Ooooookkkkk. It’s time to talk about the Pharma double standard. I am baffled at the logic and rationality behind the dichotomous behaviors that people project when it comes to the love/hate relationship with Pharma. Seriously, we loooooove to hate Pharma, and in the same breathe, hate to love Pharma. People looooove getting their instant band aid (drug) to an ailment, yet curse Pharma for charging a high cost for it. People looooove the opioids that Pharma produces and then hates them for the massive addiction epidemic. People cheer as Pharma is sued for corruption, price gouging, drugs that harm people, and ultimately held accountable. People loooove to look up how much Doctors make off of Pharma through the Sunshine Act and then complain about it yet still go to that doctor they believe is being “bought” by Pharma as their “healer”.
Being in the industry for almost 20 years, I can tell you that I have heard my fair share of people’s opinions on my job as a Pharma rep and the industry as a whole. First off, the majority of people think that the reason our drugs in the US cost so much is because we spend millions of dollars (as an industry) on buying lunches to persuade doctors to use our drugs. So much so that presidential candidates have based their campaigns on these exact issues and demand a disconnect between Pharma and doctors. The public becomes outraged as a whole that The majority of Americans cannot afford their insulin or epipen because Pharma is price gouging. The public becomes enraged with Pharma when thousands of people die from an anti inflammatory drug that they knew was unsafe before launching. We the people demand accountability from Pharma. We want answers as to why drugs cost so much in the US. We demand accountability from the FDA for approving a drug that killed 40000 people (that’s just one of hundreds of drugs that has been pulled from the approved market). We demand accountability from Pharma every single day. You can’t turn on the tv without seeing a lawsuit for a medication. I would bet that the number of drug law suit commercials is equal to the number of actual drug commercials.
Here is the double standard. How can anyone who is so forthright in demanding accountability from the Pharma industry, turn around and trust the same exact industry that oh by the way, is FOREVER IMMUNE from prosecution (because they were getting decimated with law suits from vaccine deaths and damages) that vaccines are safe and effective. Not because they have been tested in the same way every other single drug in Pharma has to be tested before approval, but because Pharma just says so. I am disgusted with the idea that while we the people become more and more divided and physically sicker, Pharma literally stays un-phased, ultimately grow and makes billions. Net-net, we the people all lose, we don’t get healthier, we just get sicker and Pharma wins.
Just a thought here. Why are we the people not demanding the clear separation of Pharma and state, all together? Why are we the people not DEMANDING that the 1986 law that gave Pharma legal immunity be abolished? If their products are so safe, why do they need complete immunity from any liability, ever? The people need protection, not the corporations. Why are we the people not uniting as one whole group of victims of Pharma throughout the years and saying enough? We don’t need to try and destroy the industry, we need to control it, not allow it to control us. We need to stop battling each other, and come together as a whole. We are all ultimately battling the same battle. Parents shaming parents is not the answer and it’s not empowering. People trusting the same people that they have condemned multiple times and then condemning others for questioning or rejecting mandatory administration is complete absurdity and hypocrisy in my eyes. All we are accomplishing is losing the same fight we are all trying to win. We the people can no longer accept censorship. We the people can no longer accept division. Always remember that “divided we fall”.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why” -Mark Twain
So much love and respect.
Xo -e
The Underground Momma 