycontin.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxy...
electriclove 7y ago
I upvoted you not because I believe Purdue shouldn't be held responsible but because doctors definitely contributed to this crisis. They are not innocent in all this. They've been benefiting from big pharma to push their drugs.

munk-a 7y ago

No one person is to blame and trying to do so will just leave you frustrated as that person passes the buck, this whole market is rotten from PBMs, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Payors, Pharmacies and Providers - both individual doctors and institutions like clinics and hospitals that set guidelines for preferred treatment options and guidance of care. I've emigrated but when I was still working in the US a co-worker of mine was given a 90 day script after an injury, which is far _far_ more than is appropriate for mild pain relief. He was a neuroscientist and enraged that a doctor would prescribe him such a stupidly dangerous quantity, he just grunted and bore it for two days then got over it.

defterGoose 7y ago

...Except doctors are very busy people who often rely necessarily on drugmaker-published literature to update their knowledge on those products and ailments. They don't generally have the ability to conduct their own research. Therefore, your assertion that all doctors 'knew' that these drugs were addictive is simply untrue. Now, there is definitely a spectrum of responsibility/guilt that could be applied to all parties here. In some ways, the buck even stops with the patient: it's their decision what to put in their mouth and swallow, and no one was holding a gun to their head and forcing them to take the meds they were prescribed. But that of course is a very skewed view on the subject of addiction. The crux of the issue is how society decides to assign blame. Collectively, we seem have a hard time dumping more responsibility on patients. Plenty of doctors have been fined, lost licenses, and gone to prison. Heck, my own childhood physician lost his license. But we also understand that many doctors who made mistakes deserve some leniency because they were tasked with helping people in pain. But the drug companies...it's hard to imagine that they deserve even a shred of clemency. Their only job was to produce a product and represent it truthfully. Their failure mode was knowing, made them vast sums, and destroyed many lives.

Aloha 7y ago

I would not go as far to say they're blameless, but you're correct we knew as far back as 2003-2004 that oxycontin was highly addictive. NPR story from 2005 - https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5061674 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=506167...

munk-a 7y ago
Can you clarify who the "we" is who knew this in 2003? I think it's unfair to say that was general knowledge before 2017 or so.
- Aloha 7y ago
  I remember seeing news reports back that far - particularly about how people were crushing the drug. Reporting about Reporting in 2003 - https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/orlando-sentinel-opioids.php https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/orlando-sentinel-o... (and the pressure applied by Perdue Pharma on the paper after) 2005 - https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5061674 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=506167... 2007 - http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20327132/ns/health-health_care/t/painkiller-use-rising-alarming-rate/#.XXw0qi3MzcM http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20327132/ns/health-health_care/t/p...
- roland00 7y ago
  Purdue knowed about the drug was highly addictive in 2003. The raw components in Oxycontin were known to be highly addictive before the drug hit the market. Oxycontin was supposed to "solve" the addiction problem, thus it got special drug labeling saying it was less addictive than other drugs of its class. They had data that it did not solve the problem but they massaged the data, and hid the data that showed it was addictive, and then later hid the data that after the drug was on the market of the ways it was being abused. Misleading Doctors and the FDA since 1996 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxycontin.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxy...

electriclove 7y ago

I upvoted you not because I believe Purdue shouldn't be held responsible but because doctors definitely contributed to this crisis. They are not innocent in all this. They've been benefiting from big pharma to push their drugs.