I’ve been studying the economic intersection of capitalism and addiction. It is a highly profitable and always a sordid business. A recent history of businesses based on addiction For a recent book project, I looked into what the tobacco companies did in the 20th century. We all know today that nicotine is addictive and cigarettes…
South Dakota spent nearly half a million dollars on its anti-drug campaign slogan “Meth. We’re on it.” The ridicule spread far and wide. Ha, ha! We’re from South Dakota and we’re telling everyone we’re on meth! Those stupid hicks. Yeah, it looked pretty silly to me, too. Because I’m not on meth. No one I…
If you had profited from a highly addictive drug that had done great damage to society, what would you do? A trial about this — about Insys and fentanyl — is happening right now in Boston. But I’m not talking about opioids. I’m talking about Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal looks…