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As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

washingtonpost.com

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Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#2
(this article can be read by searching for the title on http://twitter.com/, then opening the link in a private window)

> Two doses of an injectable form of naloxone, Evzio, cost $4,500, up from $690 in 2014. The price of other forms of the drug, including the nasally administered Narcan, typically range from $70 to $150 per dose, officials say.

The cost of naloxone [1] is an insignificant part of the cost of reviving an addict. The rest of the costs mentioned in this article are pure profiteering.

[1] http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/n7758?lang....

If you buy 5 grams from Sigma Aldrich, a 2mg dose costs $0.588. Add a few more cents for salt, water and packaging brings the cost per dose to $2. An EMS supplier sells a single "kit" with an intranasal atomizer for Someone on Reddit sent me 4 vials of naloxone. I sent them [2] http://www.dixieems.com/Economy-Naloxone-Kit.asp?pid=2086

Naltrexone is very similar to Naloxone. It is used to keep people from getting high on opiates. Big Pharma has found a way to jack the price of this generic drug too. 15 days ago I posted about the Naltrexone rip-off: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14672338

Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#3
post #2

(this article can be read by searching for the title on http://twitter.com/ , then opening the link in a private window) > Two doses of an injectable form of naloxone, Evzio, cost $4,500, up from $690 in 2014. The price of other forms of the drug, including the nasally administered Narcan, typically range from $70 to $150 per dose, officials say. The cost of naloxone [1] is an insignificant part of the cost of revivi…

I don't know how long this country can survive with this rampant corruption and profiteering. When do we hit a breaking point, and what does that look like?

I mean I read your response and think, "wow, that's horrible." Then realize absolutely nothing is going to be done about it.

Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#4
How can it be acceptable that you would declare people too expensive to save, rather than challenge the prices of a profit-making company that is bringing those costs in the first place? Shouldn't you be able to detect the sheer amount of corporate worship in such a statement before it leaves your mouth?

It breaks my heart to keep reading about this epidemic, with such a consistent reaction of hatred from so many people. This state of vulnerability should be met with support, but because opiates are nominally pleasurable, everything surrounding them must be a failure of personal responsibility - of people getting in over their heads.

Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#5
Compare it to the money US spent on Afghanistan invasion and the explosion in opium production there. Where do you think the production goes and who is running the operations? Wouldn't it be fair to divert part of those budgets to help civilians in US to cope with the results?

The bitter thing is that even Trump will boost military budgets, not much change here from the previous regime.

Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#7
post #2

(this article can be read by searching for the title on http://twitter.com/ , then opening the link in a private window) > Two doses of an injectable form of naloxone, Evzio, cost $4,500, up from $690 in 2014. The price of other forms of the drug, including the nasally administered Narcan, typically range from $70 to $150 per dose, officials say. The cost of naloxone [1] is an insignificant part of the cost of revivi…

Furthermore, I'd imagine the cost of the naloxone alone is a small percentage of the total cost of the emergency responders + acute care given in life-threatening overdose. The article doesn't discuss a recurring theme in medicine: acute care is really, really expensive. It'd be far more cost-effective to reduce the need for acute care by providing access to addiction treatment before things get to this point. Easier said than done I suppose.

Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#8
post #3
post #2

(this article can be read by searching for the title on http://twitter.com/ , then opening the link in a private window) > Two doses of an injectable form of naloxone, Evzio, cost $4,500, up from $690 in 2014. The price of other forms of the drug, including the nasally administered Narcan, typically range from $70 to $150 per dose, officials say. The cost of naloxone [1] is an insignificant part of the cost of revivi…

I don't know how long this country can survive with this rampant corruption and profiteering. When do we hit a breaking point, and what does that look like? I mean I read your response and think, "wow, that's horrible." Then realize absolutely nothing is going to be done about it.

I guess one way it could play out is that as the corruption becomes more and more obvious, together with increasing differences in political ideology between red and blue states, an appetite for seceding from the United States could develop in some states, and if that sentiment becomes common enough, it could become a reality?

Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#9
post #3
post #2

(this article can be read by searching for the title on http://twitter.com/ , then opening the link in a private window) > Two doses of an injectable form of naloxone, Evzio, cost $4,500, up from $690 in 2014. The price of other forms of the drug, including the nasally administered Narcan, typically range from $70 to $150 per dose, officials say. The cost of naloxone [1] is an insignificant part of the cost of revivi…

I don't know how long this country can survive with this rampant corruption and profiteering. When do we hit a breaking point, and what does that look like? I mean I read your response and think, "wow, that's horrible." Then realize absolutely nothing is going to be done about it.

100 years ago, politicians were tricked into trusting organized crime to tend to the health of people who are drawn to opiates. Those politicians are dead & gone, but we're still stuck with their mistake.

My mother broke her wrist 6 months ago, and was given opiates to deal with the pain of having a plate put in her wrist. She did not become an opiate addict. I presume she managed to avoid becoming a junky because she has a pretty stable day-to-day life.

Re: As opioid overdoses exact a higher price, communities ponder who should be saved

#10
post #3
post #2

(this article can be read by searching for the title on http://twitter.com/ , then opening the link in a private window) > Two doses of an injectable form of naloxone, Evzio, cost $4,500, up from $690 in 2014. The price of other forms of the drug, including the nasally administered Narcan, typically range from $70 to $150 per dose, officials say. The cost of naloxone [1] is an insignificant part of the cost of revivi…

I don't know how long this country can survive with this rampant corruption and profiteering. When do we hit a breaking point, and what does that look like? I mean I read your response and think, "wow, that's horrible." Then realize absolutely nothing is going to be done about it.

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