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

arstechnica.com

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

#71

Post by rhizome »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #41
wombatmobile wrote: post #19

Dupont made more than $30 billion profit selling Teflon for almost 50 years, polluting the environment by dumping untreated toxic waste from the manufacturing process into virgin West Virginia landscapes the whole time. In February 2017, DuPont settled over 3,550 lawsuits for $671 million. Dark Waters Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvAOuhyunhY

We really have to stop letting wealthy people and corporations buy their way out of legal problems. Fines and settlements clearly don't stop bad behavior as banks and polluters have been showing repeatedly. The whole thing feels like a protection racket where it's ok to do illegal stuff as long as the government gets its cut. Either somebody has to go to jail or the fines have to be on a level that they lose all of t…

"Disgorgement" is the word I think you're looking for.

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

#72

Post by devilduck »

DanBC wrote: post #61
bananabreakfast wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you're clearly in pain and vindictive for lack of access to effective treatment, putting "crisis" in quotes like it's a manufactured epidemic with no real impact is extremely disingenuous. In 2018 ~130 people died every day in the US overdosing on opioids[1]. I'm sure they're effective for you but if people are not responsible enough to be trusted taking them without killing themselves then you might as well be…

OxyContin/oxycodone (30mg tablet) 2002 8.8 million pills 2011 781.5 million pills The US didn't experience a massive increase of numbers of people in pain.

Are you sure? Maybe correlate those numbers with the number of victims of mass shootings who didn't die

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

#73

Post by terr-dav »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #41
wombatmobile wrote: post #19

Dupont made more than $30 billion profit selling Teflon for almost 50 years, polluting the environment by dumping untreated toxic waste from the manufacturing process into virgin West Virginia landscapes the whole time. In February 2017, DuPont settled over 3,550 lawsuits for $671 million. Dark Waters Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvAOuhyunhY

We really have to stop letting wealthy people and corporations buy their way out of legal problems. Fines and settlements clearly don't stop bad behavior as banks and polluters have been showing repeatedly. The whole thing feels like a protection racket where it's ok to do illegal stuff as long as the government gets its cut. Either somebody has to go to jail or the fines have to be on a level that they lose all of t…

We really shouldn’t let people become so wealthy that they can make public policy, whether it’s for profit or altruistic reasons.

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

#74

Post by marta_morena_28 »

tiffanyh wrote: post #58
wombatmobile wrote: post #19

Dupont made more than $30 billion profit selling Teflon for almost 50 years, polluting the environment by dumping untreated toxic waste from the manufacturing process into virgin West Virginia landscapes the whole time. In February 2017, DuPont settled over 3,550 lawsuits for $671 million. Dark Waters Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvAOuhyunhY

FB made $100s of billion off of selling users privacy and were only fined $5B. Lots more examples of other companies as well.

Yeah, that has just little to do with the topic at hand. When you have a Facebook account, you sign a deal "your life for free stuff". Most people chose the free stuff. The only reason they can bring a suit at all is because people can't be assumed to be as aware as Facebook would like to paint them.

However, drug addiction is something entirely different. You don't expect people to override doctors decisions. Yeah you should question, but most people don't have the expertise to do so. The same is true with Facebook, however the premise is different, i.e. Facebook didn't sign the Hippocratic oath to only do good to people. So obviously people should be wary. And most of all, the harm done is virtual and not noticeable, to the individual that is.

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

#75

Post by brandonmenc »

bananabreakfast wrote: post #36
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…

While you're clearly in pain and vindictive for lack of access to effective treatment, putting "crisis" in quotes like it's a manufactured epidemic with no real impact is extremely disingenuous. In 2018 ~130 people died every day in the US overdosing on opioids[1]. I'm sure they're effective for you but if people are not responsible enough to be trusted taking them without killing themselves then you might as well be…

> In 2018 ~130 people died every day in the US overdosing on opioids

Alcohol kills literally twice that number of people per day and is a factor in nearly half of all violent crime and is a quarter of a trillion dollar market, and yet we seem to fine with that trade-off even though it has absolutely ZERO therapeutic application.

> putting "crisis" in quotes like it's a manufactured epidemic

The epidemic might not be manufactured, but given the numbers re: alcohol the outrage certainly seems to be. It's a moral panic, imo.

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

#76

Post by ska »

Chozenlaruso wrote: post #63
bananabreakfast wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you're clearly in pain and vindictive for lack of access to effective treatment, putting "crisis" in quotes like it's a manufactured epidemic with no real impact is extremely disingenuous. In 2018 ~130 people died every day in the US overdosing on opioids[1]. I'm sure they're effective for you but if people are not responsible enough to be trusted taking them without killing themselves then you might as well be…

From your link: "including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl" So recreational drug abusers are included in the count? I believe the OP was only taking prescription drugs. Is there a count somewhere of just the overdoses on prescribed opioids?

It's tricky to meaningfully separate these cases, as many opioid addictions start with prescriptions and move to more available opioids when the prescriptions end.

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

#78

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

rpgmaker wrote: post #39

Big Pharma is an easy villain to hate (and there's a lot to hate) but why aren't the doctors who prescribed all these drugs being held accountable as well?

Some are. There's been quite a few stories of doctors who got shut down for running what the news likes to call "pill mills". Most doctors just didn't overprescribe all that much, though.

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

#80

Post by [deleted] »

DanBC wrote: post #61
bananabreakfast wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you're clearly in pain and vindictive for lack of access to effective treatment, putting "crisis" in quotes like it's a manufactured epidemic with no real impact is extremely disingenuous. In 2018 ~130 people died every day in the US overdosing on opioids[1]. I'm sure they're effective for you but if people are not responsible enough to be trusted taking them without killing themselves then you might as well be…

OxyContin/oxycodone (30mg tablet) 2002 8.8 million pills 2011 781.5 million pills The US didn't experience a massive increase of numbers of people in pain.

[deleted]
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