The makers of prescription painkillers and their allies have adopted a nationwide political strategy that includes hundreds of lobbyists and millions in campaign contributions to help kill or weaken measures aimed at stemming the tide of prescription opioids.
Opioids are the drugs at the heart of a crisis that has cost 165,000 Americans their lives and pushed countless more to crippling addiction.
The drugmakers vow they’re combating the addiction epidemic. But an investigation by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity found that they often employ a statehouse playbook of delay and defend.
That playbook includes funding advocacy groups that use the veneer of independence to fight limits on the drugs, such as OxyContin, Vicodin and fentanyl, the narcotic linked to Prince’s death.
The pharmaceutical companies and allied groups have a number of legislative interests in addition to opioids that account for a portion of their political activity. But their steady presence in state capitals means they’re poised to jump in quickly on any debate that affects them.
Illinois state candidates and parties have gotten nearly $3 million in contributions from the makers of prescription painkillers since 2006 as part of industry efforts nationally to help fight limits on their drugs, such as OxyContin and Vicodin.