How
the Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Was Created
by Big Pharma
By
Sally Painter
The
growing heroin addiction in America is at
epidemic levels. Is there a connection
between prescribed opioid abuse and the
heroin use being on the rise? Some people
have connected the dots between the
over-prescribed pain-killer and the
addiction that ensued and those addicts
turned to heroin.
OxyContin Rise as Number One Painkiller
Prescribed
According to a recent article written by
Mike Mariani (The Week), the rise of the
highly addictive painkiller OxyContin was
rapid and took over the market like no other
painkiller had.
In
his examination of the opioid’s phenomenal
success from its approval and subsequent
1996 introduction onto the healthcare
marketplace, Mariani reports that Purdue
Pharma sold $45 million worth of OxyContin
during its first year. He explains that the
sales figure rose to $1.1 Billion by 2000
and in 2010, the sales expanded to a
whopping $3.1 Billion. He points out this
signified a market dominance of 30% of all
painkillers (1).
This dominance in the market wasn’t easily
explained. Mariani reports that there were
rumors concerning the wide range of uses the
FDA (Federal Drug Administration) approved
for the drug, such as “post-operative pain”
to arthritis. Almost any type of pain was
eligible to be treat with the popular
painkiller. Mariani describes how concerns
were also raised about the relationships
between Purdue Pharma and the physicians
since doctors favored prescribing OxyContin
over other available pain killers.
Motivations for
Sales Force
In
his article, Mariani states that with a more
than doubled sales force by 2000, Purdue
Pharma offered annual bonuses of $70,000+ to
sales reps. He reports that some sales reps
earned as much as $250,000 in annual
bonuses.
So
why was OxyContin such a hit with doctors?
Mariani states that it was the company’s
marketing campaign that by 2001 was budgeted
at $200 Million. He also points out that the
company built a database that detailed the
prescribing habits of doctors. Armed with
this data, the sales force was able to
target the highest-painkiller-prescribing
doctors.
Mariani refers to a Los Angeles Times
report, that stated as early as 2002 “Purdue
Pharma had identified hundreds of doctors
who were prescribing OxyContin recklessly,
yet they did little about it.” He describes
how Purdue Pharma’s mission was to, “make
primary care doctors less judicious when it
came to handing out OxyContin
prescriptions.”
Mariani points out that the addictive
qualities of OxyContin made it a valuable
street drug, especially when the FDA allowed
it to be sold at higher doses than the
original 80mg. Once the industry was forced
to acknowledge the highly addictive
properties of the drug, crackdown on
physicians over-prescribing did little to
help those already addicted. Many people
believe that with the absence of OxyContin
prescriptions to feed their addiction, those
caught up in the Big Pharma net of the
prescription painkiller turned to heroin.
Was Heroin the
Next Step Up from OxyContin Addiction?
The
CDC reports that 45% of heroin addicts are
“also addicted to prescription opioid
painkillers”. 9 of the 10 people using
heroin reported using one other drug (2).
According to the CDC, the face of heroin
addiction has morphed indiscriminately among
both genders of all age groups and income
levels. Over the last 10 years, the use of
heroin has doubled among 18-25 year olds.
The
CDC website states three demographic groups
experiencing the highest increases were
those that had historically been low rates
of heroin addiction.
These include:
-
Women
-
Privately insured
-
Higher income earners
As
disturbing as these statistics are, it gets
worse. The CDC states that heroin addicts
are also “abusing multiple other substances,
especially cocaine and prescription opioid
painkillers.” With the epidemic of heroin
addiction, cases of overdose-related deaths
is also on the rise. The death rate
quadrupled between 2002 and 2013 (3).
A
CDC 2014 Press Release cited a 2012 study of
heroin and opioid death rates. The study
conducted in 28 states for the years
2010–2012. The study was designed to
represent 56% of the US population. The
heroin death rate doubled over these states
during this period. Five states reported an
increase in the death rates of prescription
opioid.
Heroin Users and
Prescription Opioids Abuse
The
same report stated that the prescription
opioid user majority didn’t become heroin
addicts.
However, 3 out of 4 heroin users reported
having abused prescription opioids prior to
turning to heroin use.
This signaled a “relationship between
prescription opioid abuse and heroin.” This
relationship, according to the CDC isn’t
surprising since “heroin is an opioid, and
both drugs act on the same receptors in the
brain to produce similar effects.”
With heroin being the cheaper drug, addicts
are turning to it instead of prescription
opioids, especially since it is more readily
available. The CDC advises that a reduction
in “inappropriate opioid prescribing” as
being a “crucial” step in the war against
heroin and prescription addictions.
Originally published on
TopSecretWriters.com
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
