The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis • Hacker News Board

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#21

Post by brucelidl » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 4:43 PM UTC

pdog wrote: post #17

brucelidl wrote: post #13

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime." —Balzac (apocryphal)

The full quote isn't apocryphal. It's from a character in Balzac's Le Père Goriot. Roughly translated: "The secret of great unexplained fortunes is a forgotten crime, because it has been properly executed." The quote isn't really applicable in this case. Everyone reading the article knows how the Sackler family made their money.

Everyone reading the article knows the source of the fortune. The millions of people who have interacted with Sackler supported cultural institutions likely had zero idea of where the money came from, myself included.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#22

Post by wozniacki » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 4:46 PM UTC

iaw wrote: post #12

Very good write-up from Esquire, I'm thoroughly impressed with the article. That said, my visceral emotional response is strongly negative especially when reading the following paragraph: >In May, a dozen lawmakers in Congress, inspired by the L.A. Times investigation, sent a bipartisan letter to the World Health Organization warning that Sackler-owned companies were preparing to flood foreign countries with legal na…

In the Massachusetts episode of Parts Unknown, Bourdain talks to a general physician who explains how patients who were administered OxyContin for routine procedures & injuries quickly developed a habit for the drug and when they couldn't find it post-treatment moved to illegal variants like Heroin and now Fentanyl.[1][2]

Bourdain travels to Franklin County to explore the heroin epidemic that’s spreading throughout this and other New England towns.[1]

Dr. Ruth Potee of Greenfield, Massachusetts talks about how they were taught in their residency that their ER / Hospital performance was tied to their pain scores and the generous administration of pain medication to patients.[1][2]

Purdue Pharmaceuticals promotion from 1996 can also be seen.

[1] Video - Parts Unknown - Massachusetts

https://archive.org/details/AnthonyBourdainPartsUnknownMassa...

22:16 Purdue Pharmaceuticals Promotion from 1996

25:10 Dr. Ruth Potee of Greenfield, Massachusetts

[2] Transcript - Parts Unknown - Massachusetts -- CNN

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1502/20/abpu.01.html

Edit: Another link to the same Parts Unknown - Massachusetts video

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x58d4ci

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#23

Post by stefanwlb » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 4:53 PM UTC

Ah Mr Sacklers, I have been waiting for you. It is time to pay back for your crimes, and you will not leave until the very last cent has been repaid. Indeed what you have sown, you will surely reap.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#24

Post by cwyers » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 4:55 PM UTC

I'm reminded of that line from Chinatown. "Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?" Is there really no point of diminishing returns, where you can tell yourself you've made enough money?

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#25

Post by pdog » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 4:55 PM UTC

brucelidl wrote: post #21

pdog wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The full quote isn't apocryphal. It's from a character in Balzac's Le Père Goriot. Roughly translated: "The secret of great unexplained fortunes is a forgotten crime, because it has been properly executed." The quote isn't really applicable in this case. Everyone reading the article knows how the Sackler family made their money.

Everyone reading the article knows the source of the fortune. The millions of people who have interacted with Sackler supported cultural institutions likely had zero idea of where the money came from, myself included.

This also raises an important question.

Do these museums have a responsibility to disclose the source of the Sackler family's wealth?

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#26

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 4:56 PM UTC

nsedlet wrote: post #18

The Sacklers have ingratiated themselves at the highest levels of society using a fortune that's at best built on a product of dubious value, and at worst obtained at the cost of the lives of tens of thousands of people. I think this piece points to a big problem: we worship money and those that accumulate it, and often ignore the question of how much societal value was created in exchange for it. The least we can co…

[deleted]

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#27

Post by joemag » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 4:58 PM UTC

Aren’t the doctors to blame for this as well? It always surprised me how quickly and easily they prescribe serious painkillers. A few years ago I had a tooth pulled, and the doctor gave me prescription painkiller. In the end, I ended up using regular ibuprofen, and that was more than enough.

I wonder how much of this comes pharmaceutical sales reps pressuring the doctors to use their medicine. That whole system seems broken and unethical to me.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#28

Post by rdiddly » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 5:03 PM UTC

refurb wrote: post #10

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For more on this, see https://youtu.be/5pdPrQFjo2o?t=164 "How many people here moved from prescription drugs to heroin?" Everybody raised their hands.

There are hundreds of prescription opioids. In fact, generic acetaminophen/oxycodone is the most prescribed. Perdue doesn't make that product.

Correct: Perdue "makes" chicken.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#29

Post by bogomipz » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 5:04 PM UTC

loeg wrote: post #20

vasilipupkin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company and the family is responsible for dramatically increasing number of opioid prescriptions based on fraudulent marketing and made up evidence. A lot of people, who, as a result, got addicted to Oxy, at some point ended up switching to heroin because it's cheaper. So, the manufacturer is not responsible for all opioid deaths, but is responsible for a significant percentage of those deaths.

> A lot of people, who, as a result, got addicted to Oxy, at some point ended up switching to heroin because it's cheaper. Counter-point: no, they largely did not. There is a huge population using prescription opiates and a tiny tiny population using heroin. Check out https://grokinfullness.blogspot.com/2017/09/debunking-standa... for a lot more detail. > There is no convincing evidence that prior prescription opioid…

>"There is no convincing evidence that prior prescription opioid use caused subsequent heroin use. ... This is much like the argument, popular among drug warriors, that marijuana is a gateway drug because most users of hard drugs start with marijuana."

Except there are actually studies and data that do show a link between prior prescription opioid use amongst heroin users, along with a demographic shift:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/...

And the second part of that comment "This is much like the argument, popular among drug warriors, that marijuana is a gateway drug ..." is a total strawman.

Re: The Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis

#30

Post by craftyguy » Sat, Oct 21, 2017, 5:05 PM UTC

herodotus wrote: post #15

In my experience with local philanthropy, there are donors who have no interest in "naming opportunities" and those for whom it is all about the name. To me it says a lot about the character of the donor if they specifically want as little fuss as possible about the donation, and especially if they do not want something named after them. It is the cause they support, not their own egos. Personally, the more often I s…

Sometimes buildings are named after folks just because they were awesome. Too bad it's not easy to distinguish between awesome people who had buildings named after them from the much less awesome people who essentially bought the naming rights to a building.