The Opioid Crisis: How Pharmaceutical Companies Created an Epidemic

Over 130 people die daily from opioid overdoses in the USA. Approximately 500,000 have died since the late 1990s. The worst drug crisis in US history – triggered not by criminal drug dealers but by the pharmaceutical industry.

OxyContin and the Marketing Machine

Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin in 1996, falsely claiming the extended-release formulation made it less addictive. Thousands of sales representatives visited doctors with gifts and paid "educational" trips that were actually marketing events. Prescriptions rose from 300,000 in 1996 to over 7 million in 2002.

From Pills to the Street

Restricting prescriptions pushed already-dependent people to heroin. Reducing heroin supply caused synthetic fentanyl – 50–100 times stronger than morphine – to flood the market from illegal laboratories. The result: the current fentanyl crisis.

Legal Consequences Without Criminal Accountability

Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019. The Sackler family paid billions – without criminal convictions of family members. Other companies (Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen) paid billions in settlements. No executives were convicted.

Why This Is Relevant for Kratom

People with chronic pain, wanting to stop opioids, searching for a way out after overdose crisis – they come from a health system that made them addicted and then abandoned them. That explains the context in which kratom discussions take place.

Legal Notice: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The content is not intended to encourage consumption. Laws may change; the applicable regulations and information from official authorities shall prevail. Image source: https://www.kratoein.com/