New York City sues 'Big Pharma' for $500m for fueling opioid epidemic

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Big Pharma is going down just like Big Tobacco went down.

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it’s about time…now others will sue too and make Big Pharma poor as hell.

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So on the lawsuit does the defendant read as “Big Pharma” ?

Maybe they can sue “big oil” while they are at it.

And “Big Internet Providers”

Maybe they can sue “Big Internet”

I’m pretty confident that congress will veto taking away net neutrality.

Are they going to sue themselves for taking a bunch of Vicodin they didn’t need?

Where does the suing stop?

I get that we have a drug problem as a nation, but personal responsibility has to come into play somewhere…

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They are waiting on one person for that last I heard.

But if someone were to be really convincing…

How would this help those with severe mental illnesses? If Big Pharma is ‘poor as hell’ it would surely severely restrict research into new and better medications that may help us. There is a difference between curbing what is seen as ‘obscene’ and excessive profits by Big Pharma and making it as ‘poor as hell’.

sorry @firemonkey I didn’t mean to offend…i think we have enough prescriptions for now as far as I’m concerned…I just want fair priced meds for senior citizens and children and big pharma screws us…let them lose so they can’t hike their prices.

This is about LYING.

Big Pharma CEOs have said for decades that opioids are not addictive. (Benzos also.) There is a lot of evidence that contradicts their claim. CEOs of Big Tobacco companies such as Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds also said for decades (even testifying before Congress several times) that nicotine was not addictive.

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That seems to be true. However I would pose these questions.

1)Do opioids help to ease pain?
2) Do most people become addicted to them?
3) If they help to ease pain should we deny them to those who don’t become addicted?
4) What alternatives to opioids would people propose?

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I am gonna read this.

big pharma got sued by the man. LMAO

:rofl::stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: lolGreedy Ba!!!ds

They become addicted during their pain treatment. Then they cant stop.

I dont know what else could be used because that would be situational.(how much pain is felt by the individual)

maybe they think, and it is very possible, the doctors are over medicating some patients for pain.

ZING!!!, right?

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Is it really Big Pharma’s fault?
I tend to blame the doctors and patients more.

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If big pharma promotes more addictive pain meds among doctors, then yes.

Drug reps (some) can be as slimey as used car salesmen.

But to be fair, yes, there is some personal responsibility for doctors after big pharma then patients last. (we dont chose the drug or write the Rx)

There is just a lot of resentment here for those who pay through the nose for medicine, or watch family pay.

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while there is blame to be apportioned to all involved, I tend to think that the people making the most money from a given product are the ones most responsible for it, especially when they are pushing it so hard even given known risks to users:

and

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why does this post ony have 3 likes?

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another article on who caused this:

From as far back as 1911 until the late 1990s, the use of opioids, or narcotics, was limited to very narrow circumstances, such as post-surgical pain and end-of-life care. That’s because the medical establishment and regulators were keenly aware of the addictive quality of the drugs and the dangers they posed if misused.

But that all changed when a school of thought started to take over in medicine beginning in the late 1990s, early 2000s. Treating pain became a preeminent priority. Addiction was less of a concern. Pain was dubbed the “5th vital sign.”

Big Pharma played an important role in this transformation and made billions in the process. Now states, cities, counties and other jurisdictions across the country are fighting back with lawsuits and investigations, hoping to hold drugmakers accountable for the collateral damage of the nation’s opioid crisis.

The seeds of the epidemic were planted nearly two decades ago.

With little or no valid, clinical evidence to go on, the medical establishment began prescribing opioids for long-term, chronic pain.

In 2012, the number of opioid prescriptions peaked at more than 255 million, or 81.3 prescriptions for every 100 people in the United States. According to government numbers, there are more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions dispensed every day in the U.S.

By 2014, the U.S., with about 5 percent of the global population, consumed about 80 percent of the opioid supply in the world, making it a $24 billion market.

The family that owns Purdue Pharma, the Sacklers, became one of the wealthiest families in the country, with a net worth that reached as high as $14 billion in 2015, largely on the strength of the opioid OxyContin’s profits. The family was ranked by Forbes to be among the top 20 richest in the U.S.

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