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US needs to invest 'tens of billions or hundreds of billions' to fight opioid epidemic
The goal of an opioid is to reduce pain, but the addictive drugs are creating pain for millions of families suffering through the crisis. Deaths from opioid overdoses number at least 42,000 a year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control.
"This is an epidemic that's been getting worse over 10 to 20 years," Caleb Alexander, co-director of Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety, told CNBC's "On The Money" in a recent interview. "I think it's important that we have realistic expectations about the amount of work that it will take and the amount of coordination to turn this steamship around," Alexander added.
[...] Alexander added: "The statistics are stunning. More than 2.1 million Americans have an opioid use disorder or opioid addiction" and he says the country needs to "invest tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars" to shore up the treatment system. He said patients should be able to access medications that "we know work to help reduce the cravings for further opioids."
Don't mention the Portugal model!
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Attorney General is suing members of the family that runs Purdue Pharma:
Their family name graces some of the nation's most prestigious bastions of culture and learning — the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Guggenheim Museum, the Sackler Lefcourt Center for Child Development in Manhattan and the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Columbia University, to name a few.
Now the Sackler name is front and center in a lawsuit accusing the family and the company they own and run, Purdue Pharma, of helping to fuel the deadly opioid crisis that has killed thousands of Americans. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey took the unusual step of naming eight members of the Sackler family this week in an 80-page complaint that accused Purdue Pharma of spinning a "web of illegal deceit" to boost profits.
While prosecutors in more than a dozen other states hit hard by the opioid epidemic have sued Purdue Pharma, Healey is the first to name individual Sackler family members, along with eight company executives.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 18 2018, @04:32PM (9 children)
There is a longstanding perception that individuals within a corporation can't be held accountable for the corporation's actions and decisions. We constantly hear that you can't go after this person or that, because some entity called "The Corporation" is responsible. Well, dammit, individuals sit in the boardroom, and agree to take certain actions. THOSE INDIVIDUALS need to be held accountable, along with their CEO's. Helluva woman! Go get those drug pushing criminals!! Maura Healey is the latest addition to my short list of heroes!
Drag the family name through the mud, leave them smelling like shit. Hopefully, their name will become like the name of Benedict Arnold - NO ONE in the US wants to be associated with it. The family legacy of being drug pushers is the lagacy that needs to be remembered.
Just fuck you, man. You're criminals, and no state really wants to collaborate with drug pushing criminals. No, you don't get to negotiate a fine, pay it, then go right back to "business as usual". Bailiff is going to whack your pee-pee! You may even spend some time behind bars! That's where all the street drug pushers vacation - you should join them!
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday June 18 2018, @04:52PM
> There is a longstanding perception that individuals within a corporation can't be held accountable for the corporation's actions and decisions
Not in UK. In particular, corporate manslaughter can result in the CEO going to jail, and in this instance the burden of proof is reversed i.e. the defendant is responsible for demonstrating that they were looking out for safety issues.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday June 18 2018, @05:56PM (3 children)
I have to strongly agree.
A corporation seems to be a fiction invented to protect people from the consequences of their own actions. As you say: "the corporation did it".
But in fact, people did it.
If the consequences of their actions could bite them, then they might be more thoughtful.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday June 18 2018, @06:09PM (2 children)
Actually, the corporation was invented to allow a group of people to invest in something where they couldn't tell the details of what was going on. The minor stockholders are (properly?) immune to losing more than they have invested. When that immunity is extended to the board of directors or the executives of the corporation .... well, that's just wrong. And, in fact, it doesn't really extend that far. The problem is it is usually applied as if it extended that far, and, in fact, it has been made unreasonably difficult to "pierce the corporate veil".
If I remember correctly back from a comment on Groklaw those who own more than a particular percentage of the stock (I can't remember whether it was 5% or 10%) are not immune to having the corporate veil pierced. The problem is it isn't usually done, and it's unreasonably difficult to do, requiring an excessively high amount of evidence beforehand.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday June 18 2018, @06:40PM (1 child)
I don't think you do remember correctly.
Piercing the corporate veil [wikipedia.org] refers to going after the assets of an individual holding only stock.
It is somewhat orthogonal to going after a corporation or the board for violations of the law or liability for damages.
Going after the board is common. Reference any of the recent very public trials or upcoming one. Ask Elizabeth Holmes.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Monday June 18 2018, @07:16PM
And then (as if by clockwork) we have a new story posted: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/06/18/134251 [soylentnews.org]
Audi CEO Arrested for Role in Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Scandal
CEO. (Stock holdings unknown, but probably not all that much).
Audi Parent company, VW as a company, has not actually suffered all that much in the dieselgate scandal.
Stock holders took a brief hit, well on the way to recovery now. Nobody trying to jail them.
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-vw-sales-20170110-story.html [latimes.com]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18 2018, @05:58PM
What, you want corps to be people when it's not to their advantage instead of just when it helps those people? What are you, a socialist?
This in a nutshell is why Romney's comment was so infuriating.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday June 18 2018, @08:50PM
The officers and directors of every corporation have certain fiduciary duties that if they fail to fulfill they can be sued or even prosecuted
One such duty is that they must ensure the corporation pays its taxes. If it doesn't the IRS and state tax authorities will collect from the CEO personally perhaps by putting liens on his real property
That's a legal Term Of Art and if you google it you will doubtlessly find yourself enjoying many pleasant hours as you read all about tax and corporate law.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:55AM (1 child)
Of course, that's a US-centric view. To everyone else, Arnold was the only one of the bunch who stayed loyal to his home country.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:40PM
I'm aware of that, but thank you for stating what should be obvious. Yes, Benedict remained loyal to the king he had sworn allegiance to. But, he did betray his friends and associates in the colonies. It's not clearcut right or wrong, really.