lpq's Journal: Government creates new generation of Heroin addicts

I first wrote this as a response to This slashdot article, but I thought the PR spin on the outcome was SO bogusly crocked, I had to mark this in my journal. Note, this isn't the only drug the government has gotten involved with and contributed to further hell for patients already having problems, nor is it the first time the government cure has worse effects that the original problem -- they are famous for that (prohibition, (both the alcohol one, and the marijuana one))...It's just another one that they've managed to spindoctor into a great triumph message that those who don't need such drugs can join in and feel morally smug about.
*kkgagahkk*

Original writing below:

I thought I was having a flashback -- at least 4-5 years ago... same exact article. Except then, it was still call Hillbilly Heroin" because most of the abusers were in Appalachia with the drug taking the place of more toxic and more dangerous heroin.

But this article does bring the update of "yesterdays" crackdown on pain meds. From the base article:

None of the men and women I spoke with used street heroin before taking OxyContin. All of them used it after using OxyContin. In fact, since Purdue Pharma introduced a reformulated OxyContin in 2010 containing chemical safety-nets meant to render it less easily abused â" the pills no longer dissolve in water, making them more difficult to cook and shoot intravenously â" the number of addicts switching to heroin has skyrocketed.

It's a good thing the FDA has done their job and gotten people off the legally addictive drugs -- so now they can have to scrounge and take their chances of dying from O.D. just like every other addict.

Meanwhile, those who really needed OC for pain find that since it doesn't dissolve in water -- it doesn't dissolve in your body as well either (we are over 60% water, w/the brain being over 70% water -- which is, of course, where the drug "acts" -- so the fact that it no longer dissolves in water significantly reduces its effectiveness requiring doubling or more the pain dosage. At the same time, Purdue was able to get the FDC to block out competitors in the market unless they could prove their 'generic' was as hard to abuse as Purdue's -- which Purdue had another 20-30 year patent on. The price for single doses tripled with the new formulation and now many health plans charge extra for that drug because it is 'brand' (despite there being no generic substitute on the market) -- and users need more of it.

So AGAIN, the FDA, who was *paid* to do this (they call it a fine -- what Purdue paid to the FDA), so now Purdue's profits on the drug have skyrocketed even as usage has declined. Triple the price and reduce the effectiveness of the drug by 40%... That's. 4.8 x profit / pill. They expected a smaller market -- but made sure they have a 20-year patent to lock the market into them as the sole providers.

So Purdue makes big money, the FDA look like 'tough guys', abusers move to heroin and everyone is happy! Except maybe those for whom the drug was designed in the first place who find they have their severe or chronic pain made all the worse with the higher prices, needing a higher dose, which doctors, not knowing about the formulation's effects (they don't take it, well not usually), always interpret as the patient developing 'tolerance' and and that "addiction is becoming a problem" --
to which they then try to divert the patient to less effective or more dangerous alternatives (like injectible morphine).

Yeah... another big win by BIG Pharma and a way to spin the story so that Big Pharma looks like they got punished, and the FDA protected us.
And then you can read a bunch of red-neck commentaries on slashdot about the moral superiority of those aren't in regular pain...lording it over those who are:

            what a load of self-inflating, self-gratifying, crap.