The Economic Drive Behind the Opioid Crisis

While the monopolies and trust funds of the Gilded Ages may seem like a part of history, companies today are still using the same techniques to earn a profit. Often times, nothing is done against these companies, as our government only steps in when consumers are being harmed. However, the reality is that stepping in when innocent people are being harmed is sometimes too late. This is especially true in the case against Purdue Pharma and their contributions to the opioid crisis.

When OxyContin first came onto the market, the painkiller sold by the company, Purdue Pharma began paying doctors to de-stigmatize the use of opioids by educating the public on its benefits. In a sense, they were bribing doctors to ensure that their product would be accepted and used. Consultants and others who helped OxyContin gain positive publicity were given copious amounts of money, and it worked. The public began to view opioids as less addictive than other drugs, and physicians were encouraged to prescribe more OxyContin and for longer periods of time.

What the company had not informed the public of were the highly additive nature of the drug and the dangers of its consumption. Even as issues on the usage began to arise, Purdue Pharma blamed consumers for misusing the drug and created another company to sell their opioids once public scrutiny increased. According to The New York Times," Together, the companies ranked seventh in terms of the market share of opioids."

As the opioid crisis sprawled out of control, Purdue began Project Tango. This project was aimed at allowing Purdue Pharma to take control of the opioid industry by being a solution to the very crisis it had created. From drugs that could reduce addiction to technology that could be used as treatment, Purdue Pharma has begun to make money from a problem that the government is suing them for. Regardless of the outcome of the case against them for their contributions to the opioid crisis, they will benefit.

Today, 130 people die every day due to overdose. The company responsible for this is gaining a profit for the very problem they helped cause, and our government can't do anything to stop them. By ignoring the signs of what Purdue Pharma was doing and not cracking down on them before the crisis reached the extent is has today, our government has failed to protect society. This is not the way things should be and it doesn't have to be this way. Our government can choose to step in before consumers get hurt, understanding that competition fosters better and safer options for consumers that will prevent abuse of production from getting as out of hand. While this may not be the perfect solution, it is a step in the right direction.

Sources :

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/health/sacklers-oxycontin-lawsuits.html
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis




Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 7, 2019 at 12:02 AM

    Really interesting post. It's terrifying the number of companies out there that profit off of hurting other people. One of my posts was about the student debt crisis and about how all these loan servicing companies essentially cheat their customers and blatantly charge them double, or push them towards a certain repayment plan that hurts their client but benefits them in the long run. What's scary about this post is that we trust doctors to tell us what's wrong with us and help us with it but we no longer know who we can trust because everyone is trying to make money no matter who they rip off.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 7, 2019 at 11:30 PM

    Although drugs are damaging to individuals who use them, addictions on a widespread scale also have significant impacts on the economy. People with addictions have their productivity suffer and often require treatment for their problems. The result of all these costs means that even if they are not directly lowering other people's quality of life, they are indirectly causing problems for society as addictions have led to hundreds of billions of dollars lost from the economy. The effect of drug addictions is alarming, especially because if is so hard to break. People who get trapped into the vicious cycle lead to increasing costs for the rest of society.

    Source: https://www.narconon.org/blog/drug-addiction/economic-costs-drug-abuse/

    ReplyDelete

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