I do not feel safer
In many places in the world we continue to arrest individuals who are selling recreational drugs including ecstasy, marijuana, as well as others. Just this morning I read in the local newspaper of the arrest of a 26-year-old young man for possessing with intent to deliver. I suspect the charges are accurate as they also found nearly $23,000.00 in a suitcase with his name on it. He is now in jail on $75,000.00 bond. There is a good chance he will be convicted and sent to prison. This is also a chance that a good attorney will convince a judge that his primary issue is addiction and he will go to be sentenced in drug court although I fear this is a slim chance. It he is sent to prison there is little chance that he will have access to treatment and whatever help he need to claim the good life he deserves. Recently in Oklahoma a pharmaceutical company was found guilty of using misleading marketing of their drugs including opioids to contribute to the opioid crisis. The judgement was relatively small in dollars but it sets a precedent which could mean monetary awards in all 50 states. The company, Johnson and Johnson, will, of course, appeal the case. Even if they lose the appeal and have to pay the court decreed amount there is no talk of anyone going to jail. I am not suggesting that anyone should go to jail but am confused about the difference in these two cases. In the case of the young man it is true that it is impossible for him to know if the drugs he was selling were safe. In the case of the drug manufacture they clearly knew the drugs were not safe long term. The drugs would and did kill a great many people. There is ample evidence that many drug companies aggressively marketed drugs with the primary objective of making money. In fact here in WV a major pharmaceutical company has raised the price of epi pens to a prohibitive rate even though this is not a new products and cost very little to make.
I have had clients who were employees of drug companies nearly suffer mental breakdowns because of their guilt of pushing certain drugs for the sole purpose of making money even when there was no scientific evidence that a particular drug was necessary or preferable. Many of my medical colleagues find that prescribing drugs are the most efficient way to treating patients even if, at some level, they know that this is not the best course of treatment. Many physicians are expected to spend a maximum of 15 minutes or even less with patients who they see all day on a back to back basis. There is no time for evaluation, education or just human interactions. Physicians spend many years in school for which they have to pay huge sums and which postpones the start of their careers. Because of this they often feel entitled to large salaries and the perks those salaries will buy; big houses and expensive cars which they have little time to enjoy. The divorce rate and even the suicide rate among physician in the United States is high. In fact I read the results of one study that as late as 2018 the suicide and addiction rate of physicians in the United States was the highest of any profession.
The goal of the street drug dealer is also to make money. Sometimes the goal is just to support his or her drug addiction. We jail the drug dealer, at most slap hands of drug company executives and largely ignore the death by suicide and drug addiction of physicians. We can always crank out more physicians although there is a shortage of those entering the field of psychiatry in the United States.
What is the difference between the street drug dealer and possible addict, the owners and other decisions makers in the pharmaceutical companies, and the physicians who are focused on making money only to find that they are depressed and miserable? What is the payoff for the larger community in pretending as if there is a difference? What responsibility do we as a larger community have for creating a culture in which money, position, “success”, and things are the gods? What is the payoff of pretending as if the quality of life will be improved for the larger community by jailing the scapegoats – the street dealer? Sure we occasionally sacrifice a physician who has not yet killed himself or herself, but on the whole we ignore one and jail the other?
What sort of courage and humility does it take for all of us in the community to ask and wrestle with these and related issues? Who is safer or better off for ignoring these questions?
Written August 27, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
In many places in the world we continue to arrest individuals who are selling recreational drugs including ecstasy, marijuana, as well as others. Just this morning I read in the local newspaper of the arrest of a 26-year-old young man for possessing with intent to deliver. I suspect the charges are accurate as they also found nearly $23,000.00 in a suitcase with his name on it. He is now in jail on $75,000.00 bond. There is a good chance he will be convicted and sent to prison. This is also a chance that a good attorney will convince a judge that his primary issue is addiction and he will go to be sentenced in drug court although I fear this is a slim chance. It he is sent to prison there is little chance that he will have access to treatment and whatever help he need to claim the good life he deserves. Recently in Oklahoma a pharmaceutical company was found guilty of using misleading marketing of their drugs including opioids to contribute to the opioid crisis. The judgement was relatively small in dollars but it sets a precedent which could mean monetary awards in all 50 states. The company, Johnson and Johnson, will, of course, appeal the case. Even if they lose the appeal and have to pay the court decreed amount there is no talk of anyone going to jail. I am not suggesting that anyone should go to jail but am confused about the difference in these two cases. In the case of the young man it is true that it is impossible for him to know if the drugs he was selling were safe. In the case of the drug manufacture they clearly knew the drugs were not safe long term. The drugs would and did kill a great many people. There is ample evidence that many drug companies aggressively marketed drugs with the primary objective of making money. In fact here in WV a major pharmaceutical company has raised the price of epi pens to a prohibitive rate even though this is not a new products and cost very little to make.
I have had clients who were employees of drug companies nearly suffer mental breakdowns because of their guilt of pushing certain drugs for the sole purpose of making money even when there was no scientific evidence that a particular drug was necessary or preferable. Many of my medical colleagues find that prescribing drugs are the most efficient way to treating patients even if, at some level, they know that this is not the best course of treatment. Many physicians are expected to spend a maximum of 15 minutes or even less with patients who they see all day on a back to back basis. There is no time for evaluation, education or just human interactions. Physicians spend many years in school for which they have to pay huge sums and which postpones the start of their careers. Because of this they often feel entitled to large salaries and the perks those salaries will buy; big houses and expensive cars which they have little time to enjoy. The divorce rate and even the suicide rate among physician in the United States is high. In fact I read the results of one study that as late as 2018 the suicide and addiction rate of physicians in the United States was the highest of any profession.
The goal of the street drug dealer is also to make money. Sometimes the goal is just to support his or her drug addiction. We jail the drug dealer, at most slap hands of drug company executives and largely ignore the death by suicide and drug addiction of physicians. We can always crank out more physicians although there is a shortage of those entering the field of psychiatry in the United States.
What is the difference between the street drug dealer and possible addict, the owners and other decisions makers in the pharmaceutical companies, and the physicians who are focused on making money only to find that they are depressed and miserable? What is the payoff for the larger community in pretending as if there is a difference? What responsibility do we as a larger community have for creating a culture in which money, position, “success”, and things are the gods? What is the payoff of pretending as if the quality of life will be improved for the larger community by jailing the scapegoats – the street dealer? Sure we occasionally sacrifice a physician who has not yet killed himself or herself, but on the whole we ignore one and jail the other?
What sort of courage and humility does it take for all of us in the community to ask and wrestle with these and related issues? Who is safer or better off for ignoring these questions?
Written August 27, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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