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America’s Drug Industry Fueled the Opioid Crisis

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By Stephen Lendman

The Mayo Clinic calls opioid drugs powerful painkillers, often used post-surgery or for severe chronic pain, affecting an estimated 50 million Americans.

They include morphine, methadone, OxyContin, Vicodin, Norco and Demerol, among others. Heroin is an illegal opioid.

Ones used for chronic pain, unrelated to cancer, doubled over the past decade – because drug industry bandits promote them, producing a bonanza of profits at the expense of an addiction and overdosing epidemic.

They’re major health problems, Mayo saying:

“Overdosing triggers low blood pressure, a slow rate of breathing and the potential for breathing to stop, as well as the possibility of a coma. Opioid overdose has a significant risk of death.”

“(A)ccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more people in the US have fatal overdoses related to opioid use than (from) overdoses of heroin and cocaine combined.”

People using opioids for pain relief, unrelated to cancer, usually need higher doses over time to keep it in check – risking addiction, overdosing and death, tens of thousands of Americans dying annually, a crisis demanding attention, not getting it because of drug industry influence.

Mayo cited research showing longterm opioid use can make people “more sensitive to pain, a condition called opioid-induced hyperalgesia.”

It recommends non-opioid medications to manage chronic pain, avoiding addiction and overdosing most often, providing more effective long-lasting relief.

On Tuesday, Trump’s choice as drug czar, Rep. Tom Marino, withdrew from consideration after a WaPo/CBS 60 Minutes investigation revealed he shepherded the 2016 Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act (EPAEDE) through Congress, passed unanimously, signed into law by Obama.

It’s disgraceful legislation, undermining the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Office of Diversion Control, charged with preventing, detecting, and investigating the diversion of controlled and other drugs from legitimate sources, cracking down on other abusive practices, monitoring distribution of pharmaceuticals, along with ensuring an adequate supply for medical, commercial and scientific needs.

Marino altered EPAEDE’s language, undermining the Office of Diversion Control’s ability to suspend drug companies not reporting excessively large orders of opioids and other controlled substances.

Former DEA official Joe Rannazzisi explained

“(t)his is an industry that allowed millions and millions of drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors’ offices that distributed them out to people who had no legitimate need for those drugs.”

In September, Trump nominated Marino for drug czar. Following the WaPo/60 Minutes report, undemocratic Dems called on him to withdraw the nomination.

On Tuesday, he tweeted:

“Rep.Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar.”

His nomination was outrageous in the first place. On Monday, Trump said he’ll declare a national emergency next week to address the opioid epidemic – his initiative likely to be more cosmetic than responsible.

Repealing EPAEDE and cracking down hard on drug industry bandits should be prioritized. They made pill-popping a national addiction, including harmful drugs like opioids.

They spend billions of dollars advertising their products annually, heavily on television, influencing naive consumers, unaware of risks to human health powerful drugs pose.

Profits alone matter. Industry bandits do what they please, supported by Washington, failing to curb their abuses.

Industry lobbyists control congressional members, presidential aspirants, and White House occupants, Republicans and undemocratic Dems sharing guilt.

Obama signed abusive EPAEDE into law. He’s as culpable as Marino for shepherding it through Congress. Drug industry “bandits” benefit hugely at the expense of human health and safety.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

The original source of this article is Global Research

Copyright © Stephen Lendman, Global Research, 2017

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-drug-industry-has-fueled-the-opioid-crisis/5614183

 

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: 

stephenlendman.org 

(Home – Stephen Lendman). 

Contact at [email protected].


Articles by:Stephen Lendman

About the author:

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Center of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author’s copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]

 

 



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    • Man

      It is easy to blame the drug producers.

      Look at morphemes. It is used in hospitals and never a drug addiction or over dose. That is because you are in with professionals who manage the use of morpheme.

      When it comes to pain management. The patients that use it do self dosing. Not realising that the body will get use to the effects of the medication. So the abuse of the opioid come to poor information and the pill poppin habit in their pain management.

      Because if you are using opioid to contain your pain, there is always a chat on its proper use to avoid dangerous addictive behaviour.

      So stubborn ignorance has a big role in this

      And you know when Obama was president when there was a whole conspiracy about Czars……. Yeah… Let’s put that under the rug as if that isn’t a thing.

    • Miss M

      And then there are cancer patients, like my son, who’s battling STAGE III CANCER and screams out in pain because of the ridiculous laws “they” are now enforcing and as a result leaves people with poor insurance without pain management, because Dr.’s who COULD administer legitimate pain relief NOW CAN’T without being flagged–which is sheer ignorance and cruelty. This will backfire and people are going to really get sick of this mess. Does anyone think these evil politicos suffer when THEY have cancer–NOT A CHANCE! Others are also VERY fed up, like patients that break a limb we’ve talked to and don’t get relief–barbaric :mad: :eek:

    • Andy

      big pharma owns the govt, the CDC, the FDA, the AMA, the AAMC, the FSMB as well as medical teaching institutions

      combined, they outright kill a quarter million americans each and every year, these people do not die of their illness, but as a direct result of the actions of the medical industrial complex

      where is the OUTRAGE??

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