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Regulating the “Easy Way”: A study on the Regulation of Prescription Opioid in North American Liberal Welfare States

Kolessar, Abigail Rose LU (2025) WPMM43 20251
Department of Political Science
Abstract
This thesis explores the beginning of the opioid crisis and the ways in which the liberal welfare system and its principles have led to the lack of regulation of prescription opioids from both Health Canada and the FDA of the United States. The focus of this research is on the impetus to the overprescription of opioids, which started with the creation of Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin. The thesis focuses on regulation but recognizes different determinants of the opioid crisis including social reasons, the strategy used by private healthcare that created a market for the management of pain, and the creation of “Big Pharma” that has heavily influenced governments. Applying welfare typology and healthcare systems, there is an indication that the... (More)
This thesis explores the beginning of the opioid crisis and the ways in which the liberal welfare system and its principles have led to the lack of regulation of prescription opioids from both Health Canada and the FDA of the United States. The focus of this research is on the impetus to the overprescription of opioids, which started with the creation of Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin. The thesis focuses on regulation but recognizes different determinants of the opioid crisis including social reasons, the strategy used by private healthcare that created a market for the management of pain, and the creation of “Big Pharma” that has heavily influenced governments. Applying welfare typology and healthcare systems, there is an indication that the welfare state prioritizes private industry and how these private industries took advantage. The theory of regulation regimes are used to convey the criteria that are applied to regulation. This research uses causal process tracing to incorporate all the applied theory and thus connection to regulatory capture and patient choice. The results reveal that through liberal welfare state ideology and the structure of healthcare, which was shaped through lobbying and patient advocacy have negatively impacted regulation of opioids that resulted in the overprescribing of them. (Less)
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author
Kolessar, Abigail Rose LU
supervisor
organization
course
WPMM43 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Regulation, Opioid Crisis, Canada, United States, Welfare State
language
English
id
9191182
date added to LUP
2025-08-08 13:25:49
date last changed
2025-08-08 13:25:49
@misc{9191182,
  abstract     = {{This thesis explores the beginning of the opioid crisis and the ways in which the liberal welfare system and its principles have led to the lack of regulation of prescription opioids from both Health Canada and the FDA of the United States. The focus of this research is on the impetus to the overprescription of opioids, which started with the creation of Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin. The thesis focuses on regulation but recognizes different determinants of the opioid crisis including social reasons, the strategy used by private healthcare that created a market for the management of pain, and the creation of “Big Pharma” that has heavily influenced governments. Applying welfare typology and healthcare systems, there is an indication that the welfare state prioritizes private industry and how these private industries took advantage. The theory of regulation regimes are used to convey the criteria that are applied to regulation. This research uses causal process tracing to incorporate all the applied theory and thus connection to regulatory capture and patient choice. The results reveal that through liberal welfare state ideology and the structure of healthcare, which was shaped through lobbying and patient advocacy have negatively impacted regulation of opioids that resulted in the overprescribing of them.}},
  author       = {{Kolessar, Abigail Rose}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Regulating the “Easy Way”: A study on the Regulation of Prescription Opioid in North American Liberal Welfare States}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}