Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, the #1 opioid, which generated $3.1 billion in revenue in 2010, conducts seminars to train police on how to recognize and respond to the abuse and diversion of prescription drugs. The teachers are two retired officers, Landon Gibbs and Ed Cartwright, now Purdue employees. Purdue is the only drug company to offer such a service.
Reportedly, the presenters neither avoid nor focus on problems related to OxyContin. Instead, they sell the seminar attendees on the staggering scale of rx drug abuse, which is responsible for one-third of the overdose visits to the nation's emergency rooms.
"Once those pills leave those pharmacies,
where are they?" Cartwright asks the group.
"We don't know."
(Katherine Eban, "OxyContin: Purdue Pharma's Painful Medicine,
Fortune, November 9 2011)
By now I'm certain most people know that 15,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2008 -- triple the number for 1999, according to the new Centers for Disease Control findings.
During this time,
more people died from opioid overdoses
than from heroin and cocaine combined.
As Dr. Irfan Dhalla,
a physician and drug-safety researcher, puts it,
"That's four 9/11s a year."
The so-called "Invisible Addiction," doctor-prescribed opioid dependency, has caused countless Americans to discover, months or years later, that they can't stop taking their medications.
According to
Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing,
more than 25% of opioid users
meet the criteria for addiction.
In an attempt to do something about their responsibility for OxyContin addiction, Purdue began selling a reformulated version in 2010 that was supposed "to help reduce the worst form of abuse." The original drug had a time-release mechanism that could be defeated by crushing the pill and snorting it, smoking it, or adding water to the powder and injecting it for a heroin-like high. (Purdue's claims that the time-release process reduced the addiction risk were crucial in making doctors feel comfortable prescribing a powerful addictive drug.) By contrast, the new version breaks into chunks rather than a powder; if water is added, the result is a gelatinous goop.
"But at the same time,
taking that step lifts a stigma from the drug
and may make doctors more comfortable prescribing it,
an outcome Purdue is hoping for.
The result could be an even greater number of invisible addicts."
(Katherine Eban, "OxyContin: Purdue Pharma's Painful Medicine,
Fortune, November 9 2011)
The latest ploy the PR wizards at Purdue Pharma have announced is the discontinuation of OxyContin and the launch of OxyNEO. That would be good news if it weren't for the fact that the company will be marketing the same drug under a different brand name: OxyNEO.
Suffice it to say, the effects and dangers will be the same.
Here are some fast facts about OxyNEO:
- OxyNEO will still be made of active ingredient oxycodone
- OxyNEO will not have an antagonist (to block the ‘high’) so it will still be easily abused
- OxyNEO will still be addictive
- OxyNEO will still cause overdoses every hour in the united States and destroy families
- OxyNEO will still lead to heroin addiction
- Purdue Pharma will still profit from addiction and overdose
- Purdue Pharma will still be responsible for ruining lives by marketing this drug
("Meet the New Killer -- Same As the Old Killer," StopOxy, 2012)
2. The Food and Drug Administration
3. The President of the United States
4. The Congress
5. The Drug Enforcement Administration
6. Federal, State, and Local Government and Courts
7. Regional Commissions
8. State and Local Lawmakers
9. State and Local Medical and Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agencies
10. State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies
11. State and Local Health Departments
12. Hospitals and Emergency Rooms
13. Medical Doctors
14. Nurses and Other Medical Professionals
15. Drug Rehabilitation Centers
16. Public and Private Schools
17. Social and Business Groups
18. Businesses
19. Citizens Action Groups
20. Drug Abuse Support Groups
21. Churches and Synagogues
22. National, State and Local Media
23. Private Citizens
24. People Who are Addicted and Dependent
The people in our county have climbed 22 black rungs of this ladder many times. We have asked for and we have received significant, often overwhelming, help. Although conditions are improving, each new day still brings new addicts (many born addicted) while each month brings new deaths. Granted, the scope of the prescription drug epidemic presents daunting problems for the warriors against abuse; however, these people know the truth about ultimate victory.
The truth is something learned through years of work, research, and investigation. It smacks of the unthinkable reality of conspiracy and collusion at the highest levels of government and big business.
Its criminal element has grown to unimaginable proportions through the enormous greed and gluttony of those in high offices who knew the deadly consequences of their actions. These agents have devised lies and half-truths to perpetuate their control while spoon-feeding addictive, chemical substances to innocent, gullible individuals seeking pain relief. And, all of this, they have done in the name of responsible medical science and its obligation to reduce suffering.
This is the truth:
Ultimate victory over prescription drug abuse
is only possible when the twenty-two black entities above
combat and reform the abuses
of the FDA
and Big Pharma.
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