MERCOLA: The AMA’s Contribution to the Opioid Epidemic

As detailed in a Mother Jones exposé, the AMA has a long, cozy relationshipwith Big Pharma, including Purdue PharmaThe AMA’s pain management training program for physicians implied thatdoctors were too tentative to give patients these pills and “the effectiveness ofopioid therapy may be undermined by misconceptions about their risks”The AMA’s pain management training program was developed by a team withclose ties to the industryPurdue Pharma gave more than $3 million in donations to the AMA and the AMAFoundation from 2002 to 2018Richard Sackler, who served as the president of Purdue Pharma, was a memberof the AMA Foundation’s board of directors from 1998 to 2004While being dependent on prots from commercial endeavors and receivingheavy funding from Big Pharma, the AMA functions as a trade group whileportraying itself as independentIn October 2020, opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma pleaded guiltyto three felony counts of criminal wrongdoing and agreed to an $8.3billion settlement with the Department of Justice over theirproduction and marketing of Oxycontin and other opioid drugs.1-"The abuse and diversion of prescription opioids has contributed to anational tragedy of addiction and deaths, in addition to those caused byillicit street opioids," said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen in anews release.2 In 2019, opioid overdoses were responsible for nearly 50,000deaths in the U.S., with the misuse of and addiction to opioids described asa national crisis.3The pandemic has only worsened the crisis. From December 2019 toDecember 2020, there were 93,331 estimated overdose deaths in the U.S.,which represents a 29.4% increase in 12 months.4Opioids, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine, accounted for the majority ofdeaths — 69,031 — followed by synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl andtramadol.5The most recent data on opioid overdose deaths can be viewed via theCDC’s 12-month provisional number of drug overdose deaths by drug ordrug class dashboard — due to a small percentage still pendinginvestigation, numbers may change slightly upon final analysis.6On their website, the American Medical Association (AMA), whose missionis to "promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of publichealth, "7 states that its Opioid Task Force is "committed to providingevidence-based recommendations and leadership to help end the opioidepidemic."8However, as detailed in a Mother Jones exposé, AMA has a long, cozyrelationship with Big Pharma, including Purdue Pharma. "The prestigiousdoctor's group has made it virtually impossible to discern where publichealth guidance ends and industry interests begin," writer Julia Lurie writesin Mother Jones.9'How to Create an Addict Education'In 2007, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to felony charges of misbrandingwith intent to defraud and mislead the public and physicians aboutOxycontin's dangers.Several months later, the AMA released their new pain managementtraining program, which included 12 modules about prescribing narcotics,including that doctors were too tentative to give patients these pills and "the effectiveness of opioid therapy may be undermined by misconceptions about their risks, particularly risksassociated with abuse and addiction."10FOR THE WHOLE POST CLICK HERE .https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wkz4iamSe0m2oY-WVKI5ljCcRd0fp_SVR0te2Gz4dFc/edit?usp=sharingSupport the show