Listen to the episode from July 5th: https://www.nytimes.com/podcasts/the-daily
Why create content when great content is already out there? While I don’t plan to make a habit of re-posting podcasts, today’s episode of The Daily Podcast, by the New York Times, offers a stand-alone, 20-minute conversation that dissects the opioid crisis and exposes its founders.
When I was in high school I learned about how Britain used opium to topple the Chinese empire. Today, I look at the pervasiveness of opioids in the United States’ society to ask one simple question: How can the US avoid the fate of china? With healthcare costs devastating small, rural communities, politicians, doctors, journalists and citizens are proposing solutions for battling the opioid crisis: for example, the death penalty for dealers(Source), murder charges for those who share drugs involved in an overdose (Source), more regulation over doctors(Source), etc… but why has blame not been assigned to those who actually produce, market, and distribute these narcotics?
This podcast is an excellent example of investigative reporting and a reminder of the crucial role of the press to hold corporations and government accountable.
My theory: if you want to find a solution you must first find the source of the problem. Nobody should be above the law. It’s a shame that our justice system is so corrupt that all it takes to reverse prosecutors’ minds is an hour-long meeting and a $600 million dollar plea deal.
Taken from the podcast description:
Prosecutors, seeking to hold someone accountable for the opioid epidemic, have been targeting doctors, dealers and users themselves. But those who made billions of dollars from sales of OxyContin, a painkiller at the center of the crisis, have gone largely unpunished. Guest: Barry Meier, the author of “Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic,” who has reported on Purdue Pharma and the opioid crisis for The New York Times.
The fact that a single 20-minute audio file can contain 17 years of investigative reporting(and all I have to do is share the link) gives me hope that long-standing, systemic corruption can be identified and corrected.
Kyle Huber 