Big Pharma Youtube Docs

For this post I want to discuss two separtment news specials that were posted to the site Youtube. Both of these posts tackle the issues caused by the opioid epidemic in the United States. The first piece I’d like to discuss is an MSNBC Special on Montgomery County Ohio. This county is also known as the heroin capital of the world, in just the first half of the year 2017 overdose deaths had matched that of the entire year previous. It was projected to reach double that of the previous year, and by Nov 13th of that year the deaths had just nearly reached that level, totaling 548 deaths. This county and specifically the city of Dayton within it is riddled with heroin specifically the kind mixed the fentnal, a deadly drug that entices users with a more potent long lasting high. The city of Dayton sits between two major interstates and because of this it serves as a hub for the heroin trade and floods the cities with the drug in enormous amounts every year. As the documentary goes on the audience learns of specific instances of the drugs affecting families and individuals to the point that almost all of the people living within the county know of someone close to them who has been subject to an overdose. In some instances multiple members of families are the victims of this epidemic that affects this county. The drugs are seemingly infiltrating the lower class communities within the county as the documentary displays the areas afflicted as run down neighborhoods riddled with abandoned homes. As the video continues the documentary begins to cover the ways that the drugs are entering the country in the first place and more often than not they are entering through legal ports of entry in illegal manners. For example cartels may send mules across the border in seemingly normal vehicles hopping to pass border security without an issue. Another means of entry for drugs like fentanyl are through web transactions. The drugs are manufactured and packaged in a country where the laws are more lax. Once packaged the drugs are than shipped into the US and if they pas customs inspections sent directly to the doorsteps of both dealers and users.

The next piece of video content I’d like to discuss is a short animated film which discusses the way Pharmaceutical companies have come to hold the great power that they do in this country. The video begins by discussing broadly how most Americans are drug addicts in one way or another and how easy it is for us as Americans to be prescribed drugs whether or not we actually need them or not. The narrator then asks why do we as Americans so readily take these drugs that are potentially dangerous and fatal to us? The answer lies in Big Pharma’s spending on marketing, from 30 to 60 billion dollars per year. The money Big Pharma spends doesn’t just end at marketing efforts, it extends into the pockets of politicians that influence the agencies and policies that either make or break the pockets of these large industries. Furthermore, drug companies spend money influencing physicians and their likeliness to prescribe drugs meant for certain illnesses in hopes that they will help with the symptoms of entirely different illnesses. The video ends with a description of the relationship between Big Pharma and the men and women in Washington. The amount of money being flooded into politics and the agencies that are intended to regulate bad business behavior is tremendous. So how do we as Americans break this cycle and tear down the power this industry has amassed? If anyone has a suggestion please let me know.

Links below to the two videos.