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Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#41
post #2

> Purdue made billions from OxyContin, a widely available painkiller that fueled the opioid epidemic

It's more complicated than that. They knew it was killing people and turning thousands (millions) into addicts and they kept pushing doctors to use it at all costs. I'd recommend the John Oliver special on it.

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Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more complicated than that. They knew it was killing people and turning thousands (millions) into addicts and they kept pushing doctors to use it at all costs. I'd recommend the John Oliver special on it.

Why are doctors so easy to manipulate? They learn about addiction in medical school. Why would they believe a pharmaceutical company saying "...oh but this opioid is not addictive..."

Because physicians don't get much if any training in evaluating evidence and research, they generally believe what they're told by scientists. Which is a shame, they should be taught critical evaluation of literature

They also don't have time because of the artificial limits of physicians graduating every year, combined with more bureaucracy being pushed on them day by day

Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more complicated than that. They knew it was killing people and turning thousands (millions) into addicts and they kept pushing doctors to use it at all costs. I'd recommend the John Oliver special on it.

Why are doctors so easy to manipulate? They learn about addiction in medical school. Why would they believe a pharmaceutical company saying "...oh but this opioid is not addictive..."

Because doctors believe studies and health system policies pushed aggressive treatment of pain.

And our unequal society forces a lot of people to damage their bodies in the pursuit of happiness (i.e. earning money). That damage becomes chronic pain.

And unfortunately, painkillers often have a euphoric effect. So people might use that effect to escape the grinding reality that they are trapped within. Consider how popular cannabis is, especially among older adults in states where recreational use is legal.

Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#45
post #10

[flagged]

It is negligent to conflate the impacts of an addictive drug with a vaccine.

The addictive drug was also an effective painkiller, just one with risk. Similarly a novel vaccine also comes with risks, which are only coming to be better understood years later: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10....

Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#46

For those claiming the Supreme Court is a political institution, I'd like to note that this was indeed a 5-4 decision. But one with Justices in the majority who were appointed by Biden, Trump, Bush 43, and Bush 41, and in the minority who were appointed by Bush 43, Obama, and Trump. It was Jackson, Gorsuch, Barrett, Alito, and Thomas in the majority and Sotomayor, Kagan, Roberts, and Kavanaugh in the minority.

I guess this is not a topic that is politically divisive, so the judges were free to vote as they saw fit. Which doesn't say anything about how they will vote on other topics, like abortion, environmental protection etc.

Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your boss tells you you'll lose your job if you don't have sex with him, and you quit to avoid that, would you disagree with the statement that you were forced to quit?

No, words have specific meanings that should accurately reflect the nuances of the situation at hand.

Force:

>violence, compulsion, or constraint exerted upon or against a person or thing[0]

Compell:

>1. to drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly

>2. to cause to do or occur by overwhelming pressure[1]

[0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/force

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compel

Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more complicated than that. They knew it was killing people and turning thousands (millions) into addicts and they kept pushing doctors to use it at all costs. I'd recommend the John Oliver special on it.

Additionally, I recommend the book Empire of Pain for an excellent deep dive into the Sackler family and how they essentially created the opioid epidemic. You'll be infuriated as you read it.

+1

An amazing read and I also highly recommend it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Pain

Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

Not quite. From the NY Times: > In a 5-to-4 decision, written by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, a majority of the justices held that the federal bankruptcy code does not authorize a liability shield for third parties in bankruptcy agreements. Justice Gorsuch was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

My lineup was extracted from an AP story. Which is correct?

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-purdue-pharma-opioi...

Re: Supreme Court blocks controversial Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

#50
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Force? Edit: "Force to trust"? Because everyone answering didn't read ops comment.

Eg, https://www.abc.net.au/religion/human-rights-and-mandatory-c... Or pick your favourite country; policies requiring arbitrary vaccination were quite common.

Words have specific meanings that should accurately reflect the nuances of the situation at hand. You can write your comment without emotional exasperation or maybe not...
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