Political Quotes

“This opioid epidemic wasn't started by some runaway virus. They were decisions made by real people to flood America's towns and streets with ``a blizzard of prescriptions,'' as Richard Sackler of Purdue Pharma put it in his own words. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States produced 14 billion opioid pills in 2016 alone--enough opioid pills for every adult in America to have a 3-week supply of opioids. Who would approve the production of 14 billion opioid pills in 1 year, 2016? It turned out it was your government. The Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States of America is responsible for determining and basically giving a license for the production of a specific amount of opioid pills allowed to be distributed to the market each year. It is the Drug Enforcement Administration--of all agencies--that establishes annual production quotas for opioids that are, effectively, the gatekeepers for pharma. Pharma, of course, wants to produce as much as possible in order to sell as much as possible. The Drug Enforcement Administration is supposed to draw the line. Yet, for all of these years, while we have faced this epidemic, our government--the Drug Enforcement Administration--has been increasing the production quotas each year for opioid pills. Between 1993 and 2015, the Drug Enforcement Administration allowed the production of oxycodone to increase in America 39 times--from 3\1/ 2\ tons of opioids in 1993 to 151 tons of opioids in 2015.…”