Pushing Opioids: More Evidence on the Harm Caused by Patent Monopolies

The Washington Post had a piece on a new study finding a correlation between opiod overdoses and the money spent by drug companies marketing opiods to doctors. Of course no one would spend large amounts of money promoting a drug without the huge profit margins they enjoy as a result of government-granted patent monopolies.

It is standard practice for pharmaceutical companies to push their drugs in contexts where they may be appropriate. The spread of opiods is simply an extreme case. Without...