Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
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Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
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Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#2I think the drug dealers could learn a thing or two from our pharma industry.
When I had back pain, the doctor handed me a prescription for 100 hydrocodone tablets. I took none; just some physical therapy and stretching gave me immense relief. Later, I was shocked to find out from a friend that the street value of these tablets was $5/each.
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#3I was expecting to write a comment advocating for personal responsibility and not rushing to judgement. Then I read this:
> The unfettered shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.
That is incredible. What a damning article.
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#4I was expecting to write a comment advocating for personal responsibility and not rushing to judgement. Then I read this: > The unfettered shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia. That is incredible. What a damning article.
Well, 433 over six years, 2007 through 2012. Which is about 72 per year, per person.
I mean, what is supposed to be done about this? Cut off WV from painkillers? Have the DEA raid a bunch of pharmacies?
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#5Not that pharma is angelic here, but don't the doctors have the largest measure of blame for writing unnecessary scripts, failing to monitor for abuse, and failing to encourage alternate options?
I'm in favor of maximum MD power. I think they should be allowed to prescribe everything from cocaine to bleach, or any other chemical compound, as suits the patient care, if they know what they're doing.
But they should also bear maximum accountability for what they prescribe, including abuse potential.
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#6I think the drug dealers could learn a thing or two from our pharma industry. When I had back pain, the doctor handed me a prescription for 100 hydrocodone tablets. I took none; just some physical therapy and stretching gave me immense relief. Later, I was shocked to find out from a friend that the street value of these tablets was $5/each.
Probably more a fault of your doctor or the laws. There should be limits on that kind of painkillers, especially if you use it first time. If the doctor restricts the amount to a few days' usage, potential misuse is much easier to detect.
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#7I was expecting to write a comment advocating for personal responsibility and not rushing to judgement. Then I read this: > The unfettered shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia. That is incredible. What a damning article.
Well, 433 over six years, 2007 through 2012. Which is about 72 per year, per person. I mean, what is supposed to be done about this? Cut off WV from painkillers? Have the DEA raid a bunch of pharmacies?
> Cut off WV from painkillers?
Given the kind of logical leaps the War on Drugs takes, why not? I'm sure that someone, somewhere, in WV is getting high on pills as we speak.
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, 433 over six years, 2007 through 2012. Which is about 72 per year, per person. I mean, what is supposed to be done about this? Cut off WV from painkillers? Have the DEA raid a bunch of pharmacies?
> Cut off WV from painkillers? Given the kind of logical leaps the War on Drugs takes, why not? I'm sure that someone, somewhere, in WV is getting high on pills as we speak.
I've never been quite able to grasp the logic of those people who think that, while the War on Drugs is a bad idea, the FDA being able to ban whatever drugs it likes is a good idea. Either the government should have the power to ban drugs or it shouldn't, but too many people seem to want it both ways: prohibition without enforcement.
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#9I was expecting to write a comment advocating for personal responsibility and not rushing to judgement. Then I read this: > The unfettered shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia. That is incredible. What a damning article.
Well, 433 over six years, 2007 through 2012. Which is about 72 per year, per person. I mean, what is supposed to be done about this? Cut off WV from painkillers? Have the DEA raid a bunch of pharmacies?
You can tell it was a tabloid style article by the headline:
"Drug firms poured..."
>Which is about 72 per year, per person.
That doesn't sound unreasonable. I would guess the average prescription is 2-4 a day per person per year.
Re: Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
#10Not that pharma is angelic here, but don't the doctors have the largest measure of blame for writing unnecessary scripts, failing to monitor for abuse, and failing to encourage alternate options? I'm in favor of maximum MD power. I think they should be allowed to prescribe everything from cocaine to bleach, or any other chemical compound, as suits the patient care, if they know what they're doing. But they should als…
A more helpful line of inquiry to me is the culture of Rx usage. As a society, our patients expect drugs when they go to a doctor and a doctor's average time per patient is around 10-15 minutes. Does not seem like enough time to understand the patient's needs and create an individualized solution. Further, RX medicine is highly profitable and encouraged from the pharma.
In this case it looks like they are incentives for pain pills to be issued on both sides -- money maker for pharma and time saver for doctors (a third side -- convenience and feel good for the patient).
It is not as useful to find so-called bad actors but instead we should evaluate the medical system as a whole and put in safeguards to do less harm. Patients have generally too much influence on doctors for their treatment (otherwise why would direct to consumer marketing exist?), that doctors are not educating patients enough on the risks of narcotics and that pharma has $$ incentive to push medicine. That things like physical therapy and lifestyle changes will better deal with root causes than drugs that only address the symptom (but feel better and are easier to swallow). It's a recipe for a disaster.
I was in a motorcycle accident a few years ago and broke over 10 bones. The worst part of my recovery was kicking my addiction to narcotics. I did not understand what I was getting into and I was never given a path to get off them (not in a coherent way, not until I called to say I was going through withdrawals). This should not be.