Big Pharma Punished for Opioid Epidemic

Tens of thousands of people die every year from the opioid epidemic. Now, pharmaceutical companies are starting to face consequences.

Transcript

00:00Johnson & Johnson was the kingpin behind the nation's ongoing opioid crisis.

00:19I'm asking the CEO of Johnson & Johnson,

00:23Alex Gorski, to put his money where his mouth is and get out his checkbook.

00:30I'm asking the CEO of Johnson & Johnson,

00:33Alex Gorski, to put his money where his mouth is and get out his checkbook.

01:00Effective today, my administration is officially declaring the opioid crisis

01:15a national public health emergency under federal law, and why I am directing all

01:22executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis.

01:38There is liability. Some of them knowingly pushed the sale of some of these drugs,

01:45uh, knowing that they had these addictive, uh, capabilities and, and did not disclose it.

01:52And there, I wouldn't, you can't paint all of the people that were trying to help people with pain

01:56in a broad brush, but the ones who were doing these things definitely should be held accountable.

02:00Unfortunately, we can take those actions and we should,

02:03but it's not going to stop the people that are dying on the streets.