Heroin Addiction (Current Events) Researchers estimate that heroin use has increased in the U.S. by nearly 60% over the past ten years. Law enforcement officials believe the spike in heroin use is driven by addicts not being able to afford more expensive prescription pain killers. “They’re hooked on prescription drugs but when the prescription runs out, they switch to $5 and $10 bags of heroin,” Christopher Goldrick of the Rockland Narcotics Task Force told U.S.A. Today According to the most recent figures from the CDC, drug overdose claimed more lives than any other injury in 2010, with 60% of those deaths related to pharmaceutical drugs. The CDC also reports that 75% of prescription drug overdose deaths involve painkillers such as
Every year, nearly 15,000 people die from overdoses involving these drugs. The number of overdose deaths is now greater than those of deaths from heroin
In America, more than 15 million people have abused prescription drugs and abuse is on an incline. {Foundation for a drug free world,The Truth About Pain Killers 2005-2007} People are becoming addicted and are abusing prescription painkillers. There seems to be no prejudice to this problem. Women, men, young adults, children, wealthy, middle class, and lower class, all seem to have this problem within their community. Many people do not put themselves I the same category as drug abusers.
Federal Legalization of Marijuana Marijuana, weed, cannabis, hemp, or grass, it is called by many names and has gotten a bad rap in the past few decades, but it should be federally legalized. We have been encouraged to believe it is a “gateway” drug and that it may lead to addiction and various health issues. Yet there are many therapeutic benefits as well as practical applications. The consumption of marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and smoking cigarettes. There is an excessive amount of money spent every year on its regulation, criminalization and prohibition.
By 1999, the average American was exposed to nine prescription drug commercials per day. That number has increased forty-fold and now advertisements and commercials about prescription drugs have become a part of our everyday lives. “Between 1999 and 2000, prescriptions for the fifty most heavily advertised drugs rose at six times the rate of all other drugs. Sales of those fifty intensively promoted drugs were responsible for almost half the increase in Americans' overall drug spending that year.” (Greider, p. 30) Through TV, magazine, and newspaper advertising, pharmaceutical companies are taking their message directly to the public. If it weren't for pharmaceutical advertising, the weekly news magazine Newsweek would have about 30% less pages.
This study will also focus on the competition level in pharmaceutical market and future prospect for Lupin to establish itself in the USA market as a pharmaceutical giant. Table of Contents External Environment 4 Political 4 Economic 5 Social 6 Technology 6 Environment 6 Legal 6 Customer segments 7 Market entry opportunities & Barriers 8 Channels of distribution 9 Competitive threats 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Pharmaceutical Market Global pharmaceutical market is valued at 484,151million Euros but more than 47% of market share is dominated by USA alone. USA pharmaceutical industry has discovered almost 370 different drugs in last decade. 50% of drugs in the area of heart disease or hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, Parkinson’s, cancer are manufactured by USA pharmaceutical industry alone.USA pharmaceutical companies like Amgen, Pfizer, Marc, Bristol-Myers Squibb and others are also world leader in the field of healthcare (Economy Watch, 2010). USA pharmaceutical market is competitive in terms of growth opportunity and a number of pharmaceutical companies are trying to capture market share.
These global crimes are not influenced by violence, but cause major damage to those affected. Global Drug Trade According to the United Nations Drug Report 2013, in 2011 between 167 and 315 million people consumed illicit drugs at least once last year. Around 10% of users are considered “problem drug users”; this is a disturbing percentage because more than 100,000 people die each year as a result of illicit drug use (Wolf & Pham, 2012). There are several problems linked with the illegal drug trade as it continue to grow globally. Global drug abuse and ease of access have become extremely complex, as trafficking routes are shorter, varied, and easily traversed, and as the demand for heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamines become increasingly global, so does drug trafficking (United Nations
More than 12,000 bad reactions to vaccines are reported each year, if all doctors reported these reactions the total would be closer to 120,000 per year. Over 1,000 deaths are vaccine related. By 1997 families had received more than $802 million for hundreds of injuries and deaths from vaccinations. There are still thousands of cases pending totaling more than $1.7 billion. Vaccinations are more serious that the diseases they are supposed to protect a person from.
“According to the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and health, more than eight million people in the U.S. are current users of prescription drugs for non-medical purposes” (Alabama Department of Public Health, n.d.). This is a staggering number considering this does not include illicit street drugs. Drug use is growing for several reasons including the state of the economy, different mental disorders, and abusive or unhappy personal lives. Addicts know that an easy place to obtain their fix is to come in the emergency department and complain of some type of pain because the longer the addict is using, often higher doses of the drug may be required. “Individuals who become addicted to psychoactive substances typically experience relatively less pleasure in response to drug use over time, but their craving for and loss of control over drugs increase” (Durrant, Adamson, Todd, & Sellman, 2009, p. 1050).
While it is true that guns are involved in thousands of deaths per year in the United States, there are things that lead to far more deaths than guns. According to Levitt, in 2009, 45,000 people died in autmobile related accidents and only 30,000 died in gun related incidents (151). Using the logic of those against gun rights, it’s the car’s fault not the driver’s fault that 45,000 people die every year. This is just an irrational attempt to shift reponsibility off of the people that actually cause these incidents. Another example that shows that guns aren’t so dangerous is that in any given year there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools as compared to 1 death for every 1 million guns, or 175 children killed for the over 200 million guns owned in the U.S. (Levitt 150).