The Big Secret Big Pharma Doesn't Want You To Know About
If there’s one thing that this war on drugs and the fear mongering of the reefer madness mentality dogmatists have taught the world, it is that drug dealers are some of the lowest forms of human life on the planet.
Drug dealers destroy lives. Drug dealers are just as bad as murderers. Drug dealers need to be held responsible for the addiction and death that they knowingly market. If a person were to be caught selling heroin, to say, an expecting mother, their arrest would be met with raucous ovation by most and the sentence handed down by any judiciary official would undoubtedly be meted by the harshest available penalty.
That being said, I’d like to introduce you to Insys Therapeutics Incorporated, who during the 2015 financial year reported a net revenue of 330.8 million dollars- a 49% increase from 2014.
The pharmaceutical giant has grown into a medicinal magnate amongst the powerful crowd of prescription narcotics dealers to which it ascribes, edging in with force for a lucrative stake in the provision of care for the suffering population of America. Since January of 2012 Insys Therapeutics have specialized in one drug, Subsys; a specialization that is paying enormous dividends- as the upsurge in the 2015 fiscal year earnings report reflects.
But hey, a pharmacological provider turning an impressive profit isn’t exactly breaking news, nor does it warrant being paralleled with selling heroin to pregnant mothers does it? So what is this Subsys stuff anyway… and why all the suggestive shrapnel?
Good question.
Firstly, Subsys is a prescription medicant spray whose most well-known ingredient is fentanyl. Briefly, (in the event that you are unaware), fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid palliative that is similar to morphine- only it’s described by medical professionals as being between 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The chemical make-up and delivery method of the drug give it bragging rights as the fastest absorbing fentanyl product available on the market.
Good news for cancer patients, right?
After having passed the gavel of approval by the FDA, the use for Subsys was clearly outlined in the FDA approval letter by stating that the sublingual spray only be used, “For the management of breakthrough pain in adult cancer patients who are already receiving and who are tolerant to around-the-clock opioid therapy for their underlying persistent cancer pain.” Basically- it needs to be given solely to cancer patients who have built up an opioid tolerance during their treatment.
The good news ends here: on December the 8th, 2015 six top Insys executives were arrested and charged for fraud and diversion, with charges throwing the weight of these heavy accusations to the corner of the company’s highest administrators; alleging that the former Insys big-wigs, including former Insys CEO Michael L. Babich, Alec Burlakoff, Vice President of Sales and Joseph A. Rowan, former Regional Sales Director were offering bribes and kickbacks to dentists, general practioners and even podiatrists nationwide to “encourage” the recommendation of Subsys for off-label use in patients suffering from ailments as miniscule as a headache.
As many as 20 pain specialists accepted financial enticement from these members of the Insys executive administration, it was discovered as investigations were carried out. A separate study, carried out by the industry analysis group Symphony Health, further shed light on the full scope of these serious infractions to federal law carried out by the companies top guns after a study revealed that only 1% of Subsys prescriptions were written by a cancer specialist- a frightening prospect given the extreme potency of the fentanyl based product.
These trusted professionals of the healthcare community, held in high regard with an influential social standing, assigned with the responsibility of providing near death patients a mode of dealing with the besieging pain that is corroding their very life force, intentionally and wilfully set out to defraud the American public by marketing a highly addictive opiate towards residents experiencing off-label symptoms for seemingly no other reason than financial profit.
These money motivated actions of potentially lethal negligence should infuriate us all.
Imagine going to the podiatrist for foot pain and waking up in the hospital having narrowly escaped a one-on-one with the Almighty because your doctor decided that his kid’s college fund was of more importance than your life. In short: the kickback from the Regional Sales Director of Insys Therapeutics was simply too regal a sum to refuse and the potential for lethal ramifications were ignored in favor of a desirable diploma.
Imagine sending your child to the dentist assuming in full faith that the Hippocratic Oath which they would have made with humble solemnity would be upheld, only to see little Tommy emerge with a slightly less sore tooth and a prescription for a medication designed to be assigned to dying cancer patients.
Would seeing your son being given a medication that plays a prominent role in the 35,000 opiate related overdoses that occur every year give you cause for alarm?
I’m sure you’re beginning to realize as this information takes root that there’s a lot that can be read in the fine print of the Subsys scandal, that much is certain. Whether you’re a concerned parent, a concerned patient or merely a concerned citizen, there is no less a reason to fear simply because the danger is originating from behind the illusory safety of a white smock and stethoscope rather than coming from the clutches of a dubious looking character in some dark alley.
Companies like Insys want to provide this illusion of safety. Their profit depends on it. Their profit also depends on one other thing... and that’s keeping cannabis well within the status of an outlawed herb. The simple truth is that the medical efficacy of marijuana makes it a major threat to the livelihood of those involved in the manufacture of synthetic medicines… they need to either stamp it out or control it, which brings me to the revelation of another big secret that big pharma doesn’t want you to know about; a secret often attributed by prohibition supporters as absurd conspiracy theorism or stoned fantasy.
See, while Insys was busy bribing physicians and dentists to prescribe cancer medication for toothaches, they had one hand behind their back feeding hundreds of thousands of dollars to an organization that actively and vehemently protests the legalization of marijuana.
There’s no conjecture behind that statement either.
Pharmaceutical bullies Insys recently bestowed one of the largest single donations to an anti-marijuana campaign ever.
The result of these actions is introducing cannabis to an irony that is a slap in the face to marijuana activists worldwide. On one hand, a company that is in the business of making legal drugs is under investigation for sketchy advertising practices that have damaged the health of hundreds of thousands of US citizens and sent others to an early grave, yet they self-righteously donate ornate sums of money to help keep cannabis illegal under the guise of protecting the health of the American population from a plant that is responsible for zero deaths to date.
So next time you hear a prohibition supporter claiming prescription medication and the sources from whence they originate as a safer alternative to outlawed organics, consider referring them to this information.
The false narrative, financially motivated agenda spun by big pharma is a spell that needs to be broken once and for all.
That being said, stay healthy folks... a visit to your general practitioner might get you more than you bargained for.
Peace,
James (Is Back! With his series, Through The Eyes of A Stoner on Cannabis.net)
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