Yesterday at around 2 in the afternoon I started watching Dopesick, an eight-part Hulu miniseries about how one family’s greed got America hooked on OxyContin.
In our legal system, the only way execs go to jail is to be found guilty of defrauding rich people (Skilling, Madoff, Holmes). Leading an company whose products knowingly kill people (cigarette companies, GM, Perdue Pharma) is not subject to criminal charges. #sad
I have a close family member who has worked in the medical industry for decades. The pharmaceutical companies would come in and influence them to prescribe their drugs by giving them boxes of opiates to try. These were 500 pill count boxes for example. This happened without any control especially in the 80s and 90s. Imagine OxyContin coming into the scene during these times. The staff was getting hooked and I had to watch the devastation of my family member getting addicted and all the bad that came with it. We have still not healed from this.
I once went to an annual physical with my (now former) GP and he literally tossed me a box of some anti-depressants some pharma rep had clearly just given him without asking any questions about my medication history or anything. Absolutely bonkers. I threw them in the trash.
Thank you for this post, Molly. I am equally moved and frustrated. I am a recovering addict, but thankfully not with Oxy. I am going to sit down and watch this series with my son who is in his early 20s to make sure he sees the true danger and never goes down this path.
My life in music has of course caused my path to cross with users of all kinds of drugs, and I've lost a close friend to first-opiods-then-heroin, and nearly another to same (he's doing really well, we play music together a lot and we play Wingspan with our partners every other week or so). The Sacklers and their ilk, the capitalism run amok that's so fetishized by seemingly half the country, it makes me want to vomit if I think about it too hard. Thank you for writing this one, Molly, hard though it may have been. Veep and Arrested Development will be there for you (those are two of my five favorite sitcoms of all time, ahead of Seinfeld and Parks and Rec but behind Golden Age Simpsons, not that anyone's asking).
The disgusting influence of pharma in our daily lives is fierce, but mostly we are not aware it is even happening. We have been in ignoring/acceptance mode for so long, haven't we? Unfortunately, having worked in two of the largest pharmaceutical companies (Two Swiss Companies, and both with offices here in CA), in their Government Affairs divisions, I know their reach and meddling all too well. Everything is supposedly done "for the patient" but there is ALWAYS a business rationale that precedes what is right for the patient. So yeah, you introduce a life saving drug or a life-extending drug, but at the highest possible cost to the patient and to society (because American society keeps sustaining the high costs). I remember the one drug pricing meeting I attended for a targeted therapy for a lung cancer drug. The data was stellar. It would be the best drug available to patients with that type of lung cancer. A decision was made to price the drug as high as the market would sustain so it would be perceived as "superior" rather than mark them down so more people can have access to then. Maybe that's not surprising to you. But it should be. Because that's not how a society should operate. Corporations need to make money, but at the expense of patients? At the expense of society that sustains these high prices (we all are insured most likely and covering those costs, or we pay taxes, and covering the costs). It's high time that we (society) wakes up to all of this. We have been complicit. We are moving into an era where we must individually stand for better morals and ideals. Evolve our perspective on what's acceptable. It's now or never. (when will the Dodgers start playing again so we can forget about the dark side for a while :) ?
God bless you, Molly.
Good words....all.
Speak the truth- your best work yet (and you do lots of great work)
Thanks Molly, compassion seems to be in short supply these days.
Wow… powerful Molly 👊💪
In our legal system, the only way execs go to jail is to be found guilty of defrauding rich people (Skilling, Madoff, Holmes). Leading an company whose products knowingly kill people (cigarette companies, GM, Perdue Pharma) is not subject to criminal charges. #sad
Excellent post.
You are so so so right, Molly - thank you for this
I am glad you wrote this now never forget what you saw
I have a close family member who has worked in the medical industry for decades. The pharmaceutical companies would come in and influence them to prescribe their drugs by giving them boxes of opiates to try. These were 500 pill count boxes for example. This happened without any control especially in the 80s and 90s. Imagine OxyContin coming into the scene during these times. The staff was getting hooked and I had to watch the devastation of my family member getting addicted and all the bad that came with it. We have still not healed from this.
I once went to an annual physical with my (now former) GP and he literally tossed me a box of some anti-depressants some pharma rep had clearly just given him without asking any questions about my medication history or anything. Absolutely bonkers. I threw them in the trash.
Thanks for this, Molly.
Thank you for this post, Molly. I am equally moved and frustrated. I am a recovering addict, but thankfully not with Oxy. I am going to sit down and watch this series with my son who is in his early 20s to make sure he sees the true danger and never goes down this path.
Thanks Molly
My life in music has of course caused my path to cross with users of all kinds of drugs, and I've lost a close friend to first-opiods-then-heroin, and nearly another to same (he's doing really well, we play music together a lot and we play Wingspan with our partners every other week or so). The Sacklers and their ilk, the capitalism run amok that's so fetishized by seemingly half the country, it makes me want to vomit if I think about it too hard. Thank you for writing this one, Molly, hard though it may have been. Veep and Arrested Development will be there for you (those are two of my five favorite sitcoms of all time, ahead of Seinfeld and Parks and Rec but behind Golden Age Simpsons, not that anyone's asking).
The disgusting influence of pharma in our daily lives is fierce, but mostly we are not aware it is even happening. We have been in ignoring/acceptance mode for so long, haven't we? Unfortunately, having worked in two of the largest pharmaceutical companies (Two Swiss Companies, and both with offices here in CA), in their Government Affairs divisions, I know their reach and meddling all too well. Everything is supposedly done "for the patient" but there is ALWAYS a business rationale that precedes what is right for the patient. So yeah, you introduce a life saving drug or a life-extending drug, but at the highest possible cost to the patient and to society (because American society keeps sustaining the high costs). I remember the one drug pricing meeting I attended for a targeted therapy for a lung cancer drug. The data was stellar. It would be the best drug available to patients with that type of lung cancer. A decision was made to price the drug as high as the market would sustain so it would be perceived as "superior" rather than mark them down so more people can have access to then. Maybe that's not surprising to you. But it should be. Because that's not how a society should operate. Corporations need to make money, but at the expense of patients? At the expense of society that sustains these high prices (we all are insured most likely and covering those costs, or we pay taxes, and covering the costs). It's high time that we (society) wakes up to all of this. We have been complicit. We are moving into an era where we must individually stand for better morals and ideals. Evolve our perspective on what's acceptable. It's now or never. (when will the Dodgers start playing again so we can forget about the dark side for a while :) ?
Thanks for deciding to publish this after all.