My stance is particularly based on available facts.
My opinion of Kapoor and Insys is distinctly separate from my opinion on producers of opiate drugs in general or my opinion of government attempts to control human behavior in general.
Please allow me to outline all three, in reverse order.
Government attempt to control human behavior
I am an Objectivist. The government has no place is trying to control behavior that results in no harm to anyone beyond the individual who takes the action. If an individual does something that is self-destructive, that is the problem of the individual, not the government. All restrictions on drugs should be removed (except on the sale to minors). The government has no right to tell an adult what to do with his own health and life. Through two prior failed experiments, prohibition and the war on drugs, we have proved that this approach to behavior modification simply does not work. Yet our new President seems hell bent on repeating the debacle again.
Opiate drugs in general
I cannot imagine a world where escape from severe pain was impossible. Opiates are crucial palliatives for chronic pain. At the extreme end of the scale, patients suffering from pain at the end of life from cancer are enduring a hell on earth without such drugs. Until effective alternatives to opiates are available, these drugs enhance a patient's stay on this orb in such situations. It is every entity in the drug distribution chain who has the moral responsibility to ensure the user has complete information on effective treatment regimens, benefits and risks. Then let the individual decide. As I said in a prior post, I am very concerned that the government will over react to the detriment of these individuals.
Kapoor and Insys
I think I have provided enough information in the paragraphs above for you to get a handle on where I am coming from. Why do I hold such distain for Kapoor and Insys? Because they went far beyond reasonable expectations to promote expanded use of opiates for treatment where less dangerous drugs would have been effective. They bribed wholesalers and doctors to prescribe an oral preparation of an unbelievably potent opiate, fentanyl, to patients who WERE NOT suffering excruciatingly great pain such as those who were at end of life from cancer. They contributed a half million dollars to defeat a referendum to legalize cannabis in their own home state. No one has ever overdosed or died from using cannabis. At the same time, they were developing their own synthetic cannabis product. In summary, they exposed danger to patients who didn't need their fentanyl product, who could have benefitted from a less dangerous approach, without informing the patients of the risks or alternatives. They valued greed over patient welfare. I have a dear friend, a Vietnam vet, who suffers from exposure to Agent Orange and PTSD. The VA had him so tranqued up on opiates and antidepressants that he could hardly function after a few years. He finally had a pathway to use medical cannabis and got off the pharmaceuticals. He got his life back. Kapoor and his company would have preferred to keep him a zombie.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
