A grim fairy tale
Do you remember the tale of Little Red Riding Hood?
It’s the first thing that popped into mind when I heard that the makers of OxyContin (the trade name for oxycodone), the potent painkiller, pleaded guilty to misleading the public.
Medical doctors expressed concern to Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, about the safety of the drug and its potential for addiction. The company responded by giving false information to its sales representatives to trickle down to these doctors, allowing the doctors to believe it was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other painkillers.
That was found to be criminally inaccurate and misrepresented.
OxyContin has been found to be the exact opposite of the manufacturer’s claims in regard to its drawbacks and on a par with the doctors’ concerns: highly addictive, highly abusable, and extremely dangerous. It’s a time-release medication that was designed for swallowing whole. But if it’s ground up and swallowed or inhaled, it can create a heroin-type high.
Over a five-year period, there was a 400 percent increase in oxycodone-related deaths in this country that correlated with an increase in OxyContin prescriptions.
The company has pleaded guilty to making these misleading statements and has been fined $634.5 million. And just two days prior to the plea, they had agreed to pay almost $20 million to over half the states in the country in order to settle complaints that they’d encouraged doctors to over-prescribe OxyContin.
This follows with what I tell you all the time: Question every prescription your doctor suggests or tries to give you. See if there isn’t a more natural alternative to his suggested medication, which he could possibly be suggesting or prescribing for completely ulterior reasons—such as getting free baseball tickets from his favorite pharmaceutical rep.
And remember the story of Little Red Riding Hood, which centers on someone’s pretending to be something (or in that case someone) he’s not. Remember that the wolf masquerades as the little girl’s grandmother in order to achieve his own hidden agenda (a meal for himself). Ask yourself if there could be any hidden agenda or motive underlying anyone’s actions that revolve around the products of Big Pharma. And don’t be surprised if you find a wolf underneath a grandmother’s clothing.
