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Karen Stuebing | all galleries >> PAD Again >> A Photo A Day - 2004 >> A Photo A Day - November > Sometimes It Doesn't Pay to Read the Sunday Paper
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07-NOV-2004 Karen Stuebing

Sometimes It Doesn't Pay to Read the Sunday Paper

West Virginia

Purdue settled out of court on the lawsuit filed by WV that accused the company of causing the Hillbilly Heroin epidemic.

Olympus C-5050Z
1/15s f/1.8 at 7.1mm iso64 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time07-Nov-2004 11:01:57
MakeOlympus
ModelC5050Z
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length7.1 mm
Exposure Time1/15 sec
Aperturef/1.8
ISO Equivalent64
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programmanual (1)
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comment
Carmen10-Nov-2004 15:33
It is a shame -- just a drop in the bucket, really. And an ounce of prevention is surely worth a pound of cure; worse is when the pound of cure turns into ten pounds of prosecution. Drugs actually alter the brain's chemistry and take over some of the way it functions. Once it's insinuated itself into a persons brain, you can't just put it back on the shelf and have the normal chemical processes and pathways jump in to fill the gap. Let's face it, the drug industry isn't some great altruistic organization -- they're in it for the money.
Gayle P. Clement09-Nov-2004 12:54
Important to share Karen. This gets my vote.
Karen Leaf09-Nov-2004 05:01
Voting, Karen
Elaine (etfitz)09-Nov-2004 00:49
A sad problem that unfortunately doesn't look like it will go away anytime soon.
Rob Philip09-Nov-2004 00:38
I suppose my vaguely tongue-in-cheek comment about jails being good detox centres should have been surrounded by big and markers. Obviously not the best detox around, but in an absolute sense the idea of being locked away from your drug of choice might well be an effective deterrent to an addict.

I think the general disagreement (not actually a flame war) that we have going here is that I believe people have a responsibility to take control of their lives. That means if you go to a doctor and he prescribes a drug that you ask about all possible side effects, and you ask about alternatives and you research the drug *before* you put it in your mouth. It would never occur to me to blindly trust a doctor.

All drug addicts are not victims. Some small fraction may be innocent of anything but blind faith in another person, but as Karen points out some (all?) of these innocent people took larger and larger doses until they became addicts. It's unfortunate, but again they did this to themselves.

The ones that abuse the drugs for a "high" or to escape the fact that they live in a depressed area get no sympathy from me. That would be like feeling sympathy for a smoker with lung cancer.

It sucks that this is a problem. No question about it. But the problem is not the fault of the manufacturer, or of the society that let them down, or of anyone else.

What *really* sucks is that people who truly do need high potency pain medication have lots of trouble getting it because of people who turn to crime to support their self-inflicted habit.

Personally, I feel that all drug use should be legal, but that society needs to come down hard on crimes committed while under the influence. Personal responsibility. It's a great idea.
Larry Ahern09-Nov-2004 00:14
Yes ... in a "drug free" culture where interestingly enough there's a drug designed for everything even when it's side effects are worse than the ailment ... and we dump all over those that have drug problems (illisite or other wise) ... it makes me so mad I want to weep ... We will be gald to help you into your nightmare but after that you are on your own (and shuned as well) ... AAAARRRRGGGG!!!!!!!!
snootydog09-Nov-2004 00:14
Well I don't want to get into a flame war but it is exactly the sort of thinking (Rob's comment that jail makes for a good detox center) that perpetuates these kinds of problems. Sure there is personal responsibility, but if you seek a doctor's help and a drug is offered, why should you think to question the doctor's choice???? I just don't get how thick headed some people are. This is the same logic that states that people are on welfare because they're lazy. Sure, some people ARE lazy, and some people are manipulative drug seekers but most people just want to lead a quality life -- they just aren't started out with the same advantages as other people are. Grrrrr.... But I better shut up now because I feel myself steaming and I don't want to use your fine pad as a place to air my anger. Sorry for being so inarticulate.
Cheryl Hawkins08-Nov-2004 18:41
A complex issue that has been well decribed on this page.
:: vote ::
Rob Philip08-Nov-2004 18:27
And where does personal responsibility come into all this, I wonder. The answer, of course, would seem to be that as usual it doesn't.

Every day people make choices in life. Somethings things work out and sometimes they don't.

The idea that somebody wouldn't know that a narcotic is addictive is beyond belief. 15 minutes of research will answer that question. Who would ever take a drug, prescription or not, without researching side-effects?

Is the 10 million dollars going to be well spent? No. Would it matter if it was 10 billion? No.

Do I want to see people in jail for being drug addicts? No. Do I want to see them in jail for committing crime to get their drugs? Yes. As a side-effect, a few months in a jail without their drugs should work nicely as a state-run detox clinic.
jypsee08-Nov-2004 17:43
Brava, Karen!! This isn't an either/or situation, but a complex and nuanced issue. And I sure agree with you about the marketing of drugs as end-all and be-all miracles. It's interesting that the company settled, though the settlement amount was tiny; detox is only a first stage in the process of recovery; there are follow up programs that need to be in place so that relapse is avoided. Ten million is a drop in the bucket. Not enough even for just arresting addicts and prosecuting addicts....and what is the good in that? Users of legal drugs (caffeine, alcohol, prescriptions, hunting -- which releases endorphins and causes adrenaline highs) can feel better because the jails are full of addicts?
jypsee08-Nov-2004 17:42
Brava, Karen!! This isn't an either/or situation, but a complex and nuanced issue. And I sure agree with you about the marketing of drugs as end-all and be-all miracles. It's interesting that the company settled, though the settlement amount was tiny; detox is only a first stage in the process of recovery; there are follow up programs that need to be in place so that relapse is avoided. Ten million is a drop in the bucket. Not enough even for just arresting addicts and prosecuting addicts....and what is the good in that? Users of legal drugs (caffeine, alcohol, prescriptions) can feel better because the jails are full of addicts?
Karen Stuebing08-Nov-2004 17:15
The problem is that Oxycontin was heavily marketed here, an area where there are a large number of people with painful disabilities due to the mining industry and other blue collar jobs.

As a result it was over prescribed by doctors to people who had no idea how extremely addictive it was.

Narcotics lose their effectiveness over a period of time and larger amounts are needed for the same effect and to avoid tolerance withdrawal. Pain clinics periodically taper people down to reduce tolerance.

With oxycontin there was no way to do that as it is a time release form of oxycodone.

So doctors were put in a position where they had to prescribe more and more until it caught the attention of the media and the DEA. Doctors were sanctioned and they then refused to prescribe it all. In fact, they refused to prescribe any narcotic.

So all the people who were now hooked, many unwittingly, were cut off and throw into cold turkey detoxes as there were no medical detoxes available. At $1 a mg on the street a moderate habit costs $200 a day. The illegal drug market blossomed, drug stores were broken into, and a crime wave ensued. Our pharmacist here in the little town of Athens was robbed at knifepoint for oxycontin just recently. This is not the act of a drug dealer but a totally desperate person.

You might wonder how someone could not know a narcotic is addictive. There are a lot of people who don't understand what "habit forming" means until they encounter their first withdrawal. Narcotic withdrawal is excrutiating, physically, mentally and emotionally. Until you've experienced it first hand you can't even imagine what it's like. And I'm sure those who faithfully took their medication every day had no idea either. They like me probably thought "How bad can it be?" It's real bad.

Then there was also the abuse of the drug. This seems to always be more prevalent in economically depressed areas. In Appalachia the median income is way below the national average. There are very few jobs. People rarely go beyond high school if they even complete that. Lives can be bleak and an escape from reality can be attractive.

No one ever takes their first drug planning on becoming an addict.

But most importantly, narcotic addiction was unheard of before oxycontin began to be prescribed.

Should Purdue be held responsible? I personally feel ambivalent about that. I know how every new drug is marketed as the wonder cure for whatever ails you. I haven't been to a doctors office in years where a pharmaceutical salesperson didn't show up while I was waiting to dispense the latest samples. I believe many drugs with FDA approval are further tested on the general population often with disastrous results as has happened with Vioxx. And with Oxycontin as well.

But the key issue to me is not the culpability of the drug company, the doctors or the users but the dispersal of the 10 million dollars. The problem exists for whatever reason. The question is how to treat it.
Lou Giroud08-Nov-2004 15:45
What Rob says here is true. Where do we go if we consider the missuse of things. You can drink a beer a day and its good for the healy, you can drink a case every day and it becomes a drug. You can use shoe polishing paste as a drug, as well as any cleaning product or a simple cup of coffee. Missuse can not be penalised since basicaly the product is not made for what it is used for.
On the other side, you are right and for concerning the money, I cannot remember having seen very often money going to where it was supposed or hoped to go.
Rob Philip08-Nov-2004 15:34
I actually find the Oxycontin thing to be vaguely irrelevant. Picture a company who makes a product that *when properly used* provides a very useful service to society. Picture now that some people choose to go out of the way to damage the product so they can misuse it. Now imagine that that misuse hurts them in some way. In what way was it that hurt the fault of anyone but the individual that misused the product?

Now what's actually funny about this newspaper clipping is that they ran a poll to find out if people thought kids should get out of school to go hunting, and 20% thought they should.
Guest 08-Nov-2004 15:08
I'm voting too.. more people need to see this.
Herb 08-Nov-2004 13:57
10 million is cheap.
Breland08-Nov-2004 13:48
I know that feeling well, the solution never starts at the source.
Jill08-Nov-2004 13:05
Vote!
Guest 08-Nov-2004 12:55
This is typical, people have choices,sometimes they make the wrong ones and end up addicted. Rehabilitation works for they few that have the determination to stay clean. Typically politicians only pay lip service to the rehab programs then throw the blame at the users, Rather than the Guys at the very top end of the Pyramid making and reaping Billions....and then blaming the cops for doing nothing. it disgusts me...
Well done for this posting Karen this deserves a vote from everyone that sees it.
Guest 08-Nov-2004 12:45
Enforcement Enforcement Enforcement!!!