DEA Fights Back After Investigation into Opioid Maker Was Halted – By OAN Network newsroom & Ethan Viveiros (oann.com) / Dec 18 2017
DEA Whistle Blowers are fighting back after claiming they were blocked from holding a pharmaceutical giant accountable for misconduct
Agents say the department was halted from pursuing what they call their biggest investigation in history by the largest opioid producer in the U.S.
The McKesson Corporation is responsible for manufacturing over a third of the U.S.’s prescription medications, but a 20-16 report found the pharmaceutical giant was neglecting their duties by failing to report the shipment of massive quantities of prescription opioids.
The company promised to better monitor their supplies after a $13.3 million settlement in 2008 for failing to report shipments of large quantities of the pain killer hydrocodone to unverified online pharmacies.
“DEA investigators saw McKesson doing pretty much the same thing,” explained 60 Minute correspondent Bill Whitaker. “Sending thousands and thousands and thousands of suspicious orders around the country, and they said since this was the second time that they found the company doing it they wanted to come down hard on them.”
The DEA asks that all drug companies freeze and report the sales of unusually large quantities of opioids, which is a provision McKesson has repeatedly ignored until they realized they were under investigation.
Reports say McKesson was able to bypass the rule by raising the shipping limit for pharmacies they would supply to.
One DEA investigator found McKesson was shipping just as many prescription painkillers to pharmacies in remote location as they were to massive drugstores in busy metropolitan areas.
President Trump has called the opioid crisis a “national health emergency,” which is why the DEA hoped to make an example out of McKesson.
After two years of negotiations however, the DEA claimed they were stopped by their own lawyers who were allegedly intimidated out of pursuing the suit by none other than McKesson.
“When we took the cases and eight boxes of evidence to the attorneys at the highest level in DEA they would tell us right away — lets just settle,” said former DEA Special Agent David Schiller.
“How do you settle when you need to go in with a court order and shut down a billion dollar distribution center?”
The company ended up settling for $150 million — a punishment the DEA calls “a slap on the wrist,” but the drug-making giant isn’t out of the woods yet.
41 state attorneys general have launched a bipartisan lawsuit against Big Pharma for their compliance in the epidemic.
In the meantime, a spokesperson from the department said the DEA has pledged to continue to monitor McKesson regardless of the settlement.
http://www.oann.com/dea-fights-back-after-investigation-into-opioid-maker-was-halted/
PB/TK – Laws make it so easy for companies to just settle on their screw-ups and not see the inside of the courtroom or a real jail cell, instead they pay milk money and go to club med as punishment
