Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
theamericanconservative.com
Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
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Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#2As with any phenomenon, I don't buy a single-cause explanation. It's way too pat.
What about substitutes? Has anyone tried to demonstrate that OxyContin addiction, for example, might not have been heroin addiction if OxyContin wasn't available? Would people in chronic pain not pursue illegal solutions if legal ones weren't available to them?
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#3As with any phenomenon, I don't buy a single-cause explanation. It's way too pat. What about substitutes? Has anyone tried to demonstrate that OxyContin addiction, for example, might not have been heroin addiction if OxyContin wasn't available? Would people in chronic pain not pursue illegal solutions if legal ones weren't available to them?
While there will be some overlap there was also a lot of perverse behavior. Basically the drug company creates a drug that it wants to sell, drug reps travel to doctors explaining the drugs, when the doctor does the prescription, the doctor and sales rep get cash.
Now you have an incentive structure where doctors are prescribing drugs to patients that may not need them, may not need the dose prescribed, and so forth.
That combined with how addictive any opioid can be leads along with the trust common people put in doctors, assuming that what they are being prescribed is safe, leads to the problem.
The more of the drugs that get prescribed the more everyone makes in the process.
Same thing that happened with all of the shady loans during the housing crisis. All you have to look for is the financial incentive and lack of punishment and you get the same cycle repeated.
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#4As with any phenomenon, I don't buy a single-cause explanation. It's way too pat. What about substitutes? Has anyone tried to demonstrate that OxyContin addiction, for example, might not have been heroin addiction if OxyContin wasn't available? Would people in chronic pain not pursue illegal solutions if legal ones weren't available to them?
There's a control group in the form of Europe where overdoses are an order of magnitude lower and have remained relatively stable over the last 10 years at least.
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#5As with any phenomenon, I don't buy a single-cause explanation. It's way too pat. What about substitutes? Has anyone tried to demonstrate that OxyContin addiction, for example, might not have been heroin addiction if OxyContin wasn't available? Would people in chronic pain not pursue illegal solutions if legal ones weren't available to them?
No, not mostly.
If you're not in a city large enough to support street dealers, and aren't connected to the local illicit scene wherever you are, you're not just going to be able to go out and get heroin or fentanyl or whatever. That is not how these things work.
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#6lock em up
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#7lock em up
Perhaps they will, but meanwhile let's please stick with substantive comments.
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#8As with any phenomenon, I don't buy a single-cause explanation. It's way too pat. What about substitutes? Has anyone tried to demonstrate that OxyContin addiction, for example, might not have been heroin addiction if OxyContin wasn't available? Would people in chronic pain not pursue illegal solutions if legal ones weren't available to them?
There's a control group in the form of Europe where overdoses are an order of magnitude lower and have remained relatively stable over the last 10 years at least.
I had a medical issue with incredible pain in France, I have not been given an addictive pain killer, they started with the most common (Tylenol), then went one notch up (Acupan) when it became ineffective (I think I am very receptive because I rarely take medicines).
But doctors have to be willing to spend the time to follow the patient and do the gradation instead of going straight for the strongest thing in the toolbox and avoiding coming back to the issue (which I feel would be a given in the country where they have the highest pay).
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#9As with any phenomenon, I don't buy a single-cause explanation. It's way too pat. What about substitutes? Has anyone tried to demonstrate that OxyContin addiction, for example, might not have been heroin addiction if OxyContin wasn't available? Would people in chronic pain not pursue illegal solutions if legal ones weren't available to them?
The opioid epidemic is directly caused by the OxyContin manufacturer's desire to sell a pain drug that "lasts twelve hours". These patient instructions almost couldn't be better designed to foment addiction. The big selling point was the "twelve hour" length of action. OxyContin was often not effective for the full twelve hours, causing a whiplash between under-treating pain and taking the medication at the prescribed time. This lead patients to be in pain for several hours every day, watching the clock as they waited for their next dose to alleviate said pain. If they take their medication early to combat this, they run out and have to deal with untreated pain until they get more. If they increase the dosage - as suggested by the manufacturer - then they now over-medicate at the start of the curve, build tolerance, and eventually become under-medicated again nearing the end of the twelve-hour period.
Psychologically, the risk of addiction comes from the brain getting trained that taking a substance causes a stark and rapid change in psychological state. If you have a consistent level of a medication, you tend to not become addicted to it. You can develop tolerance and physical dependence, but the addictive behavior doesn't get trained. To do that, you'll want a sharp and dramatic onset of effect associated with the drug-taking behavior, and negative reinforcement of the drug-taking behavior via the unpleasant effects of withdrawal.
Re: Purdue and other big Oxy peddlers now face trial in federal court
#10As with any phenomenon, I don't buy a single-cause explanation. It's way too pat. What about substitutes? Has anyone tried to demonstrate that OxyContin addiction, for example, might not have been heroin addiction if OxyContin wasn't available? Would people in chronic pain not pursue illegal solutions if legal ones weren't available to them?
perhaps you have brought your own Biases to the table.
"too pat" means its too simple, how does that work out when applying occam's razor?
Its easy to say "Junkies will be junkies", you are propagating this mentality and leaning on the crutch of the fallacy of single cause to iterate your own biases. The research is very clear.
Mayo Clinic: "Anyone who takes opioids is at risk of developing addiction. Your personal history and the length of time you use opioids play a role, but it's impossible to predict who's vulnerable to eventual dependence on and abuse of these drugs. Legal or illegal, stolen and shared, these drugs are responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in the U.S. today"
Us National Library of Medicine: "Opioid addiction is characterized by a powerful, compulsive urge to use opioid drugs, even when they are no longer required medically. Opioids have a high potential for causing addiction in some people, even when the medications are prescribed appropriately and taken as directed."
These reputable institutions havent tried to determine "future" addiction because the present data is loud and clear. Opioids are incredible addictive. I wonder why you are completely willing to ignore this data and instead blame the victims and sanctify the distributors. I think it speaks volumes for your position.
Perhaps you chose it pre-emptively and dont want to ratify the easily available data. (come on friend. its a simple google away https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3674771/)
Instead of playing devils advocate, and vocalizing what you "dont buy". Rather analyse the query and ask people in the field. Your biases might give you comfort but it is not the truth and the truth deserves pursuing.