When will there be enough intervention?

Today we embarked on another journey that we are adding to The Thinker’s repertoire of potentially hazardous consequences that have been staring at us for quite a while and we are just now seeing them through the critical thinking porthole that should be addressed prior to hiding behind the excuse of “unintended circumstances.”

The issues that are involved – medicine and food predictions – are certainly not anything that is new; however, what the governments’ intentions are by letting these issues be analyzed begs one to think: How much longer are we going to allow the surveyor’s to test us for their own profitable gain?

First issue is the interplay between pharmaceutical companies and the public, receiving a blessing as it were, from the government of course through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Here is a brief for your perusal:

From the Associated Press Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of the nation’s second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.  The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them — Zogenix of San Diego — plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.  If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone. Existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen. Critics say they are especially worried about Zohydro, a timed-release drug meant for managing moderate to severe pain, because abusers could crush it to release an intense, immediate high. “I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin,” said April Rovero, president of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse. “We just don’t need this on the market.” Hey! Speak for yourself! OxyContin, introduced in 1995 by Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., was designed to manage pain with a formula that dribbled one dose of oxycodone over many hours. Abusers quickly discovered they could defeat the timed-release feature by crushing the pills. Purdue Pharma changed the formula to make OxyContin more tamper-resistant, but addicts have moved onto generic oxycodone and other drugs that do not have a timed-release feature. Oxycodone is now the most-abused medicine in the United States, with hydrocodone second, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s annual count of drug seizures sent to police drug labs for analysis. The latest drug tests come as more pharmaceutical companies are getting into the $10 billion-a-year legal market for powerful — and addictive — opiate narcotics. Purdue Pharma and Cephalon, a Frazer, Pa.-based unit of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, are conducting late-stage trials of their own hydrocodone drugs, according to documents filed with federal regulators. In May, Purdue Pharma received a patent applying extended-release technology to hydrocodone. Neither company would comment on its plans. Critics say they are troubled because of the dark side that has accompanied the boom in sales of narcotic painkillers: Murders, pharmacy robberies and millions of dollars lost by hospitals that must treat overdose victims. “You’ve got a person on your product for life, and a doctor’s got a patient who’s never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn’t get their prescription, they would feel very sick,” said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. “It’s a terrific business model, and that’s what these companies want to get in on.” Under pressure from the government, Purdue Pharma last year debuted a new OxyContin pill formula that “squishes” instead of crumbling when someone tries to crush it.

 At a conference for investors New York on Nov. 29, Zogenix chief executive Roger Hawley said the FDA was not pressuring Zogenix to put an abuse deterrent in Zohydro.

What does this extended brief tell us? First a cycle is being perpetuated. If you’re citing the doctor—patient scenario well close, yet how about the drug companies and the federal government? We’re here trying to understand the “earmarks or cash stipends” from Congress to big business.

 Of even a greater importance we are trying to understand why advocacy groups for “No Hydrocodone” are looking at everything accept the person who needs the medication. Therefore what we’ve seen is big business cozily nudging big government, the greater potential for legislators to abuse money, special interests groups, all operating within the parameters of a perfect business model.

What do you think? Oops! We went a bit long today for tomorrow: Vending machines that read your mind!