We know when it comes to disease, the top three killers are heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. In 2015, there was approximately 50,000 drug over doses. However, in 2021 the over doses nearly doubled at 100,000. By far, the number one class of drugs that is responsible are opioids. In 2021, they’re responsible for more deaths than heart disease and covid combined. Opioids work by attaching to our opioid receptors and altering our biochemistry. They influence our endocrine system by blunting pain and feeling in general. When people die from opioids, it’s usually do to peoples breathing stopping and cardiac arrest. When you take a drug, you don’t really have side effects, you have direct effects. This is because everything in our bodies is connected. Poppy seeds are the source of opioids such as morphine, oxycontin, and fentanyl. Fentanyl is a synthetic form of an opioid, and is 50-100x more powerful than a regular opioid. This also makes it that much more addictive. In the united States our life expectancy had increased in the past previous decades. However, more recently that has reversed, and our life expectancy is decreasing. It’s estimated that this is the first generation that is not going to outlive it’s predecessors.

How did This Happen?

We did not have an overdose of drugs until we had an abundance of them. The FDA first had to approve the drugs starting with Oxycontin in the 1990s What people do not realize is the unethical process that took place. Purdue Pharma had hired Curtis Wright, who worked at the FDA. Wright developed the statement for the package insert that said “delayed absorption is believed to reduce abuse potential.” The thing is that this had no research behind it, and beliefs are not facts. He approved the drug, then went on to work at Purdue Pharma for nearly half a million dollars. This is a clear conflict of interest. I wrote about the revolving door and exchange between FDA and pharmaceutical companies. The FDA also gets half it’s funding from pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical drugs have their place and can be life saving. The problem is when we don’t get to the underline cause, which is often lifestyle related. Purdue Pharma went to fund a network of front groups to look like patient advocate groups. They went on to say how safe and non addictive the drugs were and directed patients back to opioids. Patients went on to discover that the drug did not work as advertised and starting getting addicted. Purdue Pharma then created a new term called breakthrough pain. This was to say that you just need to take more of the drug to work, so they can keep the drug relevant. Patients became even more addicted. Purdue then created a term called pseudoaddiction. This was to say that your not actually addicted, your dose just isn’t high enough and you need to up the dose. In 2007, Purdue Pharma pled guilty and paid a 600 million dollar fine. This is nothing because they made about 10 billion off of Oxycontin alone. After that they went on with business as usual. In 2021, after 500,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose, Purdue Pharma was forced to pay billions, and the company is to be restructured.