MORE ABOUT OPIOIDS

For decades, opioids like OxyContin, hydrocodone, morphine, and fentanyl were marketed as a miracle solution to the age-old problem of pain relief for people dealing with pain. But with the relief came a serious risk of addiction. Examples of prescription opioids include, but are not limited to: Codeine, Hydrocodone (name brand Vicodin®), Morphine (name brands Kadian®, Avinza®), Oxycodone (name brands OxyContin®, Percocet®) and Tramadol.

It’s estimated that more than 55,000 Americans die each year from a drug overdose, which has become the leading cause of death of individuals under the age of 50. Sixty percent of these deaths are caused by opioids. The jump in fatalities over the past 15 years has been staggering, a more than three-times increase. In 2012, the number of opioid prescriptions peaked at more than 255 million, or 81.3 prescriptions for every 100 people in the United States. According to government numbers, there are more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions dispensed every day in the U.S. By 2014, the U.S., with about 5 percent of the global population, consumed about 80 percent of the opioid supply in the world, making it a $24 billion market.

With the U.S. in the grips of an opioid crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, the pharmaceutical manufacturers have made billions of dollars. The family that owns Purdue Pharma, the Sacklers, have become one of the wealthiest families in the country, with a net worth that reached as high as $14 billion in 2015, largely on the strength of the opioid OxyContin’s profits. The family was ranked by Forbes to be among the top 20 richest in the U.S. Other Big Pharma opioid manufacturers under intense scrutiny include companies such as McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), Endo International, Teva Pharmaceutical, Allergan (formerly Actavis), Watson Pharmaceuticals, Covidien, and Johnson & Johnson.