Lane: Opiate Epidemic Began with Big Pharma ‘Pumping Prescription Opioids into Society’

LANE: "What we are talking about here with opioid overdoses because drugs were illegal. This began with legal drugs, with prescription medications. That were vetted by the FDA, produced in giant factories and prescribed by doctors and profits of billions of dollars going to the pharmaceutical industry. That’s how we got where we are not because we were waging war on drugs but because the entire medical and pharmaceutical establishment of this country was pumping prescription opioids into the society, claiming that they were not addictive and that people would not get into trouble this way. That’s how we wound up where we are. So, it is terrific that these folks are talking about this issue and talking about treatment. But if you want to get at the root of it it, you have to prevent it. And the way you prevent it is by cutting dramatically on the overprescription, on the irresponsible prescription, on the ignorant prescription or the misguided prescription of these opioids and there has been tremendous misinformation, much of it promoted by the pharmaceutical industry about the actual properties of these medications and fortunately, the federal government, yes, has pushed."