Abuse of Painkillers

[Aggie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15548478

Overdoses of pain relievers cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, the report has found.

It says sales and prescriptions of the drugs rose sharply in recent years and this was linked to the rise in overdoses.

Link to US Government report (pdf) here.


[cynicism]I suppose this is good news; at least the domestic pharmaceutical companies are profiting off these deaths, instead of some foreign drug lord getting the profits.  I'm sure the tax breaks the US Gov't gives to Big Pharma are less than the money spent on The War On Drugs^TM.  [/cynicism]

As a Canuckistani, let me say that y'all have some weird attitudes to drug use down there.  
Seriously and physically addictive? Deadly? Legally produced and sold?  Sure, why not? I'll try some of those! Can't be a sin, because Dad got them from the doctor!
The gov't banned it?  Don't matter what the details are, that's a sin against God and country.  Leave that stuff alone you godless hippie!

_{I don't promote the use of ANY drugs by other people, unless I happen to be buying the next round of drinks or grabbing coffee for the crew.  Do your research, understand and weight the potential risks and rewards, and make sound decisions for yourself.}

Of course I know by now that asking everyone to apply a bit of risk/benefit analysis to their own lives is simply too much to ask.    

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of prescription drug abuse up here and I've heard some horror stories.  The people who are legitimately taking these medicines are often not given the support and information they need to make sure treatment does not become addiction. However, I don't believe for a moment that Big Pharma is displeased with illicit use - it just ups their client base and sales.  I would hazard the speculation that addiction potential is not regarded as an undesirable characteristic during drug development.  I'm not quite cynical enough to suggest that it is actively pursued as a desirable characteristic.  Not quite.


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For all of y'all that are keeping track, Aggie's Evidence-Free Big Pharma Conspiracy Files now include:

• Actively increasing the public level of fear and anxiety (prolly through the media) to increase the $42 billion depression/anxiety treatment market
• Supporting the The War On Drugs^TM and promoting anti-illicit-drug education while normalizing the abuse of prescription drugs

Purely speculative, that list, but it's a matter of whether you think Big Pharma is more likely to be stupid or evil.  If they're not putting a reasonable amount of resources into increasing their markets and client-base, they are stupid.  If they are, then they're evil.  I already think they're evil, I doubt they are stupid.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Pill mills here in FL? Surely a misrepresentation more so when our beloved governor is incredibly reluctant to do something about it (because more regulations get in the way of business, see?).
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When big pharma spends 3-4 times more in marketing than in R&D we have a problem, and one that will not be solved in the short term, so yup, evil.

[Sibling DavidH]

They are not a cuddly, lovable sector and something needs to change.  We need the medications, though.

[Swatopluk]

We need the medications, though.

And be it just for the easy exit (as discussed in another thread)

[Sibling DavidH]

Ok, but I need mine to stay alive. 

[Swatopluk]

You decide on the dose, nature decides on the outcome.
That gives me the free willies.

[Griffin NoName]

They are making it harder and harder to commit suicide. It's like being denied a freedom.

[Swatopluk]

One day they will demand a fee for steamrolling you (and call it a flat tax)

[Aggie]

They are not a cuddly, lovable sector and something needs to change.  We need the medications, though.

Yes, I'm not the type to dispute the need for modern medicine - I'd be dead several times over without antibiotics.  I have issues with healthcare in general being under private, for-profit control.  I'm not sure there's a good alternative in the case of pharmaceuticals, but I wish they were a little more focused on health and less on profits.  It seems these days they are often better at inventing new disorders to treat with existing drugs than inventing new drugs for existing disorders.

[Sibling DavidH]

I agree with most of that.  As for the profit bit - well, we in the UK have all too much experience of inefficient nationalised industries.  Not that the private concerns are always great, either, and it seems to me that we need the right amount of state control over big pharma, the utilities and transport firms.  Under our last socialist misgovernment there was far too much micromanagement, often ineffective.  Now the Tories are heading towards US Republican-style thinking.

[Aggie]

IMHO there needs to be something between nationalized industries and unrestricted capitalist ones (we've had Crown corporations out here, too....  some are not bad, some have been terrible ideas and some have gotten worse once privatized).  I can't see how it would work in practicality, but I'm envisioning a limited-profit model which was not focused on growth but had a constant maximum profit target each year, capped salaries and paid reasonable but not fat-cat level wages, and in return for restrictions received some government or NGO funds for targeted R&D of less-profitable but much-needed drugs. 

Presumably impossible, especially in the US or for sales to the US.  Big Pharma would be crying foul in no time, and the US would tariff imports heavily despite any trade agreements that might be in place.