Pharmaceutical manufacturers do not make a profit unless they are selling pharmaceuticals. In order to maximize profits these companies may resort to unscrupulous business practices. And then they go to jail, but only after a number of people die.
Hospital ER overdose admissions are skyrocketing. Narcan (narloxone) has helped prevent many deaths, but I fear that its use also reduces the fear of an overdose, leading to more overdoses. In an age group known for risk taking behavior, this is disastrous.BOSTON – Several pharmaceutical executives and managers, formerly employed by Insys Therapeutics, Inc., were arrested today on charges that they led a nationwide conspiracy to bribe medical practitioners to unnecessarily prescribe a fentanyl-based pain medication and defraud healthcare insurers.These men should rot in hell for they are contributing to a crescendo of drug overdose deaths.
The indictment alleges that Michael L. Babich, 40, of Scottsdale, Ariz., the former CEO and President of the company; Alec Burlakoff, 42, of Charlotte, N.C., former Vice President of Sales; Richard M. Simon, 46, of Seal Beach, Calif., former National Director of Sales; former Regional Sales Directors, Sunrise Lee, 36, of Bryant City, Mich. and Joseph A. Rowan, 43, of Panama City, Fla.; and former Vice President of Managed Markets, Michael J. Gurry, 53, of Scottsdale, Ariz., conspired to bribe practitioners in various states, many of whom operated pain clinics, in order to get them to prescribe a fentanyl-based pain medication. The medication, called “Subsys,” is a powerful narcotic intended to treat cancer patients suffering intense episodes of breakthrough pain. In exchange for bribes and kickbacks, the practitioners wrote large numbers of prescriptions for the patients, most of whom were not diagnosed with cancer.
CONCORD, N.H. – Drug overdose deaths have increased by 33 percent in the past five years across the country, with some states seeing jumps of nearly 200 percent.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 states saw increases in overdose deaths resulting from the abuse of heroin and prescription painkillers, a class of drugs known as opioids. New Hampshire saw a 191 percent increase while North Dakota, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine had death rates jump by over 100 percent.
"Too many Americans are feeling the devastation of the opioid crisis either from misuse of prescription opioids or use of illicit opioids," said Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the CDC. "Urgent action is needed to help health care providers treat pain safely and treat opioid use disorder effectively, support law enforcement strategies to reduce the availability of illicit opiates, and support states to develop and implement programs that can save lives."
Last year, more than 52,000 people died from drug overdoses, with almost two-thirds involving prescription or illegal opioids. Deaths from synthetic opioids, including illicit fentanyl, rose 73 percent, to 9,580. And prescription painkillers took the highest toll but posted the smallest increase. Abuse of drugs like Oxycontin and Vicodin killed 17,536, an increase of 4 percent.
Sure, some jackasses are gonna take a dirt nap at an early age no matter what you do. But a lot of these kids lack the common sense that a decent set of parents would give them.
H/T DC Clothesline
2 comments:
You know, at this point? I don't think you can fix a lot of these people. With drugs as rampant as they are, and as dangerous as they become when trying to get a fix, I am thinking quarantine, with the promise of free "medication" for life and just letting them have at it. A one-time spike in o.d.s. Simply no medical care offered. You may really hate me for this, but saving even one is almost impossible and is not worth the costs. Time for some snowflakes to face their decisions. I don't want my people harmed by them. I don't mind if they decide to die. They are, mostly, already dead. They just don't know it, and could take others with them.
Doom - I also share that attitude. You wanna take drugs? You pay for the consequences. If you can't afford insurance to pay for treatment, you die. The head of the Bellevue Hospital in NYC said basically the same thing in P.J. O'Rourke's book "A Parliament of Whores." It would be terrible as a whole generation of druggies would die. Their relatives and friends would be screaming at the inhuman cost - but let them cover the expense, it's their burden, not ours.
After perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of druggies die, drug addiction would be much more manageable. As the addicts are dead, the demand for controlled substances would be reduced, making narcotics trafficking less profitable, therefore less prevalent, and reducing inner city violence as well as the need for more police.
Win, win, win. It's a much better deal.
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