Ep. 236 – Preparing Future Physicians: How Dr. Elizabeth Gundersen readies her students for future ethical challenges
Pharmaceutical companies spend billions annually on influencing physicians and other pharmaceutical providers, to write more prescriptions for their products. For most companies, the majority of their marketing budget is dedicated to direct [...]
Ep. 235 – “American Relapse:” A Behind the Scenes Look with Director/Executive Producer of Chilling New Documentary
Each year, thousands of people from across the country go to Florida seeking treatment for drug addiction. Some find help and recover, but the vast majority relapse and continue to struggle with [...]
Ep. 234 – Tragedy Transforms High School Counselor to Addiction Prevention and Recovery Activist
Over 130 people die each day after overdosing on opioids in America. The abuse of and addiction to opioids is a national crisis that has touched the lives of more families than [...]
Ep. 233 – Crowd Sourced App Helps Build a Community of First Responders
It’s estimated that one hundred and seventy-five people die from opioid overdoses daily in our country. Naloxone can save lives, if there when needed, but the window of time is very short. [...]
Ep. 232 – Pharmaceutical Industry Wins with a Little Help from their Friends
In our last episode of this series, we learned how passage of the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act took away the DEA’s most effective diversion control enforcement tool, the [...]
Ep. 231 – “60 Minutes” Whistleblower Shares What Happened When Congress Sided with Industry Over an Agency
When a key member of the government’s legal team went to work for the pharmaceutical industry, the job of diversion control enforcement changed dramatically. In this episode, Mr. Joseph Rannazzisi, who for [...]
Ep. 230 -Diversion Out of Control: “60 Minutes” Whistleblower, Joe Rannazzisi Shares What Went Wrong
This is the 2nd in our 4 part series with the former head of the Office of Diversion Control for the DEA, Mr. Joseph Rannazzisi. We began this series by talking about [...]
Ep. 229 – Diversion Out of Control: “60 Minutes” Whistleblower, Joe Rannazzisi Talks About What Went Wrong
On December 19th, 2018, the Energy and Commerce Committee released a long awaited report titled “Red Flags and Warning Signs Ignored: Opioid Distribution and Enforcement Concerns in West Virginia”. The purpose of [...]
Ep. 228 – Pharmaceutical Company Exposed in Boston: A Conversation with Palm Beach Post Reporters Part 2
We frame today’s podcast with Palm Beach Post reporters, John Pacenti and Pat Beall with a clip from the Insys Therapeutics rap video on the virtues of persuading doctors to prescribe higher [...]
Ep. 227 – Landmark Racketeering Case Against Insys Therapeutics Brings Up A Familiar Story
Back in January, the pharmaceutical trial of Insys Therapeutics and company founder, John Kapoor faced charges of racketeering. Allegedly, he and six former sales directors operated a scheme which paid bribes to [...]
Ep. 226 – Turning Tragedy into a Triumph: The Roanoke Valley Hope Initiative Story
As Beth Macy’s book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America” unfolds, we meet many families, community leaders and healthcare providers that were directly impacted by the opioid epidemic [...]
Ep. 225 – Improbable Players Change the Conversation on Addiction Using Performance and Discussion
Improbable Players is a collection of touring theater troupes with a powerful message. Forming in Boston, the organization formed in 1984 and is a form of evidence-based prevention education. They use workshops [...]