Prescription Opioids are Needed to Quell the Opioid Crisis
This week Purdue Pharma settled with the state of Oklahoma for $270 million to avoid a trial charging the company with what I call opioid drug dealing. Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family–founders and managers of the company–are enmeshed in 1,600 cases throughout the U.S. They are accused of illegal marketing activities that led to over-prescribing and rampant distribution of Oxycontin, which paved the way for millions to the addiction of opioids, with hundreds of thousands dying over the last decade.
It was not just Purdue but many drug companies—and the entire drug supply chain—that fueled the opioid death spiral. As drug companies and their allies in the drug supply chain continue to use the opioid crisis as a means to oppose prescription drug importation to lower drug prices in the U.S., we can only look on with amazement at their audacity.
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