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Chet Ruminski Wrote: I wonder if $4000 a month for vs $30 a month for Arthritis pain medication has anything to do with the war on opioids. I keep hearing these commercials about Xeljanyz having these bothersome side effects. So I looked into it and came across the almost $4000/month cost for Xeljanyz. Are the cheap opioid prices driving pain relief druggist crazy? Forcing them to look for government help. No war on drugs has ever worked so why this?
I'm confused here. What does a non-opioid based pain medication for arthritis have to do with the opioid epidemic?
The opioid epidemic is most certainly the fault of Big Pharma generally and Purdue Pharma specifically. They created Oxycontin in the early 1990's and spent billions of dollars lobbying doctors around the country to prescribe it for pretty much any chronic pain ailment. The doctors then began prescribing this opioid at astronomical rates, which then created an entire generation of addicts. Doctors and the government finally woke up and began dramatically limiting the number of prescriptions for opioids, but they had already opened a Pandora's box that they could no longer contain.
Millions of Americans were suddenly without a valid prescription for their pain (either actual or mental) and so they turned to the black market to get help. The vicious cycle will never end until we have a more compassionate way of working with drug addicts and move away from a criminal mindset and towards a mental health mindset.
I also can't help but notice how we as a country talk about the opioid crisis versus the crack-cocaine crisis. It's sad how we saw no problem locking up hundreds of thousands of addicts who smoked a rock, but now somehow see the light and want to "help" those addicted to heroin and fentanyl.
Can it possible be because those who smoked a rock had a different skin color than those who are addicted to heroin?