OxyContin Maker, Execs Fined $634.5M

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Yahoo/AP

Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of OxyContin, and three of its executives were ordered to pay a $634.5 million fine on Friday for misleading the public about the painkiller's risk of addiction.

U.S. District Judge James Jones levied the fine on Purdue, its top lawyer and former president and former chief medical officer after a hearing that lasted about four-and-a-half hours. The hearing included statements by numerous people who said their lives were changed forever by the addiction potential of OxyContin, a trade name for a long-acting form of the painkiller oxycodone.

Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected.

From 1996 to 2001, the number of oxycodone-related deaths nationwide increased fivefold while the annual number of OxyContin prescriptions increased nearly 20-fold, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In 2002, the DEA said the drug caused 146 deaths and contributed to another 318.



Read more: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070720/oxycontin_plea.html?.v=4

[whistle]

1. Rush Limbaugh should be next to pay such a fine for the advocacy

...of using this drug among young people because he posed as a celebrity role model who got away with it!

[Paula Sims]

2. So Rush WAS a "poor victim"

It wasn't his fault. He couldn't help himself. It was the drugs talking in his head forcing his housekeeper to buy it illegally. :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

Paula

[Psephos]

22. He's loathesome, but as Gore Jr has shown, drug addiction is not related to politics

I hear you loud and clear re: Limpballs. But I think we should confine our slams to his politics, not his medical problems.

Medically and biologically, he's in the same boat as Patches Kennedy and young Gore. When we smear addicts for their addictions, we retard the day when the treatment of all addicts can be freed from obsolete concepts of moral failure.

[truthisfreedom]

3. "the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected."

So, Sue Lindsey, Associated Press Writer, why not include an instruction manual for ingesting it to get high?

Fucking idiot. All you just did, Ms Lindsey, is get more kids hooked on Oxycontin.

[poverlay]

5. I don't know Ms. Lindsey from a hole in the ground, but that is a bit unfair. That information is

all over the net and the MSM. When the doctor gave me oxycodone I went right home to research it and that information popped up fairly quickly...

[MrPrax]

10. The Children! The Children!

Isn't Ms. Lindsay just lying.

"Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected."

You can get addicted to them in the prescribed manner as easily as the unprescribed manner. This is why the company is being fined. They are being fined for it's stated use, not it misuse.

Purdue, its top lawyer and former president and former chief medical officer pleaded guilty in May to claiming to doctors that OxyContin was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications. The sentencing Friday ends the national case.


For Fans of the Friday Dump!!!

(scrolling down)

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani played a central role!!!!! in negotiating on behalf of Purdue with federal prosecutors, but Jones said "I completely reject" suggestions that political influence resulted in a lesser punishment for Purdue.

Many of the nearly 20 speakers called for jail terms for Friedman, Udell and Goldenheim, saying the fines were a small price for the devastation to lives from OxyContin addiction.

"Money can't buy all the lives that are lost," said Robert Palmisano, 23, who said he was addicted to OxyContin for four years but has been off the drug for 17 months.

Attorneys for the three executives said giving them criminal convictions was punishment enough, and noted they were charged because of their job titles, not because they themselves promoted OxyContin as a drug with little addiction potential.

Yahoo!! Biz --

[Occulus]

12. The upside is

I was twice offered heroin- and declined both times, mostly because it was a used needle- and now I know how to feel a high 'like' heroin- but without the heroin!

So now I can at last live my lifelong dream of knowing what each and every drug known to humanity feels like without actually taking each and every drug! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

:sarcasm:

[Solon]

18. That's somewhat dumb to claim, the thing about kids is that they will figure this stuff out...

and are more likely than not to NOT read this article, it wouldn't interest them. The information for this, and many other things that are illegal or in the gray area of legality are readily available on the Internet. She didn't say anything new here, nor is it secret.

[zanne]

4. They'll probably wind up paying $10 million or less.

And there's one thing that really fries my ass about painkillers. People who take them do so because of pain, and because said pain caused their doctors to write a prescription for them. I know somebody who was very addicted to Oxycontin. To look at him, you'd never guess it. A really good person, intelligent and friendly. He finally went into treatment for his addiction where he was blamed for becoming addicted, lectured about irresponsibility and just generally treated like shit.

I guess it shows that I don't care for the type of treatment addicts get in general. For addictions like alcohol, sedatives, speed, etc. I can see how some people might be so deep in denial that they need such treatment. But pain killers? NO WAY. I say if a pain killer is addictive, it's not the patient's fault; it's the scientific community that can't come up with a non-addictive pill. And it is the pharmaceutical company that marketed the pill that is to blame. END of rant. Carry on.

[sandnsea]

11. That's unusual

Treatment used to consist of educating clients on the disease concept, which clearly states a person is not responsible for becoming an addict - only responsible for their daily recovery. I can't imagine what kind of changes could have been made for them to start blaming people for their addiction. That doesn't even make any sense.

[zanne]

13. In the real world

Treatment isn't as "genteel" as you describe. I went to one of this man's group sessions and they really poured the blame on thick. I left there steaming.

[sandnsea]

14. It's not blame

It's confrontation to break through the denial. Such as, you knew you weren't using these according to the directions, why didn't you tell the doctor straight away. If a person doesn't recognize the lies they used to enable their own addiction, they won't be armed when those lies start popping into their head in the future. Once addicted, your brain is going to work just like every other addicts. That's reality, not blame.

[ProudDad]

6. This is TOTALLY FUCKED

"The fines are to be distributed to state and federal law enforcement agencies, the federal government, federal and state Medicaid programs, a Virginia prescription monitoring program and individuals who had sued the company. About $5 million will go toward a six-year company program to monitor compliance with the agreement."

The fucking cops and "law enforcement" shouldn't get SHIT!!!

Every God Damn Penny should go for treatment on demand!!!!

End the Fucking Phony "war on drugs" NOW, GOD DAMN IT...

[daleo]

7. Legalized marijuana would probably be a lot safer

And a lot cheaper, especially since you could grow it with you tomatoes.

[davidwparker]

8. I had to take some after surgery. The pills are very small. I never thought

to chew them.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

9. Did I hear something about Giuliani advocating for this Drug?

I could be mistaken.

But if true, would be interesting in this new light.


I found this after a quick search:

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2007/giuliani-accused-of-shielding.html

[goodgd_yall]

16. Giuliani negotiated a smaller pay-out is what I read n/t

[goodgd_yall]

17. Here's the excerpt

"Jones placed the company on probation for five years and each of the executives on probation for three years. He also ordered the three to perform 400 hours of community service related to prevention of prescription drug abuse.

"Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani played a central role in negotiating on behalf of Purdue with federal prosecutors, but Jones said "I completely reject" suggestions that political influence resulted in a lesser punishment for Purdue."

[goodgd_yall]

15. They should have gotten jail time too. n/t

[silverojo]

19. Who on earth DIDN'T know about its addiction potential?

People have been getting high on this crap forever. Any painkiller has the potential for addiction. I hate big pharma as much as anybody, but anyone who was seriously stupid enough to think they could take a hardcore painkiller like this and not get hooked...somebody must've beaten the hell out of them with a stupid stick.

[allisonthegreat]

20. different slant on it...

Those that partook of the drug knew it was a drug so they should not have been "victims". Any or most pain killers have the capacity to be addictive. But pleeeez put some responsibility on these patients for Christ sakes.

[stressfulreality]

21. HOLY SHIT THATS A SHIT LOAD OF SCRATCH n/t

[MiserableFailure]

23. Most controlled substances carry a risk of addiction

Anyone with a brain realizes this. Are we going to sue the makers of Adderall and Ritalin next for getting addicted to those and abusing them? I have a Vicodin prescription as well as an Adderall prescription and I have never abused either.

Let's talk to the millions of Americans who have found relief from severe pain thanks to OxyContin. I know I couldn't survive without Vicodin. But no that would make too much sense to hear from them. Let's just hear from the drug abusers instead.

Doctors tell you about the danger of becoming addicted but that really only happens when you abuse it, like taking more than your prescribed dose. It's no one's fault but your own if you choose to do that.

Christ, why don't we just sue Sudafed for producing a medicine containining pseudoephedrine that can be used to make methamphetamine. That's an abuse of the drug and that's what we're saying here

Verdicts like this make me sick

[Joe Bacon]

24. Does this bring tears to the eyes of the Pigboy??????

Maybe Rush is just too high to cry!