Now that Big Pharma has had its way with the average American consumer, pumping the population with as much addictive painkillers and other substances as possible, they have set their sights on the global market.

For makers of opioids, the U.S. market was a gold rush in the beginning – a major market with oodles of reasons to need to take pain medicine. At first, things seemed great: consumers were able to find relief from pain, pharmacists began handing stuff out by the handful, and the hands pulling the strings began to pocket wads and wads of cash.

But that same pain medicine had a dark side: opioids like OxyContin and Percocet proved to be wildly addictive, hooking thousands from all communities and classes. Most individuals who became hooked on opiates were not trying to get high, but were merely looking for relief from their pain. Many were prescribed the pills after an accident or major injury, and were not warned of the addictive tendencies of the pills their doctors handed them. They took them to relieve their pain, and before they knew it, they were hooked.

These junkies imagined up aches and pains to get more drugs, and when doctors began to become suspicious, some addicts would break bones or pay friends to beat them up to justify the fresh prescription. Many more soon learned that they could get a similar high from heroin for a much smaller price, so they began walking down an even darker road that many never escaped.

As a result, the U.S. seems to have awoken finally to this growing epidemic, and the government is beginning to crack down on the medical industry and big pharma. Prescribing these cash cows is now much more difficult, and consumers are being allowed to ingest less of the product, rather than more as Big Pharma would prefer.

Big pharma created this massive issue in the United States, and rather than seeing the error of their ways, are committed to spreading this addictive gift to the rest of the planet. It all comes down to the big paydays they can expect from as of yet untapped markets who need pain relief too.

Just like the Big Tobacco industry did decades ago, Big Pharma has began churning the wheels of their global empire, reaching across the planet with the same lies and misinformation they used to sell the U.S. to its opiate overlords. Because lesser nations lack the same regulations, Big Pharma will milk the cow for as long as possible until those governments wise up as well.

Then they’ll go to another nation. And another. And another. Always following the easy paydays while taking advantage of innocent people – condemning them to misery and death.

You can read more about Big Pharma’s plans and how it correlates to Big Tobacco from Vox.