One immediately recalls the famous adage from Sinclair Lewis, about those who earn a living doing bad things being unwilling to see how bad the things are that they do for a living.
It is not a matter of dispute that Big Pharma companies are ruthless capitalists who turn doctors into salespeople, use expensive advertising to create product demand, and lie about the safety and efficacy of their products from start to finish.
It is not a matter of dispute that Oxy, Fentanyl, Vicodin, and other opiates are atrocious drugs that create inherent harms especially but not limited to addiction and DEATH.
It is not a matter of dispute that allopathic “doctors” hand out pharma drugs like candy and are woefully uninformed about the non-pharma ways to help patients deal with pain.
The New Yorker and Pro Publica series of articles about the Sacklers are stellar journalism, and the video of Vulture Sackler lying like an automatonic death robot show the obvious greedy immorality of the Sackler sacks of sh*t.
Your defense of deadly, addictive pharma drugs, and disgusting people who get rich from them, is sad. You have made other comments here that are useful and accurate.
But you are blinded on this topic by your income and pride.
Let the rich man go after he pays your “justice fee.” Jail the woman seeking an abortion. And loudly insist that you live in a “free country.”
Having an opinion, no mater how stridently asserted, isn’t the same thing as having command of an issue.
For the record, all of those things are under dispute. I’m disputing them, for starters.
And on every point but one, you are in error. As an ideologue, however, this would be a pointless discussion to have with you. If and when you’re capable of having a mature discussion instead of a screed, I’d be happy to point out your errors. I do this issue for a living. You do not. So sad or otherwise, you’re not equipped for it at the moment.
You might wanna wipe that blood offa your chin.
and some of you people might wanna learn how to make an argument.
Yep, you are a drug pusher. You make your living prescribing addictive substances.
Thus, you are poisoned by your income, pride, professional hubris, medical school brainwashing, and deliberate stupidity.
You falsely claim I am in error on every point in my comment, but you are in error in your entire career.
I’ve met heroin dealers who are a lot more honest and ethical than you are.
If you’re ever capable of self-reflection and have a conscience, you’ll realize you’re a greedy tool in an industrial pharmaceutical cabal delivering poison to people.
YOU are a paid ideologue, incapable of admitting your crimes and the crimes of the Sacklers.
I remember how people just like you poured Dilaudid, Oxy, and other opiates into me, against my will, after I was run over while bicycling. And how one of them effusively talked about the all-expense paid trip he and his wife were taking to Hawaii to attend a lavish Purdue Pharma seminar.
You are responsible for addiction, the inherent harms of opiate intake, and possibly death amongst some of your patients.
You’re not equipped to deal with truth, but in a just world, you and the Sacklers would be in prison.
I hope that the Steppenwolf song, “God damn the pusher man,” will play inside your head the rest of your life.
Maybe that is what some call " KARMA".
That was exactly my point! Excellent reply.
And who says money can’t buy justice?
Texas has released vigilantes on unwanted pregnancies.
MAYBE the same should happen with unwanted Billionaires?
The notion of justice and accountability for crimes has become quaint - wiped off the books in Amerika. Whether a corporate parasite, big-pharma drug-pusher/killer, military/police killer, polluter of air, water and soil killer, destroyer of Earths natural resources, right-wing or republican extremist hypocrite/pathological liar, accountability for crimes against the people, planet, humanity or society in general has become a thing of the past. Buy their way out with stolen wealth, use good old boy political connections, buy shyster legal evasions/manipulations, or just just make a deal with a friendly judge - money talks and the people pay - accountability only for the “Little People” - steal a loaf of bread go to jail - steal millions/billions or kill hundreds of thousands and get off scot-free.
Serious accountability for the Sacklers (as well as loss of their wealth!) a good place to start - in prison for murder!
Every day my country breaks my heart a little more…
Big Pharma should be facing penalties for killing Americans with the high cost of prescription drugs. But the so-called “opioid epidemic”? You know who told you it was an epidemic? The people who have lied to the American people for decades about marijuana. the ones who lied about a crack epidemic, lied about crack babies, lied about meth. They’re lying about this one too. Only this time people are dying. Not just addicts, but young people, 14 year old people. They are dying because the drugs they’re using are illegal. And meanwhile countless people who surely deserve better are being condemned to needless suffering. And look at you all, is it freedom that frightens you, or do you just need so badly to look down on someone that you’ll throw your own children to the wolves?
You want an epidemic? Why not tobacco? Nicotine is way more addictive than opioids, and tobacco kills 480,000 Americans every year. The tobacco industry also lied about how addictive their products were, for which they were fined and required to put warnings on their packaging. And you know what tobacco addicts do when they’re jonesing for a fix? They go to a store and buy a pack of cigarettes. You know what opioid users do? They turn to the black market. Justify it. Explain why the value of a human life depends on what drugs the individual chooses to use.
We have a present president war/drug-war criminal who’ll never pay for his crimes either. It’s the way of the United States of Greed. All those war/drug-war trillions could have been put into social programs that would have diverted the opioid crisis altogether, putting people to work creating community gardens, urban farms, building schools and community centers, educating everyone in building sustainable communities, and spending We the Peoples’ tax dollars on US instead of the billionaires who own and operate the government, as every administration does, regardless of party. It doesn’t matter who’s in office. It matters who’s in power.
If the US government can seize Venezuela’s assets and starve a whole nation, it should be able to seize the Sackler’s assets and starve a whole crime family, don’tcha ya think?!
Yes.
And we did not use the Panama papers to pursue America’s who were and are evading paying taxes.
We can label them: super tea party participants.
Some offshore accounts are Illinois dummy trusts that disguise true ownership of land and buildings. Nevada and Delaware offer ultra privacy also.
2.5%? You must be on oxy right now! The American Academy of Neurology states that approximately 50 percent of all individuals who take Oxycodone for a consecutive period of three months will still be taking it five years later.
Did you expect anything else? This settlement they reached, who gets the $$$? I am willing to bet the government gets the $$$ and the actual victims get squat.