11/05/2023
Why did this crisis happen?
"The epidemic was precipitated by a massive regulatory failure, partly because the FDA was co-opted by a pharmaceutical industry irresponsibly pursuing profits: the FDA regulator who oversaw the approval of OxyContin, Dr Curtis Wright, left the agency shortly afterwards, and later took a job at Purdue. But the crisis spiralled out of control because of conditions in US society, from a healthcare system that favours prescribing drugs over other solutions, to the existence of a huge network for distributing illegal drugs."
"The cost in unemployment, broken lives and misery is impossible to calculate."
For the past 20 years, the US has been battling a devastating public health crisis caused by powerful painkillers
