Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a full week of working and writing and kids. It has been busy, but I was able to get quite a bit of writing done this weekend, so I’m feeling pretty good about that.
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Anyway, enough about that. Today I wanted to talk about a documentary I watched over the weekend, and it relates to what Mike Hamp is trying to raise awareness about. It is the opiate epidemic. The documentary is called “The Pharmacist.”
To check out the trailer for “The Pharmacist, click here.
It brings to light the prevailing problem of doctors who are writing prescriptions for the drug Oxycontin. These doctors are making a lot of money prescribing this highly addictive drug for people who need it to manage pain. The documentary reveals how “pill mills” have sprung up and shows how doctors keep writing prescriptions for this drug long after it is needed. Many have lost their medical licenses and some have even gone to prison.
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It’s an excellent example of what happens when there’s no one regulating the drug industry. Oxycontin is a great drug for managing pain, but it is highly addictive. There are many doctors who took advantage of people by prescribing this drug. When authorities started getting involved and they were no longer able to prescribe Oxycontin. People who were addicted turned to heroin.
It reminds me of the tobacco industry and how they made their cigarettes more addictive by adding nicotine. This documentary illustrates what happens when no one monitors an industry. The doctors created “pill mills” to make money at the expense of the public. The drug company manufactured the pills, but it was the doctors who ultimately wrote the prescriptions.
Photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com on Visual Hunt / CC BY
This is the opiate epidemic that Mike Hamp is walking for. If you have a few spare moments, check out the documentary. It is very informative and shows what the public is up against.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. How do you feel about the opiate epidemic? Should drug companies be monitored? Or should it be the doctors? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
The trouble with capitalism is that everything is fine in the game of making money. This is certainly not the first case, we have witnessed many such instances. The plot opens only after a couple of years till then the damage is already done.
You are so right, Arv! We should have regulated this right from the beginning. 😦
I know. Unfortunately, capitalism finds its own ways. Like any other system, it has pitfalls too. In many ways, capitalism is quite discriminating. Power and money rules in capitalism.
You’ve got that right, Arv!
I have a friend with chonic pain who’s had her meds basically taken away due to the crackdown on pain meds because of the doctor-manufactured opiate crisis–she’s an innocent bystander suffering like many others thanks to these doctors!
I’m sorry to hear that. This situation is so frustrating, especially for people who are using the medication correctly and not abusing it. Shame on those doctors for exploiting this situation for their own benefit. 😦
Big Pharma and certain doctors (not all) are to blame for creating this epidemic. Like the girl said in the trail, Oxycontin is heroine in a pill. Purdue knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, it’s all about the money, and not the well-being of humans. Great post, Lisa!
You are so right, Sharon! It’s so frustrating. We see this time and time again. We need to do something about this so it doesn’t happen again.