The Prescription Drug Epidemic is Deliberate..

At this point, it has to be. That level of incompetence and just out right greed cannot be accidental.

The LA Times recently released this article:

‘YOU WANT A DESCRIPTION OF HELL?’ OXYCONTIN’S 12-HOUR PROBLEM

It all started with a lie. Back in the early days of prescription pain killers, the drugs weren't super effective for very long periods of time. This meant many patients took several different kinds of pain killers, all day in order to manage their pain symptoms.

In walks a company named Purdue Pharma, founded in 1892 according to their Wiki page. Purdue developped a new drug called Oxycotin, which a lot of people have simply called hillbilly heroin. It is basically the same thing, legalized.

The big thing with this new drug is Purdue said it lasted 12 hours per dose. Which meant people would only need 2 a day.

However:

Purdue has known about the problem for decades. Even before OxyContin went on the market, clinical trials showed many patients weren’t getting 12 hours of relief. Since the drug’s debut in 1996, the company has been confronted with additional evidence, including complaints from doctors, reports from its own sales reps and independent research.

The company has held fast to the claim of 12-hour relief, in part to protect its revenue. OxyContin’s market dominance and its high price — up to hundreds of dollars per bottle — hinge on its 12-hour duration. Without that, it offers little advantage over less expensive painkillers.

Yet Purdue kept up the lie and made 31 billion since it was launched. As these problems became more and more obvious to doctors, Purdue simply advised them to prescribe more pills at shorter intervals and as we can see from the below chart, that had a significant impact:



Now I would urge everyone to read the rest of the article, it's very informative. And I say in the title that this is about the entire Prescription Drug problem we have, yet this thread only discusses the one company with the one drug.

Well, if they were able to do this, with relative ease, don't you think that other pharma companies have been doing the same? Phentanol (sic) for example has become and ever increasing issue here in Canada. So have percocet and codeine.

Treatment for the drug addicted goes a little something like this:

" Hey guy, stop talking this heroin I illegalized, and take this heroin I legalized."

ETA: And I wanted to add, this has become such a common place addiction, that some treatment centers used to have 20% of their patients come to them for prescription drug abuse, now it's in upwards of 90%.

As we've decreased the use of drugs such as heroin and crack, we've overwhelmingly chosen to simply replace those drugs with stronger, less regulated and more easily available drugs.

Thoughts?

~Tenth

Who can you trust if you wanted to change the system?

I wouldn't trust your Govt, and I would barely trust mine.

Who then?

I don't know the solution.

The problem though is very real and very frightening.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

And one of the scariest parts that we don't realize, is that this kind of medication tends to work better on mental pain that physical pain.

So you end up treating your mental illness ( ie depression etc) with very strong, heroin like substances.

No wonder the state of affairs our country is in.

~Tenth

We have ignored the need for an accessible mental health system. So, now the doctors, patients, lawmakers are all crazy. Not to mention, no telling how many stupid decisions are made because of lead poisoning.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

I have been noticing the increased propaganda lately on TV for prescribe medications, one day I counted more medication commercials than products.

I even made the comment to my husband, big pharma is dominating the media this days.

No wonder people are lining their doctors offices for the latest pill in the markets.

Pain killers and anti depressants top the charts.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

There are some basics I will always adhere to.

The Police should never be able to make money, to rake it in.

Same for the Courts.

The moment Medicine becomes big business, we lose!

P

a reply to: marg6043

They had commercials during the SuperBowl this year.

That tells you something.

~Tenth

I would agree with you on this, there are far too many different kinds of drugs. I haven't researched much on this one in particular but i recall reading about the ADHD drug Adderall which according to some doctors is identical to Meth.

These drugs damage the Liver and Kidneys as well as other organs including the Brain to some degree. I have even heard that Perscribed Drugs can age a person quicker than if not having took them at all.

theinfluence.org...

edm.com...

I have been saying that for over 20 years, my thought on it is that we survived for many millennia without it, why would anybody not see that.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

I am sure that big pharma is using the government subsidies for the commercials, our good tax dollars at work to get every single individual including children hook on some kind of medication.

The greed of the drug empire have no boundaries, every time I visit my doctor she tries to sell me a new medication.

Americas have soo much medication residuals in their urine that is contaminating our underground water supplies, that bad is becoming.

antibiotics, hormones, mood stabilizers, and other drugs -- are in our drinking water supplies, according to a media report.

In an investigation by the Associated Press, drinking water supplies in 24 major metropolitan areas were found to include drugs.

According to the investigation, the drugs get into the drinking water supply through several routes: some people flush unneeded medication down toilets; other medicine gets into the water supply after people take medication, absorb some, and pass the rest out in urine or feces. Some pharmaceuticals remain even after wastewater treatments and cleansing by water treatment plants, the investigation showed.

The news call it, " small amounts" but we know better, when you have millions of people in concentrated areas of living space is no such thing as small "amounts."

www.webmd.com...

I knew Oxy was crap within a few weeks. Years ago, I was on 3 80s and a 100mcg Fentanyl patch. It never gave the extended relief it was supposed to give and was so much more expensive than others in the same class, such as morphine, it just wasn't worth it. Fentanyl patches are dangerous as Hell. If you get too active and hot, too much gets in your bloodstream. Damn near passed out just mowing the yard and was too "fuddled" to even realize what was happening. If my wife hadn't come home when she did and find me just wandering around the yard, pushing the mower, even though I could barely stand, I don't know what would have happened.
Coming off all that was.....nightmare just doesn't do it justice.
I finally went to see a pain specialist, [ not drug pusher like some think of them ] who actually took me off all my pain meds and put me on a much lower dose of Morphine and Gabapentin.

That kinda hit a nerve with me what you said,I started taking morhpine for lower back pain and after a while on it I thought morphine was easing my anxiety and helping my depression by surpressing it but when I came off my problems felt ten times worse 😕a reply to: tothetenthpower

Brit perspective -

In the UK it is illegal for pharma to advertise directly to customers. Also, it is free for us to visit a doctor - who is the only person able to write a prescription for anything from aspirin to oxycodone.

I used to work in pharma marketing (I'm an advertising guy) and it was always surprising what information could be included in a US advert aimed at consumers. In the UK (and most of the rest of the world), pharma adverts are aimed only at medical professionals - they appear in trade magazines, direct to surgery leaflets etc etc.

We used to create global campaigns for various drugs and it always felt highly unethical when it came to creating ads for the US consumer market. How can tell Joe Six-Pack to ask for something like Oxycontin 'by name'?! It's madness. What the hell does a consumer know about powerful analgesics or synthetic morphine?

Throw in that with the US health model where the patient is a paying customer of the doctor who can easily remove his custom if he doesn't get what he wants, and it's easy to see how this kind of problem is created.

It's not as if we don't have people abusing prescription meds in the UK, but it's far less common. When did you last hear of a British celebrity dying from them, for instance?

Edit: I should say, it's illegal for pharma to advertise a prescribed item to consumers - it's fine to advertise OTC branded ibuprofen, cough medicine etc etc.

a reply to: KingIcarus

I agree on many points you've mentioned but this. Consumers want and have a right to know what's going into their bodies. And many Doctors don't right out go over the ingredients or even out of there way to tell you it may cause liver damage etc etc. And, the Liability if someone is damaged by these Prescribed Drugs is huge.The Medical Industry would rather it's Consumer know ahead of time, thus less Liability on their part, i would assume.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: tothetenthpower

I have been noticing the increased propaganda lately on TV for prescribe medications, one day I counted more medication commercials than products.

I've seen those prescription drug ads well live streaming US tv. Like there's a beautiful female confidently walking around well a narrator tells you how this drug is the answer to all your problems and will change your life... then there's the negative symptom warning at the end, like "this medicine my make you more prone to cancer, a rash and scabbing of the skin may occur in some individuals, if vomiting or swelled tongue occurs please seek medical advise immediately"... lol.

I'm just thinking to myself WTF, is this for real? How can that be legal?

If anyone wants to witness capitalism gone a few steps way to far, all you need to do is watch a few of those American prescription ads... I personally find the whole thing surreal.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Well all drugs have their risks.. Those who say these are unnatural are completely mistake they are opiates they are derived from the poppy plant. I say all that to say this life is a chemical experience it is also habitual, know the risk of the chemicals you indulge in and honestly after your first withdrawal experience from opiates you'll know damn well what your messing with..

a reply to: TechniXcality

I do agree with you, but the problem in most cases is that people follow the directions of their doctors, who follow the directions set for by the pharma company.

I think there needs to be a large educational campaign as well as increased scrutiny of these drugs and their approval. As well as keeping these companies accountable when their products don't do as they advise.

~Tenth

a reply to: awareness10

A good point, but it's not very easy to explain what the ingredients of a drug are. For instance, Oxycodone contains oxycodone and pretty much nothing else - maybe some sugar to form the pill?

The public don't know what oxycodone, and American drug ads do nothing to educate in that perspective.

I'm not sure how liability works in the US, but in the UK (at least) it's hard for a doctor to prescribe a medication that'll clash with another in the way you describe. All drugs are logged on a central database which flags counterindications as a matter of course. If a doctor were to prescribe oxycodone, their computer would pull up a big list of every known drug interaction, it would also list any other conditions that might be affected. Asthma, for instance. Based on the patient's computerised medical record, it would indicate whether there is any known reason why that patient shouldn't receive that drug. I assume the same or similar system exists in the US.

In general, I think making drugs a consumer choice is a bad idea in general.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

From my limited knowledge of the US medical system, I would have to say you're right. Drugs/medicines are nothing other than a product for profit. The very fact that they're advertised on TV tells you all you need to know and the fact that they're addictive - yay! More profit.

Incidentally, what happened in 2006 to lower sales? Did another product become popular, was there a change in policy or something else?

ETA - from your article:

Purdue tells doctors to prescribe stronger doses, not more frequent ones, when patients complain that OxyContin doesn’t last 12 hours. That approach creates risks of its own. Research shows that the more potent the dose of an opioid such as OxyContin, the greater the possibility of overdose and death.

Jeezo.

a reply to: KingIcarus

Honestly, i don't trust Drugs at all. People used to use Hemp oil for their ailments along with smoking mary jane for other ailments. It's natural, and it used to be legal in the US until one of the Presidents made it into 'Reefer Madness' all for profit. There's a story behind that one, will have to find it sometime. It's amazing how Trusting though People are with Doctors when it comes to their very Health and Lives.

Most Drugs are about Profit. Because i know there are other Natural ways to heal ones body without drowning it with chemicals.