Are Pharma Companies Exploiting those Trapped in Addiction?
On the first of February 2016, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin delivered the annual State of the State Address in which she acknowledged that funding substance abuse services was a critical core service of the state. She knows this problem well, having previously noted that prescription drug overdoses in Oklahoma quadrupled between 1999 and 2012.
She’s also recognized that more Oklahomans die from legal prescription drugs than from alcohol and illegal drugs combined. Oklahoma stays near the top of the list of states struggling with prescription drug problems, despite the many efforts taken by state agencies to curb the abuse of these drugs.
Just six days after her speech, a Super Bowl commercial played off this sad situation. This was the advertisement announcing a new “disease” — Opioid Induced Constipation or OIC. The ad showed a sad man who was incapable of a normal bowel movement because he had to take painkillers for chronic pain. One survey of long-term users of painkillers showed that 81% of these patients suffered from constipation as a result.
The ad sold no medication directly, but suggested that the viewer see his doctor and ask about prescription treatment options. The ad was sponsored by a number of pain foundations and AstraZeneca (in the U.S.) and Daiichi Sankyo (in Japan), companies working together to market their new prescription drug for constipation, Movantik.
Was this New Ad Exploitive?
Surely, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo have not missed the fact that an increasing number of painkiller prescriptions means there’s more customers for Movantik. But people dealing with chronic pain are not the only type of customer these companies might be trying to capture. Here are three more:
People who abuse and are addicted to painkillers like OxyContin, morphine, codeine or hydrocodone, among others.
People who are using or addicted to illicit drugs like opium, heroin or the new addition to this list: illicitly-manufactured fentanyl. Fentanyl is an incredibly strong painkiller that has mostly been restricted to hospital use because of the danger of overdose. Recently, illicit labs have been manufacturing this drug and it’s being sold on the street.
People being treated for addiction with medication-assisted treatment (MAT). While there are drug-free methods of getting one’s life back, some state and federal agencies are backing MAT programs that supply methadone or buprenorphine to the recovering addict. Both are addictive opioids and are also abused by addicts.
All four of these groups are subject to constant constipation.
White House Senior Staffer Pushes Back
Not everyone was thrilled with this Super Bowl ad. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough tweeted: “Next year, how about fewer ads that fuel opioid addiction and more on access to treatment.”
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, senior scientist at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management, also weighed in on this situation. He said, “You have these ads coming out normalizing long-term use of opioids for a chronic pain problem. There’s no question that their ads make this very dangerous and questionable medical practice seem normal.”
Gradually, the medical and dental professions are beginning to demand retraining of doctors and dentists to reduce the number of pills in circulation and begin to fight our epidemic of addiction and overdoses. But it is a slow process.
In the meantime, recovery from addiction at Narconon Arrowhead in Oklahoma is now and has always been drug-free. The Narconon rehabilitation program has a fifty-year history of empowering an addicted person with the ability to live a drug-free life. Instead of a drug like methadone substituting for the drug a person was addicted to – and instead of needing another drug to handle the resulting constipation — a truly drug-free life is possible. Contact Narconon Arrowhead today to learn how your own future can be productive, enjoyable and 100% drug-free.
http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2016/02/dental-schools-opioid
