Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 109 posts

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#21

Post by rubyfan »

kennywinker wrote: post #14
BaronVonSteuben wrote: post #9

I know everybody loves to hate on the Sacklers, but my life was dramatically better when I had access to opioids. Because of the "crisis" it has gotten really difficult to get them, even for people who need them. There are days when it's difficult to do much more than lie in bed in agony, but nobody beyond a small community of other pain sufferers seems to care. I'm at least grateful for the few good years I did get…

I hear what you're saying, but it feels like you should be placing your blame on the sacklers too - if they hadn't pushed opioids on people who didn't need them, fueling the crisis, then there would not have been this backlash you describe. Like, we shouldn't be mad at opioids, we should be mad at drug pushing profiteers.

Agree. The notion that this is just free market rewarding business people providing some market need is beyond the pale.

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#22

Post by isbjorn16 »

dogman144 wrote: post #11
BaronVonSteuben wrote: post #9

I know everybody loves to hate on the Sacklers, but my life was dramatically better when I had access to opioids. Because of the "crisis" it has gotten really difficult to get them, even for people who need them. There are days when it's difficult to do much more than lie in bed in agony, but nobody beyond a small community of other pain sufferers seems to care. I'm at least grateful for the few good years I did get…

Why aren't you a candidate for legal thc? I'm genuinely interested as it comes up a lot as the new solution for former legitimate opioid users.

As someone who uses both (irregularly, only as necessary), legal thc / CBD doesn't even remotely compare. I have to get so high to even approximate the pain relief from an opioid that I'm completely nonfunctional.

I had my first back surgery at 18, my second at 25, and I've been staving off 5 separate herniated discs since. I'm in a good place now (barring literally today), but I can't stress enough how useless you end up being, mentally, to take enough thc/cbd to relieve your pain enough to be functional. Really, I just trade my disfunction of one type for disfunction of another type, which is only acceptable because sometimes you simply can't handle the pain.

OP: I've had a lot of luck finding relief with tramadol. It may not be sufficient for your pain or work for you, but it's a schedule IV instead of a schedule II - my doctor can even call it in. In my experience, doctors don't treat you as a drug seeker if you suggest it - they almost seem relieved that you're not asking for the radioactive stuff. Just throwing it out as a possibility.

For myself, for the rare times each year I need it now, it has been wonderful: most of the opioids were almost putting me into a frenzy - not really the right word since it wasn't as strong as the word frenzy implies, but I would get pretty amped up and anxious. Tramadol offers me relief but I stay fairly even keeled - I can even keep working, for instance, something I can't say I can accomplish when I'm using enough THC/CBD to achieve relief. I wouldn't drive on it or sign a contract, but I'd put it on par with having a couple of beers at lunch.

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#23

Post by BrianOnHN »

BaronVonSteuben wrote: post #13
dogman144 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why aren't you a candidate for legal thc? I'm genuinely interested as it comes up a lot as the new solution for former legitimate opioid users.

I have used it extensively over the years but it doesn't work all that well for me and comes with really bad side effects (like making me super tired, which makes it really hard to work), making me insatiably hungry, etc. I've tried all kinds of different combos and it's a nice tool for the toolbox, but it's by no means a replacement for me. I might also add I don't enjoy being high at all. I really prefer to have a…

You had a "clear head" on opioids?

You've got to be kidding, right?

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#25

Post by ManBlanket »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #7

The Sacklers engaged in unethical behavior to get people hooked on something that made them money. Easy opioid prescriptions created thousands of (mostly) functional addicts who were getting their fix in a high-quality control form via their doctor on a monthly basis. That's bad but that's not an opioid "crisis". You don't get a crisis because of a few evil billionaires. More things have to go wrong. What really turn…

The only thing the public wants is a scapegoat. An evil face to jeer at, some one or group of people to blame for a problem before moving onto the next hyperbolic issue. Otherwise perception of a problem is too diffuse, complicated, and nuanced to process in an iota of thought. Don't bother considering the fact this company acted in good faith with the law, or the blind faith people put into a medical system fundamentally designed to profiteer from peoples' lives, and dismal support for the mental or physical health of our nation's poor and struggling. Because if you look hard enough for someone to blame and it'll eventually come full circle, because we collectively decided to co-opt a society based purely on self-interest.

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#26

Post by freeone3000 »

ars wrote: post #16
ineedasername wrote: post #2

In their defense, they really wanted make a ton of money, really didn't want to pay a huge fine. So, you know, it all kind of worked out. For them.

What happened to all that money they made? I find it hard to believe they can spend that much money.

No no, they still have the money, they just didn't want to pay a big fine so they paid a small one instead.

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#27

Post by randmeerkat »

jimbob45 wrote: post #6

They also have to relinquish control of the company. That’s arguably the main force of the punishment.

So they have to give up control of their company and they still have billions in profits..? How is that a punishment?

Meanwhile the person that robbed a gas station is rotting in jail... If only they were billionaires, if they robbed millions at scale they’d only have to transfer ownership of their LLC.

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#28

Post by ibarea23 »

BaronVonSteuben wrote: post #13
dogman144 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why aren't you a candidate for legal thc? I'm genuinely interested as it comes up a lot as the new solution for former legitimate opioid users.

I have used it extensively over the years but it doesn't work all that well for me and comes with really bad side effects (like making me super tired, which makes it really hard to work), making me insatiably hungry, etc. I've tried all kinds of different combos and it's a nice tool for the toolbox, but it's by no means a replacement for me. I might also add I don't enjoy being high at all. I really prefer to have a…

What condition do you have?

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#29

Post by BLKNSLVR »

tartoran wrote: post #4
ineedasername wrote: post #2

In their defense, they really wanted make a ton of money, really didn't want to pay a huge fine. So, you know, it all kind of worked out. For them.

You’re being sarcastic, in their defense, right?

I believe they're using "the American dream" as the defense. So, yes, it's sarcastic, but maybe not in the way you were thinking.

Re: Sacklers–who made $11B off opioid crisis–to pay $225M in damages

#30

Post by veb »

isbjorn16 wrote: post #22
dogman144 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why aren't you a candidate for legal thc? I'm genuinely interested as it comes up a lot as the new solution for former legitimate opioid users.

As someone who uses both (irregularly, only as necessary), legal thc / CBD doesn't even remotely compare. I have to get so high to even approximate the pain relief from an opioid that I'm completely nonfunctional. I had my first back surgery at 18, my second at 25, and I've been staving off 5 separate herniated discs since. I'm in a good place now (barring literally today), but I can't stress enough how useless you e…

Just a warning, Tramadol reacts very badly in some people. Like myself, just a single pill will cause me to have tonic-clonic seizures leading up to a grand-mal seizure later on in the day.

Tramadol also has a bunch of shit in it, I feel like it's a 'dirty' drug. For example, it's very closely related to the chemical structures of antidepressants. This can be helpful, but not when you need to stop it. You also can't really take any serotonergic medicine either as you'd be at a very high risk of serotonin syndrome. Nobody wants that.

Honestly, old and true medicines really do work. I'm not saying the Sacklers are awesome, they're fuckin'evil and didn't value human lives - but the drug works for those who need it.

And Cannabis is not legal in New Zealand, at least yet. We'll find out on the 30th if it's going to be...

(I have to be on it after burning my entire left arm, and chest with burning hot oil - I also educate myself on medicines as I used to work in said sector, and I do have seizures and Tramadol is well known to lower the seizure threshold very very fast)

Post reply on HN