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John Oliver Calls Out Sackler Family on Episode of Last Week Tonight

John Oliver VS Big Pharma

John Oliver Calls Out Sackler Family on Episode of Last Week TonightThis is definitely not the first time John Oliver has taken on Big Pharma and the issues with the opioid crisis in America. In fact, at the start of this recent segment, he acknowledges his previous episode before setting his focus on the changes since then, or lack thereof. On another hard-hitting episode of Last Week Tonight the well-known English comedic commentator takes on the Sackler Family, Mckesson Corporation, and the failed attempts to curb the influx of prescription opioids into an already volatile environment.

A Comedian on a Mission

As a writer for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart John Oliver won an Emmy for his work with taking a comedic yet impactful look into important political and social issues. As a host on his own HBO series, Last Week Tonight, Oliver has made a name for himself by taking deeper dives into the details of certain issues. Each moment of troubling truth or eye-opening examination is balanced with jokes that are either intensely ironic or ridiculously abstract. For instance, in this latest episode, Oliver steps off the serious discussion of Big Pharma corruption to deliver a few bits about the true nature of bears, with comical and cartoon-ish visual aids.

Moreover, Oliver tends to deliver some relatively detailed arguments, regardless of the topic at hand. While some may consider him a more liberal voice in the media, with open criticism of the Trump administration and other prominent conservative voices, he also criticizes other media outlets also considered to be more liberal. Recently, we questioned CNN for their coverage on the arrest of Julian Assange.

Needless to say, his take on the opioid crisis is a sound and even hilarious dissection of everything wrong with Big Pharma and the policies that allowed them to flourish.

Taking on Distributors

First, Oliver took on companies that are responsible for dispensing drugs from manufacturers to hospitals and pharmacies. These companies are supposed to alert authorities in the event that they notice suspicious quantities of control substances being ordered. However, several have been called out in recent years for failure to fulfill that responsibility.

John Oliver begins his take on distributors by talking about the story of Kermit, West Virginia. In the year 2016, more than 3 million doses of hydrocodone were ordered in one year, by just one pharmacist, in a city of only 400 people. That is around 7,500 doses for every resident!

McKesson Corporation

For some background, McKesson Corporation is an American pharmaceutical distributor based out of San Francisco. In 2018, the company revenues were counted at $208.4 billion. In 2008, the DEA claimed that McKesson had failed to properly control their controlled substances. At the time, the Big Pharma distributor was allowed to avoid any admittance of wrongdoing as long as they agreed to pay a fine of $13,250,000. They were also required to develop and implement a controlled drug monitoring program.

However, by many accounts, McKesson failed to live up to that pledge. Oliver points out that one DEA agent wrote of the company:

“Their bad acts continued and escalated to a level of egregiousness not seen before.”

John Oliver points out how the strategy of expecting pharmaceutical companies to monitor themselves seems to consistently fall short of effective. In the case of Kermit, the McKesson Corp was responsible for distributing over 5 million doses of opioids in only two years.

In 2017, McKesson ended up having to make another settlement of $150 million. However, as Oliver points out,

“Which yes, sounds like a lot… until you realize that it is less than 1/1,000th of their revenue for one year.”

Which brings around Oliver’s point about how companies who profit from the opioid crisis are dealt with. He notes that for Big Pharma giants like McKesson, paying a fine is “just the cost of doing business.”

Trouble for Purdue Pharma

Kicking off the piece of the segment about the infamous opioid empire of Purdue Pharma, Oliver notes the history of Purdue’s aggressive and egregious marketing tactics for OxyContin. The company faced massive backlash after years of marketing the opioid painkiller as a less addictive painkiller that was safe to use for the treatment of common conditions like backaches.

Here, Oliver hits us with one of the clever comparisons, reminding us that once upon a time companies used to marketing cocaine for toothaches.

Next, Oliver takes on the Sackler Family, citing a 2017 article from The New Yorker stating the family has a collective net worth of $13 billion. As the battle against corporations tied to the opioid crisis intensifies, this family name has been pulled into the fray with protests and lawsuits calling out their involvement in Purdue Pharma’s business plan. On Last Week Tonight, Oliver also takes a look at one individual from the Sackler Family in particular.

Actors Try on Richard Sackler

Richard served as President of Purdue Pharmaceuticals from 1999 to 2003 and spent several years on the board with seven other members of the family. Overall, he was with the company throughout the opioid crisis. Richard Sackler is named in several lawsuits brought by different states.

In Massachusetts, one lawsuit asserts that Richard demanded to be sent into the field with sales reps on visits to doctors. This is something John Oliver believes is in correlation with a very specific purpose. He cites statements made by Richard at a company event that the launch of OxyContin would be followed by “a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition.”

Even as the imminent threat presented by OxyContin became apparent, Oliver adds that Richard Sackler pushed forward with this attitude of selling more opioids, with very little concern for the impact. In an attempt to make the points of this segment feel more meaningful, John Oliver even enlists the help of several actors to deliver quotes attributed to Richard Sackler.

Michael Keaton

First, there is the American actor and 1989 Batman, Michael Keaton. Oliver points out that when evidence was mounting that OxyContin was causing widespread addiction, Sackler urged the company to blame people suffering from addiction to take the focus off of their product. When quoting the actual words of Sackler, the amazing Michael Keaton states:

“We have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals.”

Here John Oliver acknowledges that the Sacklers and Purdue vigorously deny these claims. They insist that these quotes are being taken out of context and that they did not cause the opioid crisis.

Bryan Cranston

Probably one of the most troubling revelations to come from the segment is Oliver’s argument that the Sackler family has fought hard to avoid true transparency regarding their involvement in the opioid crisis. More specifically, how the company has settled many of the lawsuits against them by demanding the stipulation that evidence is sealed and unavailable to the public. For instance, one lawsuit against Kentucky was settled on the condition that the states Attorney General destroy 17 million pages of documents pertaining to the allegations against Purdue.

A leak from this case actually included the transcript from a video deposition with Richard Sackler. While the video itself is unavailable, John Oliver again found a way to make a powerful statement by having Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston get in on the action. Suffice it to say, the dramatization of that interview does not play very well for the Sackler in question. One part they highlight was a speech given by Sackler supposedly bragging about how quickly they had gotten the DEA to approve OxyContin. And as Oliver says, Cranston goes “full Walter White” on this video.

The segment also enlists Michael K. Williams, who famously portrayed Omar Devone Little on The Wire, to give an intense reading of the transcript. And finally, Richard Kind from Spin City and A Bug’s Life gave some goofy “I don’t know” answers from the over 100 times it was mentioned in the real deposition.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, John Oliver and Last Week Tonight make a call for transparency with Big Pharma companies. He acknowledges that while his show tries to find some way to laugh through the pain of the opioid crisis, it is important that more be done to hold opioid makers and distributors accountable. This seems to be a growing sentiment, as the Sacklers prepare to face numerous lawsuits. More lawmakers, public health officials, and advocacy groups are calling for transparency and culpability for any business that profited from the opioid crisis. Meanwhile, the fight against addiction and overdose death rates continues.

For those who are struggling, comprehensive addiction treatment is a vital resource to overcoming opioid addiction. If you or someone you love is suffering, please call toll-free now. We want to help.

CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398

CDC Claims Kratom Probably Responsible for Salmonella Outbreak

CDC Claims Kratom Probably Responsible for Salmonella Outbreak

This past week the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement warning people to stay away from Kratom while health officials investigate the possible connection between the plant and a nationwide outbreak of salmonella.

Multi-State Salmonella Outbreak

So far 11 people have been hospitalized as a result of this recent salmonella outbreak, and the CDC believes that kratom may actually be responsible for the recent chain of illnesses.

Since October, 28 cases of salmonella were recorded in 20 states, including:

  1. California
  2. Florida
  3. New York
  4. Ohio
  5. Massachusetts
  6. Michigan
  7. Alabama
  8. Arizona
  9. Colorado
  10. Louisiana
  11. Oklahoma
  12. Oregon
  13. North Dakota
  14. North Carolina
  15. South Carolina
  16. Kansas
  17. Kentucky
  18. Utah
  19. Tennessee
  20. Pennsylvania

So far there have been no deaths, but nearly a dozen people have ended up needing to be hospitalized.

Most people infected with salmonella develop symptoms with 12 to 72 hours of exposure to the bacteria. Some symptoms include:

  • Diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Abdominal cramps

According to the advisory released by the CDC, 11 people affected by the salmonella outbreak were interviewed. Out of those 11 people, 8 of them admit to consuming kratom. That is a 73% connection so far. These individuals had taken the plant via:

  • Pills
  • Powder
  • Tea

Therefore, at this time kratom is the primary suspect in the CDC’s investigation. The advisory states:

“Epidemiologic evidence indicates that kratom is a likely source of this multistate outbreak. At this time, CDC recommends that people not consume kratom in any form because it could be contaminated with salmonella.”

But it wasn’t just the CDC. The very next day the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement announcing the recall of “kratom-containing dietary supplements” manufactured and distributed by Divinity Products Distribution of Grain Valley, Missouri. This manufacturer is not yet determined to be the cause of the outbreak, but the company voluntarily recalled its kratom products and promised to stop selling them.

CDC, FDA, and DEA vs Kratom

At this time the FDA is encouraging other kratom companies to follow the Missouri company’s lead. They urge other manufacturers to- “take swift action to remove these products from circulation to protect the public.” The FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb states,

“To protect the public health, we’ll continue to affirm the risks associated with kratom, warn consumers against its use and take aggressive enforcement action against kratom-containing products.”

Proponents of kratom do argue that the FDA has been working especially hard in the last few years to prove that kratom is a threat to public health. In early February the FDA claimed it found evidence that certain compounds in kratom interact with the body’s opioid receptors. This led the agency to conclude that “compounds in kratom make it so it isn’t just a plant—it’s an opioid.” In America, the use of this plant is actually already banned in 6 states. The DEA also considers it a drug of concern. Even though back in October of 2016 the DEA announced they would not be banning kratom and giving it a schedule 1 label.

However, the American Kratom Association and other kratom advocates are willing to keep pushing back against the FDA. Many kratom users claim it is useful for helping addicts self-medicate to lessen the withdrawals when getting off heroin and other opioids. Yet, there is not enough research out there yet to fully endorse this claim, and a lot more would have to be done to legitimize it.

Either way, because kratom products are very loosely regulated by the FDA, it isn’t hard to understand why they are asking people to stop using the plant until they have been able to identify the source of the bacteria.

So far, no specific brands or suppliers have been singled out, but health officials are still urging people to be safe and avoid kratom products.

Many may still debate the benefits and the risks with kratom. Either way, both sides agree that more research is needed. Whether or not the drug should be banned is still a question that has yet to be answered. The one thing we do know is that kratom is a mind-altering substance, so using it might be detrimental to some people trying to recover from addiction. Right now, it doesn’t seem safe for anyone, anyway. If you or someone you love is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, please call toll-free now. We want to help.

  CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398

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