OxyContin… What is it Oxy-Costin’?

On Saturday, September 8, the Washington Post published an article that stated the founders of OxyContin, one of the most highly addictive opioids on the market, has developed and is in the process of releasing another drug, buprenorphine, to combat the rising issue of opioid addictions and consequently the rising number of deaths related to opioid overdose. However many people have issues with the fact that the company responsible for the opioid epidemic, Purdue Pharma, should be the one to profit from the drug that is supposed to fix the problem they started. Why should a company that made billions of dollars because of their highly addictive drug be allowed to make billions more on a supposed cure? From what I understand, buprenorphine is meant to wean addicts off heavier opioids, by allowing the user to take an opioid at a lower dosage. It can also be used as a temporary pain reliever. I’ve read stories and other articles about the extreme lengths people will go to in order to gain access to opioids, including rather severe self-injuring.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, of 63,000 deaths attributed to overdose in the US, 66% of them were from opioids. That is around 41,600 deaths. 41,600 mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, friends, and neighbors who have all lost someone to opioids. Globally speaking, the US has had an incredibly difficult time regulating the prescription drug industry, especially compared to the rest of the developed world. Since our healthcare system isn’t as regulated as should be, almost anyone who wanted to could get access to some pretty heavy stuff. Capitalistic pharmaceutical companies can and have essentially bribed healthcare  providers into signing more prescriptions than people actually need. As a result, we have more drugs than we know what to do with. Unfinished bottles of pills accumulate in cabinets or are even resold illicitly. Big Pharma Companies also like to downplay the severity of the side-effects and addictive properties of the drugs they market to the public. People need to be able to trust their healthcare providers to make decisions that will benefit them. They need to be properly educated about any drugs that are being prescribed to them so they don’t have to worry about having to be weaned off a highly addictive substance in the future.

Here’s the link to the article and the Centers of Diesease Control and Prevention;

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/09/08/the-man-who-made-billions-of-dollars-from-oxycontin-is-pushing-a-drug-to-wean-addicts-off-opioids/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.95e1b32c3a35

https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html