Drug companies profit from opioid epidemic
I think what makes me most angry about the opioid epidemic in this country is that it all started with pharmaceutical companies profiting from people’s pain.
Many people who become addicts started right in the safety of their doctor’s office, treating legitimate pain with an illegitimate medication. I say illegitimate because it has been proven that OcyContin was much more addictive pharmaceuticals originally stated.
In 2105 Kentucky settled a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the manufacturers of OxyContin for $24 million. Kentucky had accused the company of misleading the public about the addictiveness of the powerful painkiller, that wrecked havoc in the lives of Kentucky’s coal miners, who were prescribed the medication to treat work-related injuries. The company didn’t agree to any wrongdoing in the settlement but did replace the drug with a new version, according to Associated Press.
In a country where cash is king, it seems, anything is justifiable for the right price. Just like our current administration will justify corporations pumping poison into our air and streams, so do pharmaceutical companies justify making billions off of false-marketing of drugs that are addictive. It’s similar to drug dealers making a couple dollars by selling poison to our loved ones on the street. It’s all the same and just reflections of each another on a grand scale.
We will ridicule and criticize one another, but we rarely direct that same level of scrutiny to big businesses. We will speak openly about the drug dealer but I don’t hear enough people criticizing these pharmaceutical companies who are profiting all around from a problem they created.
In 2015 pharmaceutical companies made $9.5 billion selling opioid painkillers then turned around and made $1.4 billion selling drugs that treat addiction. They are expected to earn $1.3 billion selling drugs that reverse overdosing and $1.9 to $4.8 billion selling drugs that treat side effects associated with addiction like, opioid induced constipation or OIC.
Seeing how companies will disregard all the human aspects surrounding their push for profits, makes it difficult to trust companies in the business of treating addiction recovery with unlimited use of alternative drugs and only accepting cash to do it.
This brings me to my thoughts on The New Season Recovery Counseling and Supportive Services which recently opened in Uniontown to replace a former clinic that was closed for illegally dispensing and distributing Suboxone and Xanax.
The new facility requires 2 and a half hours of counseling a month and daily visits to secure dispensing units to get daily does of Methadone, Suboxone or Buprenorphine, alternative drugs used to offset the pain experienced when quitting opioid use. Patients pay $15, $20, or $25 respectively per dose, ranging from $5,625 to $9,375 a year. At full capacity the clinic could make about $1.3 million annually.
I personally don’t like any medical facility, especially one dealing with addiction, that only accepts cash. In a recent story, the directors contradicted one another, in my opinion. One official explained that the reason it only accepts cash is because they feel patients making a personal investment in their recovery are less likely to sell their prescribed drug on the street. Another official of the clinic’s parent company, though, bragged about how the secure dispensing units made it impossible for patients to leave the facility without taking their medication, which means they would not be able to sell their medication on the street anyway.
Officials say that its best that patients continue on the program for 12-18 months to decrease the chance of a relapse, but patients are not forced to chose an end date and can continue on the program for however long they feel they need it. I can’t help but think that of course a facility will allow a person to visit them daily, paying $15 to $25 a visit, for as long as they want. What profit-making company do you know that deters customers from spending money?
I saw a post on social media recently that read “No + $ = Yes”, and that’s what I’m afraid of here. When money, especially cash is the focus, things have a tendency to go wrong fast. I also wonder about the quality of life of a person, who structures their daily activities around visiting a local pill dispensing facility. For me, it sounds too similar to an addict making their daily run on the street for their drug of choice.
Right now, with opioid addiction the worst this country has ever seen — killing more than 30,000 in 2015, communities and families are in need of real solutions.
With Pennsylvania losing 3,500 to opioid addiction in 2014 and Fayette County ranking fourth in overdose deaths in the state, we don’t have too much room for error. I’m urging people to pay attention, speak up and hold everyone accountable. Everyone from your local drug dealer to the pharmaceutical companies which manufacture and market these drugs to the doctors that prescribes them should be held equally accountable.
April Straughters is an award-winning journalist having reported for the Daily Courier and the Herald Standard. She is currently working on an independent community project to serve the local area.