The Creativity behind the Opioid Epidemic

We are all relatively aware of the opioid crisis plaguing the U.S. In 2015, 12.55 million people misused prescription opioids; over 30,000 died of opioid overdose; 2 million people had opioid prescription disorder; 828,000 people used heroin; and 12,989 deaths were attributed to heroin overdose. “Since 1999, two hundred thousand Americans have died from overdoses related to OxyContin and other prescription opioids” (Keefe, The New Yorker). The economic cost of this crisis is close to 78.5 billion. This number was from data gathered up until 2013.

How did this happen? Why did the use of prescription opioids increase and continue to escalate despite these figures?

All this can be attributed to the creative advertising of one man—Dr. Arthur Sackler. His brothers Mortimer and Raymond also contributed.

Let’s start at the beginning. Arthur was both a doctor and advertising genius. You know those commercials advertising a new kind of anti-depressant, laxative, birth- control, asthma medicine or any kind of medicine? The ones that show a struggling mother battling depression, then taking the prescription medicine being advertised and suddenly gaining control of her whole life? Then the soft, low voice in the background garbles on about all the doctors and health care providers who support this drug, along with the side effects. Arthur created that. He realized that there was no real advertising for medicine. He revolutionized this field by “recognizing that selling new drugs requires a seduction of not just the patient but the doctor who writes the prescription” (Keefe, The New Yorker).

So now, in 1952, the Sackler brothers bought a small, humble medicine company called Purdue Frederick which produced mostly laxatives and ear wax removers. Gross, unassuming medicines. Purdue Frederick became Purdue Pharma and started to prosper and make a lot of money under the Sacklers. They created and sold MS Contin, a morphine pill with time release technology. They made loads of money from this pill. But the patent for it was going to expire so, naturally, they developed a new drug: OxyContin. OxyContin contains pure oxycodone (unlike Percocet), and it has the same time release technology as MS Contin. Before releasing this powerful drug into the market, the Sacklers had to change doctors’ attitude which was that such a drug had a dangerous abuse potential of opioids. The Sacklers, especially Raymond’s son Richard, launched a marketing campaign to destigmatize the prescription and consumption of opioid drugs. They claimed that the time release technology reduced the possibility of abuse. They also marketed OxyContin for all kinds of pain, not just terminal pain (cancer or death-related). OxyContin was for everyone! Chronic back pain? Have some Oxy. Arthritis flaring up again? Take an Oxy. Old football injury annoying you? Have an Oxy!  

See the problem?

Here’s a cute photo of old Arthur Sackler to make you feel better about the millions of deaths he, his family, their pharmaceutical company, and OxyContin has perpetrated.

P.S. He died of a heart attack in 1987