PENNLIVE | BY DAVID WENNER | 09.19.16
Drug makers and organizations they help fund spent more than $880 million during the past decade on issues including proposed laws related to opioids, which have killed 165,000 people since 2000 and caused untold others to become addicted to heroin, according to an investigation done by the Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity.
That’s 200 times more than the $4 million spent by groups trying to limit opioids, and eight times more than the gun lobby spent during the period, according to the two-part investigation.
Opioids include prescription painkillers including OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet, and can be similar to heroin and morphine in their addictiveness.