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posted by takyon on Sunday September 20 2015, @01:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the little-call-flood-for-big-pharma dept.

Addiction to heroin and other opiates is a growing problem in the USA, as Presidential hopefuls have learned from Q&A sessions with voters on the campaign trail (previous SN story here).

Tired of encountering dead bodies, the police department of Gloucester, MA (an old city with a large commercial fishing industry) decided to appeal for the public's help in a rather interesting way, via a department Facebook post:

Gotta go make some calls.....

Top 5 Pharmaceutical CEO Salaries:

5. Eli Lilly - John Lechleiter $14.48 million
jlechleiter@lilly.com 317-276-2000

4. Abbott Labs - Miles D. White $17.7 million
miles.d.white@abbott.com 847-937-6100

3. Merck - Kenneth C. Frazier
$25 million + cool private jet.
ken.frazier@merck.com 908-423-1000

2. Johnson & Johnson - Alex Gorsky $20.38 million
ceo@jnj.com 732-524-0400

1. Pfizer - Ian Read $23.3 million
ian.read@pfizer.com 212-573-2323

They're all on Forbes Top 100 CEO salaries as well.

In 2013 The Huffington Post reported that the 11 largest pharmaceutical companies made $711 BILLION in profits in the last decade while their CEO's made a combined $1.57 BILLION in the same period.

Now...don't get mad. Just politely ask them what they are doing to address the opioid epidemic in the United States and if they realize that the latest data shows almost 80% of addicted persons start with a legally prescribed drug that they make. They can definitely be part of the solution here and I believe they will be....might need a little push.

takyon: A newer Facebook post says that Pfizer is in contact with the Gloucester Police Department.


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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday September 20 2015, @07:58PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 20 2015, @07:58PM (#239004) Journal

    Perhaps it should be legalized, but it's quite important that it not be allowed to be advertized. For this reason I'm generally in favor of keeping it illegal, but making the penalty for possession $0.25, and possession for sale a penalty of $5.00.

    There may be a better way to accomplish the same end, but I don't know what they are. Certainly tobacco and alcohol are too advertized to fit what I deem reasonable.

    OTOH, there should be a STRONG penalty, say 10 years without parole, for selling adulterated addictive drugs. (E.g., tobacco mixed with any ingredients that are not clearly revealed to the purchaser, probably on a label.)

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by urza9814 on Tuesday September 22 2015, @02:00PM

    by urza9814 (3954) on Tuesday September 22 2015, @02:00PM (#239938) Journal

    Perhaps it should be legalized, but it's quite important that it not be allowed to be advertized. For this reason I'm generally in favor of keeping it illegal, but making the penalty for possession $0.25, and possession for sale a penalty of $5.00.

    There may be a better way to accomplish the same end, but I don't know what they are. Certainly tobacco and alcohol are too advertized to fit what I deem reasonable.

    I think the way they do cigarettes here in the US is a pretty good option. Can't advertise on TV, can't advertise on radio, can't sponsor events, can't give away samples, can't sell from vending machines, have to put warnings on every ad and every package, can't market or sell to children....About the only place they *can* still advertise is in the window of the shop that sells 'em. And maybe magazines?

    OTOH, there should be a STRONG penalty, say 10 years without parole, for selling adulterated addictive drugs. (E.g., tobacco mixed with any ingredients that are not clearly revealed to the purchaser, probably on a label.)

    Some exec just got 28 years for selling adulterated peanut butter. I don't think we need new laws here, just make sure the existing ones are enforced.