Big Pharma Pimps Alcoholics--With Government Help

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/Big-Pharma-Pimps-Alcoholic-by-Martha-Rosenberg-Addictions_Alcoholism_Church_Government-Accountability-Office-140111-921.html

Big Pharma Pimps Alcoholics--With Government Help
By Martha Rosenberg
General News 1/11/2014 at 10:08:51

Imagine a treatment for drug addiction and alcoholism that uses no drugs, requires no trained personnel, resources or insurance and makes no money for anyone. This "people's program" is the anonymous 12-Step groups which have quietly saved millions for 79 years.

But lately, Big Pharma sees potential in all that free healing. Increasingly, it is "partnering" with rehab facilities to monetize addiction recovery, especially by facilitating dual diagnoses that require expensive pills. A patient is no longer just an alcoholic, he is an alcoholic with bipolar disease or major depressive disorder. Ka-ching.

It's easy to see why Pharma wants a new revenue stream. Its blockbusters like Lipitor, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Singulair and Concerta have gone off patent and Medicare and Medicaid are starting to balk at paying for brand drugs that are no better than generics. (Some states are even suing for reimbursement for what they spent on brand drugs.) Huge fraud settlements in recent years against Abbott, Pfizer, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca and Merck have also taken their toll.

Less easy to see is why the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), often working closely with Pharma, is trying to fix one of the few things in the health care system that is not broken--free, anonymous treatment for alcoholics and addicts. "All addictions can be eliminated if the brain's receptors can be controlled ," said an ominous NIDA flier last year announcing a speech by its director. Italics mine. Yes, "all."