Big Pharma Is Not Responsible for the Addiction and Overdose Crisis

by
Steve MacDonald

New Hampshire is always looking for jackpot justice and milking large corporations for one-time payouts. It is disgusting — another hidden tax on consumers. MBTE contamination was one such case, and opioids are the next big payoff, but should they pay?

Related: Obama, Democrats, and DACA Created the Opioid Crisis

Yes, these companies are already taking settlements to limit exposure over what will likely be an expense on the scope of big tobacco settlements. Honestly, I think big tobacco got screwed. Vaping companies are on that line up now as well, even though the problems are primarily with weak enforcement of age restrictions and aftermarket products.

State’s AG’s and ranking politicians don’t care. They are happy to look for a PR win to add to their resume rather than an honest assessment of the situation. MTBE was just such a ‘win.’ An additive the federal government made oil companies incorporate into motor fuel seeping from tanks they neither owned nor maintained, and they get smacked for millions and billions.

Again, disgusting.

But great for headlines and polishing their swampy credentials. Look who I screwed? Add for how much! Right. And what about everyone who pays the cost of that settlement in goods and services? That’s you.

Did you say something about opioids?

The prevailing narrative is that people are prescribed pain meds, get addicted, overdose, or, more likely, can’t get the pills and switch to heroin. Then they die. Democrats, in particular, are drunk on this fairy tale because they are complicit. The Left’s open borders and immigration priorities are responsible for the rise in addiction and death from heroin. But they can’t admit that.

So, blame big pharma. Make them pay. And they will if the math says it’s better to settle and there’s no escape. But should they? A new study from across New Hampshire’s Southern Border paints a stark picture for those plying the blame-pharma narrative.

“In Massachusetts, prescribed opioids do not appear to be the major proximal cause of opioid-related overdose deaths,” … The major proximal contributors to opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts during the study period were illicitly made fentanyl and Heroin.

Most of our illegal drugs are coming from Massachusetts. The Sanctuary City of Lawrence, to be more precise. 

“Commonly the medication that people are prescribed is not the one that’s present when they die,” Walley told Pain News Network. “And vice versa: The people who died with a prescription opioid like oxycodone in their toxicology screen often don’t have a prescription for it.”

People prescribed opioids are not the “proximal cause,” leading to significant occurrences of overdose and death in any vector. And this data suggests that underreporting risks related to prescription opioids is not the issue either.

A 2018 BMJ analysis of medical records found evidence of “opioid misuse” in 1 percent of patients who took pain pills after surgery. While studies find that misuse is more common among chronic pain patients, a 2016 New England Journal of Medicine article concluded that “rates of carefully diagnosed addiction” average less than 8 percent.

That study, which was co-authored by Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, noted that “addiction occurs in only a small percentage of persons who are exposed to opioids—even among those with preexisting vulnerabilities.”

Headlines vs. Solutions

Alcohol addiction and misuse continue to rule the roost in ruining lives, families, and the death of drinkers and bystanders (usually in vehicles) who get in their way. But hundreds of millions of people drink adult beverages regularly with little or no personal or social complications of any kind.

Blaming breweries and distilleries for the poor behavior and human nature of a few in comparison is ridiculous. It’s no different for pharmaceutical companies. Adults are responsible for understanding the risks and accepting responsibility for both prescribing and using medication. 

Politicians are human too, so when taking responsibility is not an option?

Throw as much of someone else’s money at it as you can manage while you look for someone else to blame. 

The facts are much more straightforward. DACA, Open Borders, Sanctuary cities and States, and the Left’s war on immigration enforcement are the problem. And jackpot justice will only make it worse as politicians waste that money and the problem persists.

| Hot Air

Author

  • Steve MacDonald

    Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, blogger, and a member of the Board of directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor of GraniteGrok.com, a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, and a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.

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