President Donald Trump’s nominee for drug czar, Republican Congressmember Tom Marino, had to withdraw from consideration after a Washington Post/”60 Minutes” investigation found he led a drug industry-backed effort to pass a law that weakened the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to crack down on addictive opioids. Meanwhile, calls are growing to look at the major pharmaceutical companies that have fueled the opioid crisis. A new investigation by Esquire magazine reveals how the secretive Sackler family, owners of the company that invented OxyContin, downplayed the risks of addiction and exploited doctors’ confusion over the drug’s strength. We speak with Christopher [More]
With marijuana illegal and DEA’s attempts to make alternative pain meds like cbd hemp oil Schedule I, Big Pharma has only reaped the benefits.  But when the DEA threatened that cushy relationship by expanding its war on drugs to fight opioid drugmakers, Big Pharma’s kid gloves came off.  Despite the tens of thousands of U.S. opioid overdose deaths a year, pharma companies used their money and influence to disarm the DEA’s best tools against keeping opioids like oxycodone off the black market.  Opioid addiction kills 78 people each day and another 20.8 million have a substance use disorder, but just [More]