In the fall of 2017, President Trump directed the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency. According to The New York Times, opioid overdoses are currently the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years old, causing around 64,000 deaths last year. This epidemic disproportionately effects rural communities more than other communities. Statistics from the New York State Department of Health show that in 2014, St. Lawrence County had over 350 inpatient hospital admissions due to opioids per 100,000 people.
A lot of the blame for this health crisis has been placed on pharmaceutical companies as well as doctors, who may be over-prescribing the highly addictive medication. On February 9 Purdue Pharma, a leading manufacturer of synthetic opioids including OxyContin, announced that they have “restructured and significantly reduced our commercial operation and our sales representatives will no longer promote opioids to prescribers.”
This announcement is significant, as the pharmaceutical company is acknowledging that drug representatives can influence doctors prescribing medications. Up until this point, many drug companies have claimed that doctors make the decision to prescribe medication based solely on studies and drug information. Though doctors are meant to be immune to manipulation, studies have shown that small gifts from drug representatives can influence prescription rates.
In the United States, pharmaceutical companies are allowed to advertise not only to physicians but also directly to the consumer because of relaxed FDA regulations. This is different from other countries and, according to multiple studies, can have a noticeable effect on the consumer. Increased advertising promotes the sale of many drugs, including opioid pain relievers. According to the Center of Disease control in 2013, providers wrote around a quarter of a billion opioid prescriptions, which is enough for every American adult to have their own bottle.
However, many strategies have been developed to counteract this rising health concern. Some of these steps include re-educating health care providers on the dangers and benefits of these highly addicting medications. Through more complete pain management education, doctors will be better able to prescribe less addictive therapies or non-medication treatments to patients, decreasing overall exposure to opioids. Other strategies include increasing access and insurance coverage for quality opioid addiction treatment to help those currently suffering.
Purdue’s decision will not wipe the slate clean for many American communities, though. The opioid crisis has dramatically rocked hundreds of thousands of families nationwide. Purdue Pharma’s announcement is one step in a long line of things to come in order to end the opioid crisis currently gripping America.