Micahel Babich, the former CEO of Insys, pleaded guilty to bribing doctors around the country to prescribe an under the tongue fentanyl spray for cancer patients. Three things stand out to me about this:
1- Babich, while facing 25 years in prison, will most likely receive a reduced sentence for testifying against the former found of Insys for participating in the scheme. So why, exactly, will one person be awarded, in a sense, just for testifying against a co-conspirator? And that co-conspirator, John Kapoor, is a billionaire which means that he could be charged with first degree murder of of Jesus while strangling a gaggle of puppies and get off with community service.
Yet Babich will also likely serve a minimal sentence, if at all, for testifying. How did our legal system get like this? I am 23 and don’t have a complete grasp on the history of legal proceedings, but I am old enough to understand this sort of bargaining has been happening for decades. If someone is guilty, they’re guilty and should face the full punishment for their crimes. In fact, in this instance, if Babich refused to testify against Kapoor he should be charged with obstruction of justice and have time ADDED to his sentence. This will never change, as the world operates in a scratch-your-back manner, but common sense should prevail in instances like this.
2- What do we have to do to keep pharmaceutical companies in check? Are they the only organizations that can, essentially, slowly kill people and be celebrated for it? We know the legal system is flawed with how it treats people with drug addiction no matter the drug. I’m of the belief that people should not be thrown in jail for drug use, but should be provided help. How that happens I don’t know. I’m just dumb enough to realize there’s a problem but not know how to solve it.
However, people that sell weed are tossed in jail for years. Weed doesn’t kill people. Fentanyl does more than kill someone. It slowly sucks the life out of them. My dad was prescribed it for years and I saw firsthand what it does to people. The saying “Suck the life out of someone” is the only way to describe it. The drug makes you a zombie, numb to anything and everything happening around you, only cognizant of the emptiness in your mind after succumbing to this “miracle drug.” Pharma companies need to be held responsible for the drugs they provide and how they blatantly lie about them.
3- Lastly, every single doctor that participated in this scheme needs to have their license revoked and tried in court. Shame on them for willingly prescribing a drug in order to financially benefit from it. I mean, what is wrong with people? Doctors are supposed to save us, not kill us. How can they be trusted when something like this happens?
I understand everything I have said isn’t revolutionary and has been said countless times before. However nothing changes until it changes. And in order for that to happen everyone needs to realize there’s a problem and act on it. Millennials like myself are chastised on a daily basis for not caring about anything anymore. And while that is patently false, it is up to this generation to finally stand up to those in power and demand changes are made.
Bowles' Blog 