“Jake Leg” and a Modern Tragedy of the Marketplace

Well-intentioned but ultimately misguided actions over recent decades have contributed to today’s opioid epidemic. Pain was promoted as the “fifth vital sign” pharmaceutical manufacturers encouraged more liberal prescriptions of new and supposedly safer formulations. When addiction issues became apparent, pendulum swung toward restricting prescriptions, constraining “street” supply opioids. The unintended consequence creation highly efficient drug distribution pipelines with synthetic opioids fill market demand. result has been an epidemic fatalities, which worsened during COVID-19 pandemic. This article draws parallels between current a previous tragedy marketplace created by Prohibition in 1920s.