Wtf is wrong with the pharmeceutical industry? (specifically Purdue)

[Cliche Guevara]

Don't get me wrong I'm not talking about how ADD isn't really a disease and how everyone is being scammed. I'm not talking about a shady grey area of ethics, I'm talking blatant disregard for the law and human wellbeing.

Purdue. Here is the best example of the atrocity that is the pharmaceutical industry. They market a drug, a heavy narcotic at that, and they throw in a few binders and a coating and they are ready to sell a 'perfectly safe, un-abusable miracle drug' half the size of my pinky.

They then start to aggressively market this wonderdrug, lobbying and applying "significant political pressure" to have this drug bypass public health protocol 1. It seems fairly obvious to me that they knew how easily abused it would be when all you have to do is lick the coating off and crush the pill (and honestly you don't even have to do that) and ta da 12 hours worth of a very powerful narcotic in seconds. And even if you don't get it from a pharmacist you are still contributing to the 75 tons of oxycondone (wikipedia) produced a year and therefore contributing to Purdue's bottom line: profit.

And although they had to pay monetarily from their own pockets as well as from the company (to the tune of like 600 million dollars, not to mention several more lawsuits on the way), it doesn't seem right that these people are still filthy rich for essentially peddling an addictive, highly abusable drug. In 2002 alone oxycontin achieved record sales of 1.5 BILLION. (wikipedia) This is what illicit drug dealers do, they sell a chemical that people want/need without regard for wellbeing. These scumbags have pleaded guilty to felony misbranding and for aledging their product to be safe. Maybe its the way the justice system in combination with the best lawyers money can buy, but it seems backwards and completely retarded that the 'drug dealers' who have ruined more lives than thousands of other drug dealers wasting away in jail are probably lounging in their yacht club talking about their hedge funds. You can argue they had no control over off label purely recreational users of the drug,(besides the people who have had there lives ruined using the drug as directed) but goddamnit I'm willing to bet my life they knew. And even if they didn't, by lobbying for the widespread use of this drug they turned my suburb into an oxycontin fueled opium den..

Now its clear that narcotic pain killers are necessary and it can't be helped that they are recreational and medicinal. (almost all street drugs have/had medicinal value). But the disgusting aspect of it doesn't lie in the vendoring of recreational drugs, it is the fact they disguised their product with lies and branded mugs and hats. Its true to some extent synthetic opioids are less euphoric and recreational than morphine, but comon 'no tolerance at low doses' and 'safe'? What the fuck?

Sure at the time I wasn't complaining, I was getting 80mg oxys for less than the price of a cheese pizza. Sure, its not as good as smack but its very close. Infact I prefer oxy (its standardized and guarenteed to be at a certain quality and you don't have to go to the damn half way housing and get robbed four times before you score a bag of shitty ). Anyways, you always hear of pharmaceutical companies doing things like lobbying for inclusion of questionable diseases in the DSM, or subtly marketing their drug for off label use. All in the morally grey area, nothing too 'evil'

But here (and it may be obvious) is some pretty awful shit. I can list 10 people off the top of my head that was very negatively affected by this "safe narcotic" and what inevitably stems from its use.

Another fun fact: Pfizer recently pleaded guilty for marketing off label uses for their drug, neurontin (which makes up 90% of their sales) and unsurprisingly they settled for around 400 million. Which once again doesn't really matter for a multi national billion dollar company.


tl/dr Do not trust pharmaceutical companies. They aren't making and developing drugs to help and make your life better like they agressively advertise. Drugs are very powerful tools and putting the distribution and marketing of such tools into the hands of a business is dumb. And besides communism or robot lawyers, I really don't see a solution.

[The Better Version]

Well I totally agree with you in the sense that the FDA is incredibly hypocritical for making oxy's legal instead of something relatively harmless such as pot. I will also agree with you when you say that they are handing them out too freely to people but I will have to disagree with the notion that they are disguising the dangers of oxycotin. Last time I checked, the labels warn you about dependency and fatal abuse and every time my Dr. prescribed me hydracodone or flexeril, they would always warn me about that and instruct me not to take it for more than a week or so until the pain wears away.

And if that wasn't enough, surely all those anti drug commercials would inform you. I mean I have never met someone who said you can't get addicted to prescription drugs. Most people, excluding crazies and young people, are smart enough to know how much they should take and at what time they should. Like every drug there is the good side of oxy and the bad side. If used properly like I have done, it can work quite well for treating extreme pain, but if abused it can surely produce undesirable consequences.

I don't think it's some huge conspiracy to hide the truth because legally they are required to divulge this information but I do think they are trying to profit from this drug by making it so easily available. I mean, shit, if I wanted to I could go to my doctor, complain about some back pain, and just like that I can get some sort of pain killer.

Anyway, it's more or less a personal issue rather than a Federal issue. The only issue I can see associated with them is the ease of prescribing for profit and it's hypocracy in regards making pot illegal.

[Cliche Guevara]

Originally Posted by The Better Version

Well I totally agree with you in the sense that the FDA is incredibly hypocritical for making oxy's legal instead of something relatively harmless such as pot. I will also agree with you when you say that they are handing them out too freely to people but I will have to disagree with the notion that they are disguising the dangers of oxycotin. Last time I checked, the labels warn you about dependency and fatal abuse and every time my Dr. prescribed me hydracodone or flexeril, they would always warn me about that and instruct me not to take it for more than a week or so until the pain wears away.

And if that wasn't enough, surely all those anti drug commercials would inform you. I mean I have never met someone who said you can't get addicted to prescription drugs. Most people, excluding crazies and young people, are smart enough to know how much they should take and at what time they should. Like every drug there is the good side of oxy and the bad side. If used properly like I have done, it can work quite well for treating extreme pain, but if abused it can surely produce undesirable consequences.

I don't think it's some huge conspiracy to hide the truth because legally they are required to divulge this information but I do think they are trying to profit from this drug by making it so easily available. I mean, shit, if I wanted to I could go to my doctor, complain about some back pain, and just like that I can get some sort of pain killer.

Anyway, it's more or less a personal issue rather than a Federal issue. The only issue I can see associated with them is the ease of prescribing for profit and it's hypocracy in regards making pot illegal.

You raise a good point, the potential dangers of narcotic painkillers are pretty well known and advertised, but the real danger is the multi national corporations that proven time and time again, they are cold blooded businesses and nothing more. I believe when these pharmaceutical corporations decide to commit a crime involving the sale/production/marketing of there wares there should be far more severe consequences due to the sensitive nature of pharmeuticals. They may not be outright disguising or denying the dangers, but they are lobbying or coaxing doctors into the off label prescribing of drugs.

These individuals who pleaded guilty to subverting public health protocol for profitable gain and misbranding their product are free and still magnanimously rich when the end result of their crime caused countless numbers of people to be horribly affected.

But you're right, its mostly personal but it would be nice to see something done.

[Death_Merchant]

People only have a problem with these companies because it's lucrative profit. Pot is illegal because there are lucrative profits in keeping it illegal. If you have a problem with pharms, don't take them. Only stupid fucks get hooked on shit anyways. I've taken drugs for medical and recreational reasons. Never got into the pills, as concentrated drugs just seem like a good way to fry one's brain. Sure, things like pot should be legal in a sane society, but the majority are pretty much retarded when they act in masses. The majority are too shit scared to hold a conflicting opinion against the majority, so they simply conform and don't question the things they are accepting. Meanwhile, organized crime is booming, and possibly one of the largest parts of the economy is the drug trade. The drug trade creates massive demand for liquid currency, which increases the us dollars buying power. It's literally gotten to the point that if we legalized most drugs, our economy would crumble. The drug trade is much the same too. It creates a massive economy that is a huge sink for fiat currency. Basically, it allows for the government to make more money to run the government. These industries then soak up that money through selling overinflated products, dissipating the created money. Essentially we then pawn off this debt on to developing nations. The whole fucking world is crooked like this. Everyone fucks everyone, so suck it up girls.

[Struwwelpeter]

I myself have no problem with responsible drug use, but I still feel it should be kept illegal. The problem with you short-sided, drug using idiots is that you have very little perception of how the world works, simply because you haven't been exposed to reality. If we were to decriminalize cocaine, heroin, meth or even marjiuana we would be eliminating a major source of income for drug dealers, gang bangers, drug lords and other miscreants of society, the majority of whom are violent offenders and willing to do whatever it takes to make a dollar, short of sucking my cock behind a Whataburger franchise resteraunt for "directions to Crenshaw". If we were to eliminate that source of income, what would they resort to? Burglarly, forcible theft/assault, bank robberies, and other forms of crime which we can not tolerate.

[ants in my poptarts]

Originally Posted by Jim "fuck latinos" Carrey

I myself have no problem with responsible drug use, but I still feel it should be kept illegal. The problem with you short-sided, drug using idiots is that you have very little perception of how the world works, simply because you haven't been exposed to reality. If we were to decriminalize cocaine, heroin, meth or even marjiuana we would be eliminating a major source of income for drug dealers, gang bangers, drug lords and other miscreants of society, the majority of whom are violent offenders and willing to do whatever it takes to make a dollar, short of sucking my cock behind a Whataburger franchise resteraunt for "directions to Crenshaw". If we were to eliminate that source of income, what would they resort to? Burglarly, forcible theft/assault, bank robberies, and other forms of crime which we can not tolerate.

There's plenty of jails. I'm not too worried.

[The Better Version]

Originally Posted by Jim "fuck latinos" Carrey

I myself have no problem with responsible drug use, but I still feel it should be kept illegal. The problem with you short-sided, drug using idiots is that you have very little perception of how the world works, simply because you haven't been exposed to reality. If we were to decriminalize cocaine, heroin, meth or even marjiuana we would be eliminating a major source of income for drug dealers, gang bangers, drug lords and other miscreants of society, the majority of whom are violent offenders and willing to do whatever it takes to make a dollar, short of sucking my cock behind a Whataburger franchise resteraunt for "directions to Crenshaw". If we were to eliminate that source of income, what would they resort to? Burglarly, forcible theft/assault, bank robberies, and other forms of crime which we can not tolerate.

Not if it was just weed, though, because then they would resort to selling other drugs all the while non-violent offenders such as myself wouldn't get royally fucked over by the cops. Not to mention less crowded prisons and more government revenue.

[PROJECT PAT]

Purdue is horrible at football. Too bad we don't play them so that we can fuck them up again. Oh and eat shit Kyle Orton. Fucking traitor. Brad banks fucked you up your senior year anyway.

[never]

Communism should never even be considered as a possible solution.

[Death_Merchant]

Originally Posted by The Better Version

Not if it was just weed, though, because then they would resort to selling other drugs all the while non-violent offenders such as myself wouldn't get royally fucked over by the cops. Not to mention less crowded prisons and more government revenue.

Marijuana brings in larger revenues to the government that if it were legal and taxed. Legal weed would be cheap. Much much cheaper than it is now. The tax on it would be minute compared to what they're collecting now. Drug money has to be laundered to be used for houses, cars, boats, and other big ticket items. The drug dealers launder the money through various businesses, which then pay tax on that money. That amount of tax is easily 10 times as much as they would collect if it was legal. Also, legalization usually decreases the use of the drug, which also means less revenue. Even with the cost of enforcement, the government is still making more money with it being illegal.

[kirby]

Nothing is wrong~: It's profit!

[Revvy]

Originally Posted by Jim "fuck latinos" Carrey

I myself have no problem with responsible drug use, but I still feel it should be kept illegal. The problem with you short-sided, drug using idiots is that you have very little perception of how the world works, simply because you haven't been exposed to reality. If we were to decriminalize cocaine, heroin, meth or even marjiuana we would be eliminating a major source of income for drug dealers, gang bangers, drug lords and other miscreants of society, the majority of whom are violent offenders and willing to do whatever it takes to make a dollar, short of sucking my cock behind a Whataburger franchise resteraunt for "directions to Crenshaw". If we were to eliminate that source of income, what would they resort to? Burglarly, forcible theft/assault, bank robberies, and other forms of crime which we can not tolerate.

No system should exist just to purely 'make jobs for people'. If an economy offers no benefit to society, there's no need for it to exist.

The black market is not needed, it drags society down.

All these human resources would be far better suited as doctors, scientists, engineers and teachers. And yes, it's possible, it's just that people don't want to give up their share of the pie.

[Nero]

I disagree with you here.

A world without abusable narcotics is a world I don't want to live in.

[ArmsMerchant]

As usualy, Carrey has thing backwards. People do not sell illegal drugs BECAUSE they are illegal--the fact is that the price is kept high by prohibition. We tried that once--with alcohol--it didn't work then and it isn't working now.

Right now in America, about $180 billion a year goes to law enforcement--and 47.5 % of all arrests are marijuana-related. America--with only 5 % of the world's population--has 25% of the world's incarcerated population. Given the further fact that it costs us about $50,000 a year to keep one person in prison, the huge savings of pot drcrim should be obvious.

The sooner that drugs (as well as gambling and prostitution) are legalized, taxed, and regulated, the sooner the national debt will disappear.

Back to topic--big pharm is motivated by greed, and the FDA is essentially owned and operated by and for big pharm.

[Death_Merchant]

Originally Posted by Greyfox

As usualy, Carrey has thing backwards. People do not sell illegal drugs BECAUSE they are illegal--the fact is that the price is kept high by prohibition. We tried that once--with alcohol--it didn't work then and it isn't working now.

Right now in America, about $180 billion a year goes to law enforcement--and 47.5 % of all arrests are marijuana-related. America--with only 5 % of the world's population--has 25% of the world's incarcerated population. Given the further fact that it costs us about $50,000 a year to keep one person in prison, the huge savings of pot drcrim should be obvious.

The sooner that drugs (as well as gambling and prostitution) are legalized, taxed, and regulated, the sooner the national debt will disappear.

Back to topic--big pharm is motivated by greed, and the FDA is essentially owned and operated by and for big pharm.

The problem is that 47.5% of marijuana arrests does not equal to 47.5% of 180 billion dollars. Most marijuana offenses are simple possession, which equals low costs on police and court fees. Most police costs are related to patrolling. Driving all those cars plus fuel, as well as maintaining all of the office buildings are the majority of the costs of policing. I'm willing to bet settling domestic disputes costs more than enforcing marijuana prohibition. Also, most of the offenders are non-violent, and make excellent inmates. Most prisons in the US now are run by various corporations. The prisoners are worked for slave wages, and the prisons actually turn a profit producing various goods that would probably not be profitable to be produced at minimum wage by law-abiding citizens. It's all about money. Also, the drug trade expands the economy in huge ways by creating thousands of police jobs.

Also, I should note that it's impossible to pay down the US' national debt. On all the fiat currency the US government has created, there is interest charged by the federal reserve on it. Because of this interest, there is more money owed to the reserve than there is in total circulation. The prime interest rate is used to recover any excess money to keep the total amount of money and demand for that money balanced. The national debt is actually quite irrelevant as the money is simply created out of thin air. It only works as a currency ballast that allows the government to regulate the economy with the help of the reserve. The purpose of this system is to create an atmosphere for business development and to constantly create a system of shortage to keep the average idiot working, while the wealthy elite consolidate the by-product of power the economic slavery generates.

What nobody tells us is that interest, is really a tax for using money that is in disguise as something else. There isn't even enough money in the US to run all of it's businesses on cash. They're all run on debt. When you factor in the true cost of things, you realize that we're taxed a lot. Let's look at buying a car. The car cost 30,000. To buy that car you have to pay 5.9% for 4 years. That means you have to pay $3744 in interest on that loan. Then the car company had to borrow money to build the car. So you're paying interest on that loan too. Then you pay interest on the suppliers loans, and their suppliers loans, and the dealerships loans, and so on. At the end of the day, the true cost of that car before all the interest, was about 15,000. Minus all the profit, and you're paying about $33740 for a vehicle that is worth about $5,000-6,000.(33740-6000)/33740*100= 82%. If you're still with me, 82% or more of a vehicles cost is profit through direct mark-up throughout the various stages from production to sale. And don't forget the GST and the fact you paid income tax on that money, and you're looking at paying about 90% of the cost of a car goes to taxes and profit on that car. Just about everything we buy is the same way too. We easily get fucked out of 70-80% of every dollar we make. Like I said, economic slavery controlled by the wealthy elite. It's a good thing the majority are too fucking stupid to understand math well enough to realize how much they're getting fucked over. The only thing you don't get fucked much on, is direct land sales and business assets. The wealthy elite use most of their fiat currency to acquire these things.