Interesting Concept

There seems to be an opioid crisis and someone is going to do something about it.

Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, morphine, and many others.

From what I know is pain = bad, Pain relief = good.

So doctors and scientist and pharmaceutical engineers mix their magic potions to make concoctions that will, once approved by the governmental agencies, reduce or eliminate pain.

The manufactures of these pills and potions will advertise that their product will make your life better, just like a new refrigerator or telephone.

If people get positive results they will continue to take the painkiller until it becomes a habit like alcohol or junk food.

More than 1,800 lawsuits have been filed so far against drug makers such as Johnson & Johnson, distributors like McKesson and street-corner pharmacies including CVS and Walmart. Plaintiffs claim the companies earned billions in profit by aggressively marketing and selling prescription opioids.

Meanwhile, pressure has been growing on drug companies in recent months to reach some kind of accord with communities.

In March, Purdue Pharma settled with the state of Oklahoma for roughly $270 million. Before its bankruptcy, Insys Therapeutics agreed to pay the federal government more than $225 million in penalties tied to opioid marketing. Five of that company’s executives were convicted of federal racketeering charges.

Johnson & Johnson is currently on trial in Oklahoma state court.

If three-quarters of communities sign off on deals that are struck, it would be finalized and money would be paid out, ending the company’s liability. A separate emergency fund, roughly 15% of any settlements would be set aside for towns or cities particularly hard-hit by the opioid crisis. And 10% of all drug industry payouts would go to pay the hundreds of private trial attorneys involved in the litigation.

In 1999, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) sued several major tobacco companies for fraudulent and unlawful conduct and reimbursement of tobacco-related medical expenses.  The district court judge dismissed the DOJ’s claim for reimbursement, but allowed the DOJ to bring its claim under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).  The DOJ then sued on the ground that the tobacco companies had engaged in a decades-long conspiracy to mislead the public about the risks of smoking, mislead the public about the danger of secondhand smoke; misrepresent the addictiveness of nicotine, manipulate the nicotine delivery of cigarettes, deceptively market cigarettes characterized as “light” or “low tar,” while knowing that those cigarettes were at least as hazardous as full flavored cigarettes, target the youth market; and not produce safer cigarettes. 

On August 17, 2006 Judge Kessler issued a opinion holding the tobacco companies liable for violating RICO by fraudulently covering up the health risks associated with smoking and for marketing their products to children.  “As set forth in these Final Proposed Findings of Fact, substantial evidence establishes that Defendants have engaged in and executed – and continue to engage in and execute – a massive 50-year scheme to defraud the public, including consumers of cigarettes, in violation of RICO.”

So let me understand this.

Way back when the Indians showed us colonizers who to grow and smoke tobacco, farmers and manufacturers grew produced and advertised the use of smoking tobacco for decades. The purpose of sucking in a smoking plant is unclear, but people liked it.

Suddenly healthy investigators said it was a bad habit and the manufactures needed to pay for their bad deeds. Place a label on the package, raise the price of a pack but still sell it in every grocery store. Inhibit people from smoking in enclosed public places but the ritual continues.

Should have been marijuana?

So now the manufacturers and promoters and advertisers of pain relief are being accused of promoting an opioid crisis.

They must pay the price for the demand for human behavior?

OK, I get the point of trying to blame someone for the increasing deaths of people who just can’t stop trying to feel better.

Expand that idea to…. Oh say, the automotive industry. People buy automobiles, crash and die everyday. Some may have been speeding or talking on their phones or intoxicated on excessive legal alcohol or mechanical malfunction but they all die.

Are the automobile manufactures at fault? They provided the machine that killed a father or mother or family or stranger.

What about those airplane crashes? Wrong software? Not enough training? Still the plane crashes and people die. Where is the compensation?

Everyday there is a shooting in America. Shoot the entire world is shooting each other. Where do these guns come from?

Gun control is always a hot topic but nothing will be done because it is too profitable. The second amendment also gets in the way of common sense and lobbyists have too much influence.

If the same concept were to be applied to weapons, it would go to Remington, Colt, Smith and Wesson, Sturm, Ruger & Co., SIG Sauer, Heckler and Koch, Mossberg, Beretta…

It is all a catch-22. I want my pain relief but when I’m addicted….? I want my fast car but when I’m caught speeding….? I want my gun but when…?

Good luck with your lawsuits. The lawyers will make a ton of money and a waste of time.