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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 21 2015, @12:01AM
The problem IS the legal medication. Addiction is not medically dangerous, if treated as a medical condition. The legal and illegal medications simply cost too much. They are after all herbal medicines at their base. This is due to the War on Some Drugs. It is also a war on Physicians, who live in fear of the DEA, and a war on people who are in pain. "Those people" are considered by society to be expendable. Just legalize all of those drugs. Keep the corrupt, incompetent, stupid govt. out of it. In the UK, heroin addicts got their daily dose from the Health Service, and led normal lives, holding jobs, raising families, and paying taxes. Most addicts will eventually taper themselves off unless the Prison-Industrial Complex gets them first.