These two videos provide sweeping summations of the issue of the opioid epidemic in the United States of America. They connect the root of the opioid addiction plagueing the nation with the current state of the problems that make the opioid epidemic possible today.
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Public Pharmaceutical Companies?
https://prospect.org/article/big-pharma-kills-us-maybe-public-pharma-can-save-us
Public Pharma v Big Pharma
Can Public Pharmaceutical companies save Americans and our government from futher sickening and corruption?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2018/07/16/drug-companies/#4302ac4b1e41
4 New Policies Drug Companies Would be Afraid of From the Federal Government
These four policies that Donald Trump initially proposed but did not follow through with would prevent drug companies from continiung the flood of drugs into communities all across the United States
Attempts at Regulation.
In New York the state legislature made a real attempt at putting some regulations on the pharmaceutical industry. The law that was signed by Governor Cuomo aimed to “tax” the pharmaceutical industries operating within New York. The law was designed to have companies pay a “tax” based on the amount of sales the companies were reporting in the state. So the companies selling the most would pay the highest share of the “tax”. The purpose of reallocating this money was to fund rehabilitation and education programs for those struggling with addiction to the legal drugs provided by the companies as well as street drugs tey may have become addicted to as a result of becoming dependent on legal drugs. Unfortunately the law was rejected in a New York City federal court. Now this may have been a result of the law doing it’s job but looking through the scope of some of my previous research it may have been a result of the pharmaceuticals deep reach into the federal government.
Although our president has made a laundry list of comment concerning various domestic and international issues his comments on drug money have tilted on the side of accurate and much needed. As reported by the Guardian President Trump has said that drug companies have given massive amounts of money to political people. This statement rings true in 9 out of 10 of our House of Representatives members and all but 3 of our Senators. This money has contributed to our citizens being forced to buy drugs from domestic run companies rather than importing generic versions of the same drugs overseas. We are forced to pay these ridiculously inflated prices for drugs that we can purchase from other companies for a fraction of the price. This drug money infiltrating our goernment has also prevented the succesful negotiation of lower prices for essential drugs. In many countries including a host of European countries governments are able to negotiate with drug companies in order to provide consistent pricing that is affordable for both the government and in turn the citizens who are ultimately purchasing these drugs for use.
Links below to these two articles.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/19/big-pharma-money-lobbying-us-opioid-crisis
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.
Why You Should Care About Big Pharma
Attached above is the article that began my research in the topic of Big Pharma as a part of an assignment for my Spring 2019 course in Journalism & Democracy. The article begins to dispel the concerns I began to further develop as a part of assignment for the class. BigPharma conglomerates have amassed a massive amount of power not only in the business sphere of our country but have also deeply embedded themselves into the political sphere. In this role of power they have the means and the motivation to influence policy and create opportunities for them to continue to increase profit margins by taking advantage of those who are less knowledgeable and in need of treatment for various diseases and injuries. Not only have people fell to the opioid crisis because of the unchecked business moves groups like these have made but it has affected the greater field of medicine.
The field of medicine has been consumed by the bottom line mentality of large conglomerates and business groups like Big Pharma. As a result medicine has become increasingly focused on the treatment of symptoms rather than the creation of cures. Even if you think about the commercials for the assortment of drugs that are ran on cable television they all list disclaimers that their drug solely treats the symptoms of “insert illness here”. So how have we come to a point where we only accept symptom treaters rather than demanding for medical professionals to find cures for our ailments. Big Pharma plays a large part in this and have fostered this corporate mentality amongst the people that are intended to be the best of us. Although the individual doctors may have our interests in heart as citizens the system is set up so that we are treated and have to return periodically to spend more money just to come back again, creating a vicious cycle that most often afflicts the lower classes of people. This mentality has given way to the opioid epidemic and very few people have taken the time to expose the medical and pharmaceutical industry for the evil they have been doing.
Journalism & Democracy Spring 2019 by BrianGomez 