tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post8086294368243966842..comments2023-11-10T09:15:40.084-08:00Comments on The Friends of Jake: Hopelessness, drugs, and salesmanshipDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124314924693077453noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post-46100596412976416012017-06-28T06:48:17.905-07:002017-06-28T06:48:17.905-07:00NPR recently reviewed the history of the words of ...NPR recently reviewed <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/16/533060031/doctor-who-wrote-1980-letter-on-painkillers-regrets-that-it-fed-the-opioid-crisi" rel="nofollow">the history of the words of one physician</a>, taken out of context, that drug companies used to assure regulators that these drugs could not be linked to addiction. IT, you and I work in contexts where research is critical; and so know as well that misuse of research, or of the writings of researchers, can open the door for all sorts of mischief. <br /><br />I have been heard to say, often enough, that "for-profit healthcare is a sin." I have absolutely included in that the pharmaceutical industry. Mind you, as things are in our economy they are always going to focus on profit. So, it behooves our regulators, first, to actually regulate, and second, to do so intelligently, using good data. Somewhere in there I believe it is still possible to balance the good of shareholders in the sense of stocks, and also shareholders in the sense of the larger society (of which the first group are also a part). How do we remind the first group, that they are accountable both to and for the larger group?Marshall Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02807749717320495495noreply@blogger.com