New “60 Minutes” segment details continued consequences of the opioids crisis, Mike Rogers still refuses to answer for his role as a “champion” for pharmaceutical companies
LANSING — Yesterday, “60 Minutes” detailed the continued consequences of the opioids crisis, yet Mike Rogers remains silent about his “decade of advocacy” to “boost opioid prescriptions” as “the nation tumbled into a crushing epidemic it is still battling today.”
“60 Minutes” highlighted how the pharmaceutical industry “set the table” for the crisis that we continue to face today, as more Americans became addicted to opioids. Bridge Michigan reported that Rogers was “one of Congress’ leading advocates for increased access to pain care” with “close ties to pain foundations that were bankrolled by drug companies trying to increase sales of pain pills like Oxycontin.”
Rogers refuses to answer about his opioids record, despite the fact that he pushed bills that “did not include penalties for over-prescribing,” and he “received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same drug companies that now are paying billions of dollars in national opioid settlements for their roles in causing the epidemic.”
Experts point out that Rogers “contributed to the crisis,” and he “could have done more in his role to temper the growing epidemic.” Michiganders deserve answers from Rogers on his work “urg[ing] opioid access in Congress:”
Here are five key questions that Rogers refuses to answer:
- Did you refuse to identify big drug companies as responsible for the opioid crisis, including ones now paying Michigan millions of dollars in settlements for their role in the epidemic, because you received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from those same companies?
- How do you claim not to have known about your close ties to Big Pharma and the drug companies fueling the crisis when you were identified as one of the “principal beneficiaries of pharma’s largesse?”
- How do you deny that the lack of regulation by Congress is part of what fueled the opioid crisis when you were introducing bills to fuel the crisis pushed forward by groups bankrolled by Big Pharma?
- How do you deny any responsibility when experts say you directly “contributed to the crisis” and could have done more to temper the opioid epidemic?
- Do you regret your self-professed work as a “champion” for opioid manufacturers and distributors for drugs that have killed tens of thousands of Michiganders?
See also: Bridge Michigan: Mike Rogers vows to fight drug war, but urged opioid access in Congress, 60 Minutes: Fentanyl fueling worst drug crisis in U.S. history, killing 70,000 a year.
###
