Wed 16 Sep 2020, 04:59 AM | Posted by editor
LETTER from Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbott Labour Party member
Two million Americans are addicted to opioids that are prescribed by doctors to relieve chronic pain and at long last a doctor is being charged with second degree murder for over-proscribing. On a recent RT programme, a doctor explained that historically, opioids were used to relieve pain for cancer sufferers, but over time they have come to be used routinely for pain relief, resulting in addiction and death.
As with tobacco addiction, it has taken years before action has been taken. In 2017 the Oklahoma Attorney General issued a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, a major pharmaceutical company, who in reply claimed that their product did not cause addiction from over-use. Purdue claimed that only 1% of users become addicted and that their drug, Oxycontin, was suitable for general pain relief.
In only five years, the sale of Oxycontin had grown from 600,000 to 6million prescriptions annually, and Purdue spent $880m on promotion. In 2007, the company were fined $635m for false promotion and advertising. The Oklahoma lawsuit has been followed by 27 others and the use of prescribed opioids has fallen by 20% in the past two years. Four Laboratories are being sued and the programme noted that lawyers for the big pharmaceutical companies were unwilling to appear on the documentary.
Should a Doctor be convicted for murder because of over proscribing of opioids? The wife of a firefighter said that her husband suffered pain as a result of the demands of his job and was proscribed up to 100 a day without being required to take a medical. Individual responsibility can’t be ignored, but the primary villains are Big Pharma. Purdue is one of the wealthiest in the US and they knowingly promoted opioids that caused addiction, for profit. It is they who should be in the dock, not doctors.
The RT programme also noted that the FDA, the supposed ‘regulatory’ body ought also to be held to account for approving the opioids. Many of those employed in the FDA left to get better jobs with the pharmaceutical companies. Purdue is still actively promoting opioids in both Asia and South America and outside the USA opioid use is still on the increase.
