ICYMI: "Senator v. Pharma" - 60 Minutes Covers Senator Hassan's Efforts to Combat the Opioid Crisis, Hold the Pharmaceutical Industry Accountable.

WASHINGTON – As part of their joint investigation into the opioid epidemic, 60 Minutes and The Washington Post spoke with Senator Hassan about her efforts to combat the opioid crisis, hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable, and help strengthen law enforcement’s ability to go after reckless opioid distributors.

The stories were a follow-up to an earlier report examining the opioid epidemic and the 2016 law that Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) personnel said has restricted the ability of the DEA to crack down on opioid distributors suspected of wrongdoing. The Senator helped introduce legislation to repeal the 2016 law and to slow the revolving door between the pharmaceutical industry and federal agencies.

See below for video footage of the 60 Minutes segment featuring Senator Hassan:

Courtesy: https://www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/

Click here for a clip of Senator Hassan in the 60 Minutes segment.

Click here for the full 60 Minutes segment.

And see below for Senator Hassan’s comments in the Washington Post (or see the full story here):

“One of the things we have to do is begin to hold the pharmaceutical companies accountable,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), whose state suffers from the second-highest drug overdose rate in the nation. “Right now, when you see a fine for the McKesson company for a hundred-fifty million when they make a hundred million a week in profits, that isn’t going do it.”

She noted that it was state attorneys general who had won a settlement against the tobacco industry for more than $200 billion in the 1990s.

“This in many ways reminds me of the situation with Big Tobacco,” Hassan said. “I think it’s one of the reasons you see attorneys general around the country beginning to file lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry, to hold them accountable for the cost of this terrible epidemic.”

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