The chase for short term corporate profits is ruining society:

The chase for short term corporate profits is ruining society.

Just watched the first part of ‘Crime of the Century.’ It’s an HBO Documentary about the opioid epidemic and how Purdue pharma criminally pushed medication they knew was addictive causing a mass epidemic around North America.

One of the most disappointing parts of the documentary was when they mentioned that Virginia’s court submitted a 100 page document to the US federal government in 2006 discussing all the criminal activity that Purdue Pharma had committed since their drug was on the market.

The outcome was Purdue paid a few hundred million dollar fine while they had made billions of dollars in revenue pushing addictive drugs that killed people and ruined communities.

Remember, this was back in 2007.

Since then, the opioid epidemic has exploded. Entire communities around North America have been decimated by fentanyl and the opioid crisis.

Because of how the pharmaceutical industry is set-up in America, Purdue was allowed to thrive. By paying off politicians, hiring ‘advisors’ and sales departments who relentlessly pushed the drug, they could get away with mass murder.

Think about this. In 2007 the general public could have found out about what Purdue pharma had done in creating the opioid epidemic. Think about the countless numbers of people who would still be here today if the public knew how addictive these drugs were.

The counter argument, which is one Purdue repeatedly cited, was that it’s the drug abusers fault. It’s their fault for getting addicted, not the doctors or the drug company who created the pill.

That’s bullshit.

Let me use an example to explain why.

If you go to your doctor for pain management and they tell you to eat apples for your pain, how are you going to control your pain? Probably by eating apples.

What if the apples were extremely addictive? What if by repeatedly taking the apples, which you were told by your doctor was safe and the only treatment for your pain, caused you to become depressed, lethargic, moody and eventually overdose? Is it your fault for taking the apples? 

Now imagine that the company who created the apples knew the apples were addictive the entire time, then how would you feel? What if you found out the company lied by telling doctors that the apples weren’t addictive, even though they knew they were? What if they bribed a federal government official to fake the submission documents saying that the apples weren’t addictive?

Is it still your fault that you’re addicted to the apples?

I don’t think so.

Purdue Pharma was making billions of dollars a year pushing this addictive apple. In fact they wanted doctors to prescribe more apples so more people could get addicted so they could make more money.

The Sackler family, the family who owns Purdue Pharma, is worth 10 billion dollars. They’re the legalized pharmaceutical drug cartel who played a massive part in starting the opioid crisis.

Because the incentive structure in America is set up to maximize profits at the expense of everything else, we are slowly destroying our world. In the last several decades, companies have been chasing corporate profits more so than what’s right for society. Slowly that is shifting with interest of governments and corporations in ESG type policies, but it’s not going to solve the problem.

When people in power break the rules, nothing happens to them. When people at the bottom do, their life is ruined. They could be at the wrong place at the wrong time once and they’re whole life is changed forever. Meanwhile, if you have money and influence in America, you can commit as much crime as you want to, as long as you pay the right people off.

I grew up with this belief that America wasn’t as corrupt as what we read about in Africa, India and other developing nations but that’s all a lie. It’s just spun a different way in North America but let’s be clear, the corruption that occurs is the same everywhere.

The Sackler family did it by paying off Rudy Guilliani, who used his political influence to get the case against Purdue Pharma thrown out by the federal government in 2007.

Money talks.

Yet I feel things are changing. This generation feels more informed about what’s really going on in the world. The Internet has given everyone access to the world’s information at their fingertips and a lot of them are using it for good. Greta Thurnberg has created a global climate change movement and inspired a generation of people to stand up to those in power.

We are at a seminal point in our history where we cannot allow corporate profit and greed to be the main driver any longer. Those who abuse power in the name of profit must be held accountable for their actions.

We can’t let the chase for short term corporate profits ruin society. It’s up to us to stop it.