WRIT1001: Analysis of Drug Abuse Rhetoric and Justice System Failures

This research task, completed as part of the WRIT1001 course, investigates the rhetoric surrounding drug abuse, specifically focusing on the opioid crisis and the actions of Purdue Pharma. The student analyzes how rhetoric, including appeals to pathos, has been used to influence arguments about...Read More

Short Writing Task 2: Research Task – Drug Abuse
Student's name
Institution Affiliation(s)

Introduction
Drug abuse presents a historical, current, and future unending problem world over.
Governments declare their fight against drug abuse and launch operations to weed them out.
However, more cunning drug dealers eventually emerge, more prepared with a strong capital
base and masquerading tactics (Fox, Oliver, & Ellis, 2013). Even what's more frightening is the
fact that some companies produce drugs under the government's watch in the name of
painkillers.
When the public or a whistle-blower finally exposes the vice, court proceedings and
investigations get underway (Fox et al., 2013). Shockingly, some government agencies, the
justice department, and the company collude to have closed-door court sessions. After days of
discussions, a settlement is arrived at, with no single executive being punished. Usually, a low-
level employee is relieved of their duties to be used as the scape-goat and take the fall on behalf
of the company.
Excerpt
"Doctors, often unaware of how Purdue Pharma had betrayed them, continued to ramp up
their use of opioids by tens of millions of added prescriptions annually. And in the five years
after the case's settlement, some 100,000 Americans died from overdoses involving prescription
painkillers such as OxyContin, while thousands of patients became addicted to opioids or
suffered ill health consequences. (Meier, 2018)"
Summary
Doctors who were unaware of the consequences or side effects caused by the opioids
drugs produced by Purdue Phama Company would go on to prescribe the medicine to millions of

unsuspecting customers. These prescriptions resulted in the deaths of many Americans and left
many with severe addictions (Meier, 2018).
Paraphrase
Specialists, frequently ignorant of how Purdue Pharma had deceived them, kept on
sloping up their utilization of narcotics by a huge number of prescribed solutions every year.
Furthermore, in the five years after the case's settlement, exactly 100,000 Americans kicked the
bucket from overdoses, including remedy painkillers, for example, OxyContin, while a large
number of patients got dependent on narcotics or developed critical health conditions (Meier,
2018).
Direct Quotation
According to Meier (2018), "five years after the case's settlement, some 100,000
Americans died from overdoses." The consequences of both drug abuse and corruption are
evident after just five years. Many innocent lives are lost with countless others left addicted and
others battling drug-related chronic diseases.
How rhetoric has been used
The pathos factor of this article gets deep in the sense that it includes Addiction, Abuse,
and Corruption (Varpio, 2018). The fear the families had to go through when they realized that
their loved one was addicted to opioids. The corruption comes back to bite the law and
enforcement system. It is rhetoric seeing that both the company's legal team and the law and
enforcement system (the lawyers, judges, and prosecutors) met to about the case, and at the end
of their discussions, the case was thrown out of the court (Allen, 2017).
The justice system failed to rigorously pursue the prosecution of Purdue Pharma for
developing addictive painkillers. Years later, they are faced with the consequences of their

actions that leave many persons dead and others having chronic illnesses due to the drugs. The
justice system had many opportunities in which they would have prosecuted the company, yet
failed in all of them (Varpio, 2018).
Conclusion
The fight against drug abuse and its consequences is unending. With the authorities
unwilling to put up a fight, the problem is only becoming prevalent. As rhetoric as it sounds, the
justice department should be aware of the fact that there will be consequences and a heavy price
to pay.

References
Allen, M. (2017). Rhetoric, Aristotle’s: Pathos. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication
Research Methods. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411.n521 (Accessed 09.04.2020)
Fox, T. P., Oliver, G., & Ellis, S. M. (2013). The Destructive Capacity of Drug Abuse: An
Overview Exploring the Harmful Potential of Drug Abuse Both to the Individual and to
Society [Review Article]. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/450348 (Accessed 09.04.2020)
Meier, B. (2018, June 15). Why Drug Company Executives Haven’t Really Seen Justice for Their
Role in the Opioid Crisis. Retrieved from Time website:
https://time.com/5311359/purdue-pharma-oxycontin-lawsuit-opioid-crisis/ (Accessed
09.04.2020)
Varpio, L. (2018). Using rhetorical appeals to credibility, logic, and emotions to increase your
persuasiveness. Perspectives on Medical Education, 7(3), 207–210. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-018-0420-2 (Accessed 09.04.2020)