The Opioid Crisis in America Part 2

In 1996, it appeared that one of the top distributors of the unforeseen opioid epidemic was a company called Purdue Pharma, and it also appeared to be one of the biggest in the U.S. Purdue Pharma took the lead in distributing this new drug called OxyContin in the mid to late 1990s and from a marketing standpoint did very well in marketing to consumers across America. The excessive visibility of the drug OxyContin about the rise of increased abuse and substance abuse by the early to mid-2000s, this drug had become one of the leading drugs of abuse in our country. However, researchers of the pill stated that it would be safe to take and that patients would not become addicted to taking them. Later, we know how that story ends.

Sales representatives working for the company were given huge bonuses for the sales made in their respective areas. As a result, there was a vast number of doctor visits to physicians with seemingly high rates of opioid prescriptions across the nation. This was the financial outcome for their workforce. In 2001, the average sales representative’s yearly income was just over $50,000, and annual bonuses were given around $70,000 per salesperson, ranging from $20,000 to over $200,000. However, because of the damage Purdue Pharma has done to society in their participation in selling this drug, the company has agreed to stop promoting OxyContin to U.S. doctors (Whalen, J. 2018). We will see why later in this blog.

Are You Ready to Change?

But the damage done may have already been too late. Today over 2 million individuals struggle with some type of chemical addiction in the U. S., and an estimated 260 million prescriptions for opioids are written yearly by physicians. So, could the physicians writing these legal prescriptions be the “drug dealer” unknowingly to so many? Purdue Pharma was certainly not the only company distributing an opioid drug. Other big-name pharma companies such as AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson have been in distribution in the past two decades. The opioid epidemic has destroyed millions of lives and has also devastated our economy greatly. “Drug treatment is costly, and the sad part is that only 1 in 10 addicts get the help they need to survive, and only 1 in 3 addicts have no adequate health insurance and no way to pay for any treatment” (Mojtabai, R. et al., 2005-2018). Next, we will look at how this crisis has affected our culture and some of the adverse effects that go along with it.

For more information for yourself, a friend or a family member please visit https://na.org/

References:

Mojtabai, R., Mauro, C., Wall, M. M., Barry, C. L., & Olfson, M. (2020). Private health insurance coverage of drug use disorder treatment: 2005–2018. 

Whalen, J. (2018). Purdue Pharma to stop promoting OxyContin to US doctors. The Wall Street Journal.