big pharma and the drug epidemic

-Packets of synthetic cannabinoids illegally sold in New York City. Sebastien Malo/Reuters

Thousands of people wound up in emergency rooms as a result of outbreaks in Alabama, Mississippi, and New York in April and May alone.   Some of these cases were linked to MAB-CHMINACA, but others are likely due to synthetic cannabinoids so new they have not been identified....A law passed in Texas on September 1 used a similar approach to prohibit more than 1,000 potential synthetic cannabinoids that are anticipated to appear in future based on trends observed now. http://theconversation.com/labs-make-new-dangerous-synthetic-cannabinoid-drugs-faster-than-we-can-ban-them-47896

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2-16-18    Purdue hired several thousand clinicians on top of that to sing OxyContin’s praises at medical conferences.  The company even offered doctors “all-expenses-paid trips to pain-management seminars in places like Boca Raton.”  The campaign goal: nothing less than changing the prescription habits of America’s doctors.

The campaign succeeded. Purdue won FDA approval for OxyContin in 1995. Almost overnight the drug became a phenomenal medical marketplace success, eventually generating some $35 billion in revenue. The FDA examiner who ran the approval process would later come to work for Purdue.  But problems with OxyContin soon surfaced. People were becoming addicted....

https://inequality.org/great-divide/big-pharma-firm-brought-us-opioid-crisis/

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8-17-18   The synthetic drug K2 suspected to have caused more than 100 overdoses in the New Haven area between Tuesday night and Thursday was contaminated with another synthetic drug called fubinaca, police said Friday, and New Haven police have identified two people arrested in connection with the case.  One form of fubinaca is an "ultrapotent" synthetic cannabinoid known to be 50 to 85 times more powerful than K2.

John Parker (left) and Felix Melendez
Photo credit: New Haven Police Department

Both men have been previously arrested for selling drugs on the Green, police said....

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumental met with New Haven officials Friday and said the new synthetic drugs are "killers" that are coming across borders from China and Mexico.      https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Fubinaca-Found-in-K2-Linked-to-New-Haven-Overdoses-Police--491107461.html

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