Jerks

ccrunner22

2/17/13

Ethics Paper

Big Pharmacies are selling us Legal Heroine

Pharmacies, have been selling a legal version of Heroine for a while now. This drug is called oxycodone. Oxycodone is one or maybe even the most addicting pain killer out there, but it helps with the pain. Regardless of the people getting addicted to this drug, the pharmacy industry still keeps it. This is because of the profits that they make off of it.

To start out I have seen this drug take its toll on a family member. My uncle’s life was ruin because of this drug; he lost his job, his wife and kids, also the respect of others around him. If this drug is so addicting then why have it on the market. The book states that to make sure something is ethical you need to ask “is what I am doing legal?”, but the pharmacy industry thinks its “do I do what is expedient to try to ensure maximum profit”. To determine what is right from wrong you need to look at that person or companies ethical view. It sure looks like the pharmacy industry is a bunch of Utilitarianists. This means they do not care how many people they hurt, as long they are doing what they think is good.

“In 2007, Purdue Pharma and three of its top executives were ordered to pay $634 million as a penalty for misbranding OxyContin. In court, Purdue Pharma admitted that “with the intent to defraud or mislead” it promoted OxyContin as a safer, less-abusable opioid drug.” (Bourdet, K). After all, this is the drug that Purdue Pharma said was as a safe alternative to fast-acting drugs, bragging that a patient only needed two pills per day, with a 12-hour release device, to achieve around-the-clock pain management.

“In a study of 2,500 OxyContin addicts followed from July 2009 until March 2012, researchers found a 17 percent drop in OxyContin abuse. The study found that almost one-fourth of participants were able to abuse OxyContin despite the reformulation. Sixty- six percent switched to heroin. Many have also latched...