In a bombshell investigation between 60 Minutes and the Washington Post, Donald Trump ‘s pick for the US’s drug czar has some explaining to do. 60 Minutes calls it “the most damning” investigation they’ve ever done, mostly, because of the discovery of a law the very same nominee helped pass which in turn helped spike the opioids crisis.
Yes people, we’re talking about Rep Tom Marino. Marino, notoriously assisted legislators and Big Pharma (with some assistance from several PACs) to pass a law that would and did actually make it almost impossible to stop suspicious shipments of drugs from ever making it to American cities. At one point, DEA officials were “collectively able to halt all shipments and such that they deemed to be suspicious with little intervention from other government heads or the law”.
But that changed when Marino ‘s spearheaded law came into play. 60 Minutes, perhaps, collected the most damning of the information presented. Joe Rannazzisi, a former DEA head, acknowledges that “big pharma” is a dangerous industry. “This is an industry that allowed millions and millions of drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors’ offices, that distributed them out to people who had no legitimate need for those drugs.” And: “The drug industry, the manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and chain drugstores, have an influence over Congress that has never been seen before.’ [see the full excerpt here].
The trouble began last year after the DEA reportedly lost much of its ability to curb suspicious arrivals of drugs onto the streets of America, largely, pointing back to the super-group of politicians of Marino and his friends. Politico reports that Donald Trump has now reversed course and “upon investigation” will remove Marino ‘s name for potential drug czar if “these reports are deemed to be true”.
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