Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Oral argument December 23 2023, Harrington v. Purdue Pharma

Court conflicted over Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan that shields Sacklers from liability, SCOTUSblog, Amy Howe. Conflicted? There is nothing to be conflicted about with Purdue and the US Opioid Epidemic. As was pointed out repeatedly. The Supporting Facts Leading to the Cause of the Opioid Epidemic is pretty simple. Purdue promoted the use of opioids […]

Buprenorphine Naloxone & Naltrexone

I think the main practical point is that pharmacological treatment of opioid addiction is effective and yet not as easily available as it should be. Not all opioid use disorder (OUD) specialized treatment programs offer medication assisted treatment (I have a somewhat out of date report that in 2017 “only … 35.5% offered any single […]

Who is Deciding How to Spend $50 Billion in Opioid Settlement Cash?

Angry Bear has been writing about the Opioid epidemic and what has been influencing it for years. I was asked to write on it by an association and continued to do so. It would seem there should be more money coming forth from companies who promoted its use. If we go back and read the […]

The Economic Toll of the Opioid Crisis Reached Nearly $1.5 Trillion in 2020

The other day I posted some charts covering drug addiction. in the US. The first Bar Chart below matches up with Figure 3 in that post “Drug Overdose Death Rates in the US,” Angry Bear. Today’s post as taken from the Senate Joint Economic Committee fleshes out the numbers cited there and also here in […]

Drug Overdose Death Rates in the US

This post is more of a copy and paste. If you read the sections and then the original piece, you will see I have changed some of the wording to accommodate the post itself. For example, the charts appear to the right of the wording rather than above. For the longest time, I could not […]

W.Va. Court Rules in Favor of Drug Wholesalers

“Federal judge in W.Va. rules in favor of drug distributors in landmark opioid trial,” (WCHS). Why I think the judge’s ruling is BS. The City of Huntington and the County of Cabell sued three drug companies (Wholesalers) responsible for distributing hydrocodone and oxycodone or opioids. Their claim was AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc., and […]

Is ‘Big Pharma’ To Blame For the Opioid Crisis?

That is a pretty dumb question. There are still some who claim they are not even to blame or responsible after a couple of decades of Pharma spreading around this poison. Now some are trying to make the others who are restricting the use of legal drugs the enemy. Some opening points before I get […]

Low Income Families Spend Tax Credit on Basic Needs and Education

This topic is blowing up in the news. Politicians claiming recipients are laying out cash for drugs and other unneeded things. Funny thing, they didn’t give a damn when 20 million hydrocodone and oxycodone tabs showed up at five pharmacies in 4 small towns having a total population of ~22000 in 2016. Gotta keep those […]

U.S. Seeks to Block Bankruptcy Plan That Would Free Sacklers From Opioid Claims

“The Justice Department moved on Thursday to block a bankruptcy plan that grants broad legal immunity to the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, whose drug OxyContin has been at the heart of the nation’s opioid epidemic. William K. Harrington, the U.S. trustee for the Justice Department, filed a motion in federal court to halt confirmation of […]