In the latest bid to blunt the opioid crisis, the Philadelphia City Council is considering an ordinance that would ban drug makers from giving gifts to doctors and also require all pharmaceutical sales reps to become licensed.
Specifically, the ordinance, which will be reviewed at a city council health committee meeting on Friday, would require sales reps to provide city officials with materials that are slated for physicians and, possibly, undergo training. Reps would also have to pay an annual $250 licensing fee and would be prohibited from distributing copay coupons for any controlled substances.
“We have a serious problem here in Philly. There are people overdosing in vacant lots, lying under bridges,” said William Greenlee, a City Council member-at-large, who co-sponsored the ordinance. “We’ll be the first to admit this won’t end the crisis by any stretch of the imagination and won’t affect folks already addicted. But there are reasonable expectations it will cut back on some of the overprescribing of medicines that lead to addiction.”
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Me thinks this is about another way for politicians to raise revenue for them to give to their constituents and friends and to create the appearance that they are doing something constructive to fight the drug problem.
In the main physicians aren’t misprescribing opiates and opoids and pharmaceutical reps are not inappropriately representing their products. It’s not worth the risks and hassles.
By the way it’s interesting that the politicians never mention any possible role of the addict in becoming addicted.
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