Back when i was in active addiction to heroin I knew that the brief time i spent messing with fent was the end of the road. The step past speedballs. At that point I wanted to, and was actively trying to, die. I understood its power.<p>To push this onto an unknowing general public is, imo, evil. These people should be sentenced like Heroin importers. Fent withdrawals, whilst short, are unadulterated hell. I have never felt a combination of physical, mental and spiritual pain like it and i have been through spinal fussion in my youth. The type of pain that changes a person for life.
Interestingly Insys donated $500k against the marijuana legalization measure (prop 205) on the ballot in Arizona.<p><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2016/09/12/montini-proposition-205-fentanyl-legal-marijuana/90251526/" rel="nofollow">http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2016...</a>
“Causing the unnecessary use of opioids by current and retired U.S. military service members shows disregard for their health and disrespect for their service to our country,”<p>Why does any problem affecting veterans become disrespecting their service? Maybe they're just an easy target more likely to get addicted to painkillers than normal people.
This was a story last year.[1] At that time, the Insys CEO, John Kapoor, was prominently mentioned. But he's not in the group arrested.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/04/the-deadly-drug-appeal-of-insys-pharmaceuticals.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/04/the-deadly-drug-appeal-of-ins...</a>
Some of these execs are being charged under RICO. That's going to be brutal.<p>I was under the impression Prosecutors generally avoid RICO due to higher burden of proof. I guess this sets an example for the Pharma industry to watch out.
<i>The medication, called “Subsys,” is a powerful narcotic intended to treat cancer patients suffering intense episodes of breakthrough pain. In exchange for bribes and kickbacks, the practitioners wrote large numbers of prescriptions for the patients, most of whom were not diagnosed with cancer.</i><p>Nowhere in that article did I read anything about arresting/charging the "practitioners" who actually wrote those prescriptions, or did I miss it?
Use of the word racketeering here is interesting. Wikipedia's definition is:<p>> A racket is a service that is fraudulently offered to solve a problem, such as for a problem that does not actually exist, that will not be put into effect, or that would not otherwise exist if the racket did not exist<p>But it sounds like they were engaging in illegal bribing, not racketeering. I don't know, am I misunderstanding?
i wish it were a prosecution for real crimes, yet so far reading it it looks like a typical way prescription drugs are pushed in the US, and the prosecution here may be just a scapegoating of those typical pharma-pushers just because of all the high attention the fentanyl abuse got recently, and thus government has to show action and Ortiz jumped at the chance to look good.
Wow. I realize this is about prescription Fentanyl, but my area (Vancouver BC) is getting hit really, really hard by this drug.<p><a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/b-c-declares-public-health-emergency-after-fentanyl-overdoses-kill-200-people-in-three-months" rel="nofollow">http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/b-c-declares-public...</a><p>It seems to have made it's way into a variety of drugs, not just heroin, so the demographic of those affected by the deaths has shifted from "junkie" to "recreational user".
I'm glad they put an end to this, but man, I can't help but think there's a serious problem with our government based on how many agencies were involved to do it.
There was an article in the Observer about this the other day.<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/dec/11/pills-that-kill-why-are-thousands-dying-from-fentanyl-abuse-" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/dec/11/pills-that-ki...</a>
Wait - I thought all US healthcare was done on the basis of kickbacks, perks, benefits, and free lunches from drug salesmen to physicians?<p>How is this any different?