I am now persuaded there is something wrong with Big Pharma in the U.S.
I know, I know, I am very late to the party, but it's really not easy to understand the pharmaceutical business because nothing is what it seems. However, every once in a while, the curtain gets pulled back, and for a moment you catch a glimpse of "how the sausage is made." It is not a pretty sight.
Something like that happened a few years ago when "Pharma Bro", Martin Shkreli, raised the price of EpiPens by more than 500%. The solution was to put Shkreli in jail. The old USSR used to put people in jail for "economic crimes", so I feel sure there is a better way. At any rate, I can do a bit of curtain pulling, myself.
Several of my friends are smokers. I am deeply sympathetic, and I never nag them about it because I am well aware nicotine is the single most addictive drug in the human ecosphere. More addictive than cocaine or heroin. Besides, smokers know what they are doing to themselves and most want to stop, but very few can manage it permanently. It is a serious problem.
In the world of nicotine, there are alternatives to smoking:
- nicotine gum,
- vaping, and
- nicotine nasal spray.
It is vaping that opens the door to some interesting analysis.
There are vapers who "roll their own". I.e., quite legally, you can buy various kinds of nicotine liquids and flavor additives to mix your own vaping liquids. Some vapers even rebuild their cartridges, which burn out much like a light bulb. Rebuilding a cartridge is like replacing the filament in a bulb. However, I will not discuss cartridges.
For reference, you may want to keep the cocaine market in mind. Now, I do not have direct experience of this, but unless you have been living under a rock for the last 20 yrs, you must have a pretty good general idea about this product. (Newspaper articles, maybe you know somebody, maybe you have been treated at a party, etc.)
In Brooklyn, NY, in AD 2022, I hear that you can buy a gram of cocaine for something like $125. Because at no point in its life cycle is cocaine legal, the street product is certainly adulterated. With what and by how much is hard to know. For the sake of argument, let's suppose your gram is only 50% cocaine.
Furthermore, your price depends upon how much you buy. Even casual users might buy an "eight ball", 1/8 oz or 3.5 grams, in which case the price will go down a bit. In this analysis, let's suppose you pay $100 for a gram of powder which is really only 1/2 cocaine. Therefore, let's say cocaine costs in the neighborhood of $200 per gram. That is our reference point.
Now, consider cigarettes. Although cigarettes contain widely differing amounts of nicotine, the research says a smoker burns away most of it. The actual amount of nicotine absorbed by a smoker ranges from 1.1 mg to 1.8 mg per cigarette. Let's say 2 mg of nicotine per cigarette (you will see why, in a moment).
Typically, there are 20 cigarettes in a pack, so one pack actually delivers 40 mg of nicotine, or 0.04 grams. In NYC, a pack of cigarettes costs around $15. Therefore, a smoker pays $15/0.04g or $375 per gram of nicotine.
Nicotine gum comes in 2mg and 4mg pieces (there may be other strengths). Right now at CVS you can buy a box of 170 pieces of gum, 2mg nicotine per piece, for $75. This means $75/0.34g which is $221/gram of nicotine.
Also available for smokers who want to quit is nicotine nasal spray. This product is typically available in 10 mL bottles of 1% nicotine solution. That means each bottle contains 0.1 grams of nicotine.
In Canada, you can buy this product for $50 per bottle. That is $50 for 0.1 grams, or $500/gram of nicotine.
Via eBay, it looks like you can buy Nicorette nasal spray from the UK for about $320/gram.
In the U.S., you need a prescription for nicotine nasal spray---the same 10 mL of 1% nicotine solution. You can see what's coming. At CVS, you can buy one pack of 4 bottles of Nicotrol NS, or 0.4 grams of nicotine, for $514.31. This works out to $1,285.78/gram.
Finally, we come to vaping. But, not really vaping, just the supplies for vaping. If you were a roll your own vaper, you can buy 120 mL (4 oz) of a 10% nicotine solution (there is no dust so you don't need a mask, but you better wear gloves when pouring) for $40. This means $40 for 12 grams of nicotine, or $3.33/gram.
If you wanted to mix your own 10 mL bottle of 1% nicotine nasal spray, you would need $0.33 worth of nicotine solution. You can buy 10 mL empty nasal spray bottles on Amazon for $1 to $5 per bottle, depending on the type of bottle (glass or plastic) and how many you bought. So, you could formulate your own nicotine nasal spray for less than $1.50 for 0.1 grams of nicotine. That works out to $15 per gram.
Let's review:
gum: $221/g,
Canadian nasal spray: $500/g,
UK nasal spray: $320/g,
I guess what I am saying is there is one difference between the tobacco companies and the pharma companies on the one hand, and the drug dealers on the other. They all get you hooked on their products then gouge you mercilessly for it. But, Big Tobacco and Big Pharma are way more shameless about it.
In other words, your cocaine connection has more integrity than the mofos of Tobacco and Pharmaceuticals.
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