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The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

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Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#31

Post by DanBC »

loeg wrote: post #20
vasilipupkin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company and the family is responsible for dramatically increasing number of opioid prescriptions based on fraudulent marketing and made up evidence. A lot of people, who, as a result, got addicted to Oxy, at some point ended up switching to heroin because it's cheaper. So, the manufacturer is not responsible for all opioid deaths, but is responsible for a significant percentage of those deaths.

> A lot of people, who, as a result, got addicted to Oxy, at some point ended up switching to heroin because it's cheaper. Counter-point: no, they largely did not. There is a huge population using prescription opiates and a tiny tiny population using heroin. Check out https://grokinfullness.blogspot.com/2017/09/debunking-standa... for a lot more detail. > There is no convincing evidence that prior prescription opioid…

> > In 2015, 85 million people used prescription opioids legally, and there were ~200 million legal prescriptions.

In a country of 350 million people this right here is all the evidence you need: it's obvious that US opioid prescribing is abusive.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#32

Post by joemag »

herodotus wrote: post #15

In my experience with local philanthropy, there are donors who have no interest in "naming opportunities" and those for whom it is all about the name. To me it says a lot about the character of the donor if they specifically want as little fuss as possible about the donation, and especially if they do not want something named after them. It is the cause they support, not their own egos. Personally, the more often I s…

I agree, and I feel the same way about other public figures. Anytime I see a famous actor/actress that live a mostly private life, I immediately start thinking of them in a positive light.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#33

Post by gras »

herodotus wrote: post #15

In my experience with local philanthropy, there are donors who have no interest in "naming opportunities" and those for whom it is all about the name. To me it says a lot about the character of the donor if they specifically want as little fuss as possible about the donation, and especially if they do not want something named after them. It is the cause they support, not their own egos. Personally, the more often I s…

I've come to appreciate vanity donators, as their political intentions in supporting the "good cause" is more transparant then.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#34

Post by CydeWeys »

DanBC wrote: post #31
loeg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of people, who, as a result, got addicted to Oxy, at some point ended up switching to heroin because it's cheaper. Counter-point: no, they largely did not. There is a huge population using prescription opiates and a tiny tiny population using heroin. Check out https://grokinfullness.blogspot.com/2017/09/debunking-standa... for a lot more detail. > There is no convincing evidence that prior prescription opioid…

> > In 2015, 85 million people used prescription opioids legally, and there were ~200 million legal prescriptions. In a country of 350 million people this right here is all the evidence you need: it's obvious that US opioid prescribing is abusive.

I've been prescribed opiates twice in my life, once after wisdom teeth removal and once after breaking my ankle. I'm sure I counted in the 85 million figure for that year despite never actually taking the drugs, as the pain was not bad enough to merit them.

I wish doctors were less liberal about prescribing these serious drugs. It should be messaged as "If the pain is really unbearable, even with standard over-the-counter pain relievers, then consider a stronger alternative." Instead, it was more like "Oh you broke your ankle? Here's a prescription for strong drugs."

Breaking my ankle doesn't even crack my top five most painful moments of my life -- those are all related to the flu/norovirus/food poisoning.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#35

Post by wyager »

cwyers wrote: post #24

I'm reminded of that line from Chinatown. "Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?" Is there really no point of diminishing returns, where you can tell yourself you've made enough money?

If you can’t usefully spend arbitrarily large amounts of money, it’s a creativity problem. Sure, if your only interests are eating and watching TV then a billion dollars isn’t going to do much for you.

The easy way to productively spend $X billion is to invest it in space/physics/medical research or development. If you need to blow a few hundred billion, you could launch an asteroid mining venture with a reasonable chance of turning that money into a few trillion and making space development vastly more affordable for the rest of humanity.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#37

Post by pstuart »

herodotus wrote: post #15

In my experience with local philanthropy, there are donors who have no interest in "naming opportunities" and those for whom it is all about the name. To me it says a lot about the character of the donor if they specifically want as little fuss as possible about the donation, and especially if they do not want something named after them. It is the cause they support, not their own egos. Personally, the more often I s…

And it went well beyond the names, to financial gain as well as "personal favors".

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#38

Post by trendia »

wyager wrote: post #35
cwyers wrote: post #24

I'm reminded of that line from Chinatown. "Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?" Is there really no point of diminishing returns, where you can tell yourself you've made enough money?

If you can’t usefully spend arbitrarily large amounts of money, it’s a creativity problem. Sure, if your only interests are eating and watching TV then a billion dollars isn’t going to do much for you. The easy way to productively spend $X billion is to invest it in space/physics/medical research or development. If you need to blow a few hundred billion, you could launch an asteroid mining venture with a reasonable c…

That reminds me of an old joke:

Q: How do you make $1 million in aerospace?

A: Start with $1 billion

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#39

Post by cwyers »

wyager wrote: post #35
cwyers wrote: post #24

I'm reminded of that line from Chinatown. "Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?" Is there really no point of diminishing returns, where you can tell yourself you've made enough money?

If you can’t usefully spend arbitrarily large amounts of money, it’s a creativity problem. Sure, if your only interests are eating and watching TV then a billion dollars isn’t going to do much for you. The easy way to productively spend $X billion is to invest it in space/physics/medical research or development. If you need to blow a few hundred billion, you could launch an asteroid mining venture with a reasonable c…

I mean, the most effective contribution they could make to society is to stop lobbying Congress so effectively to protect their sales of Oxy, but sure, let's talk about how those profits could be rolled over into speculative investments in aerospace.

EDIT: And of course, the response to that line in the movie is "The future, Mr. Gittes."

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#40

Post by mavhc »

joemag wrote: post #27

Aren’t the doctors to blame for this as well? It always surprised me how quickly and easily they prescribe serious painkillers. A few years ago I had a tooth pulled, and the doctor gave me prescription painkiller. In the end, I ended up using regular ibuprofen, and that was more than enough. I wonder how much of this comes pharmaceutical sales reps pressuring the doctors to use their medicine. That whole system seems…

Capitalist medicine is to blame, when you can vote with your money you can pick the doctor who does what you want, not what's best for you.
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