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The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

nytimes.com

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Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#11

Post by pmc1 »

> Millions of people have fallen victim to drugs, painkiller abuse, alcoholism, the rise of meth and the revival of heroin.

Through all this carnage somehow the left still fights for the legalization of the gateway drug marijuana. Of course not all weed users move towards harder drugs, but it opens the door to more lethal drugs once susceptible individuals become accustomed to the highs. I have personally seen friends from college smoke weed for a couple of years and then move to coke for the better highs. Less drugs, not more would be a good step

EDIT: Its extremely well documented that marijuana usage leads to increased vulnerability for addiction to other substances. One of many research links:

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mari...

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#12

Post by creaghpatr »

sidcool wrote: post #7

I cannot understand why the Government is not acting against the pharmas profiting from this crisis. And why people are not revolting. There is a clear nexus between pharmas and doctors. Something should be done.

To be fair, the government did launch

"what federal officials Thursday called the “largest ever health care fraud enforcement action” by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, 412 individuals, including 115 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, were arrested in a nationwide operation that involved more than 1,000 law enforcement agents in at least 30 states."

this past July. Not a shabby start.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/07/13/d...

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#13

Post by sandworm101 »

jijji wrote: post #9

Heroin is a Schedule I (in the US) which means no medical benefit, and its a 20 year felony for distributing it. There is also the Federal Analogue Act, 21 U.S.C. § 813, which is supposed to group similar drugs in the same category. So, how do these companies get away with selling analogs of heroin? Shouldn't the people who work there and make money off these opioid drugs be arrested? Why haven't they?

Because what they sell isnt on the schedual and does have medical use. Hate opiods addiction and overprescription, but dont forget that these things have a place.

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#14

Post by brohoolio »

malchow wrote: post #4
quantumofmalice wrote: post #2

> The industry of addiction treatment is haphazardly regulated, poorly understood and expanding at a rapid clip, bringing in $35 billion a year. Why not focus on the root company and family actually getting rich off selling the damned opioids (Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, respectively)? I don't understand how this company and family haven't been sued into the ground yet.

The family are all Democrats. That isn't the sole reason, but if you compare the "shadowy financier" tone of many stories about right-of-center families to the stories about opioids, you'll see that the "shadowiness" component of the reporting suddenly disappears.

It's not all democrats. Rep. Tom Marino, the main force behind the bill limited the DEA's ability to fight against these companies is a republican. Also Trumps nominee to become the next drug czar.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/...

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#15

Post by QAPereo »

malchow wrote: post #4
quantumofmalice wrote: post #2

> The industry of addiction treatment is haphazardly regulated, poorly understood and expanding at a rapid clip, bringing in $35 billion a year. Why not focus on the root company and family actually getting rich off selling the damned opioids (Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, respectively)? I don't understand how this company and family haven't been sued into the ground yet.

The family are all Democrats. That isn't the sole reason, but if you compare the "shadowy financier" tone of many stories about right-of-center families to the stories about opioids, you'll see that the "shadowiness" component of the reporting suddenly disappears.

Please explain this...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-tha...

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#16

Post by quantumofmalice »

malchow wrote: post #4
quantumofmalice wrote: post #2

> The industry of addiction treatment is haphazardly regulated, poorly understood and expanding at a rapid clip, bringing in $35 billion a year. Why not focus on the root company and family actually getting rich off selling the damned opioids (Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, respectively)? I don't understand how this company and family haven't been sued into the ground yet.

The family are all Democrats. That isn't the sole reason, but if you compare the "shadowy financier" tone of many stories about right-of-center families to the stories about opioids, you'll see that the "shadowiness" component of the reporting suddenly disappears.

What bothers me is that this can be interpreted as a "New York thing", to quote Lorne Michaels, and I don't like going down that road.

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#17

Post by fzeroracer »

malchow wrote: post #4
quantumofmalice wrote: post #2

> The industry of addiction treatment is haphazardly regulated, poorly understood and expanding at a rapid clip, bringing in $35 billion a year. Why not focus on the root company and family actually getting rich off selling the damned opioids (Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, respectively)? I don't understand how this company and family haven't been sued into the ground yet.

The family are all Democrats. That isn't the sole reason, but if you compare the "shadowy financier" tone of many stories about right-of-center families to the stories about opioids, you'll see that the "shadowiness" component of the reporting suddenly disappears.

This seems objectively false after even a brief cursory search and I'm curious as to why you think it has anything to do with this topic.

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#18

Post by ElatedOwl »

pmc1 wrote: post #11

> Millions of people have fallen victim to drugs, painkiller abuse, alcoholism, the rise of meth and the revival of heroin. Through all this carnage somehow the left still fights for the legalization of the gateway drug marijuana. Of course not all weed users move towards harder drugs, but it opens the door to more lethal drugs once susceptible individuals become accustomed to the highs. I have personally seen friend…

I only started using cannabis because I got accustomed to the highs from coffee /s

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#19

Post by wavefunction »

pmc1 wrote: post #11

> Millions of people have fallen victim to drugs, painkiller abuse, alcoholism, the rise of meth and the revival of heroin. Through all this carnage somehow the left still fights for the legalization of the gateway drug marijuana. Of course not all weed users move towards harder drugs, but it opens the door to more lethal drugs once susceptible individuals become accustomed to the highs. I have personally seen friend…

Marijuana is not a gateway drug. It also offers a safer, less addictive alternative to opiates for some pain management.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5569620/

Your opinion is archaic and not supported by facts. It is the distilled ignorance of decades of drug war propaganda propped up by some anecdotes with dubious conclusions.

Re: The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis

#20

Post by lgats »

pmc1 wrote: post #11

> Millions of people have fallen victim to drugs, painkiller abuse, alcoholism, the rise of meth and the revival of heroin. Through all this carnage somehow the left still fights for the legalization of the gateway drug marijuana. Of course not all weed users move towards harder drugs, but it opens the door to more lethal drugs once susceptible individuals become accustomed to the highs. I have personally seen friend…

That may have been the unfortunate case for your college friends, but that isn't the overall trend for cannabis consumers http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2017.3...
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