03/27/19 03/27/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york thisis is , democracy now! >> it is a newew day in oklahoma and for the nation in our battle against addiction and the opioid epidemic. amy: purdue pharma, maker of oxycontin, agrees to a landmark $270 million settlement with oklahoma over claims the company contributed to the deaths of thousands of residents by downplaying the risk of opioid

addiction, while overstating the drug's benefits. more than $100 million from the settlement will fund a new addiction treatment and rereseah center at t oklahoma statate university. >> we reached a turning point in the history of purdue pharma, the sackler family -- the cocompany's owner -- in the long-running story of the opioid epidemic. amy: we will spend the hour on the opioid crisis, starting with barry meier, the first journalist to shed a national spotlight on the abuse of oxycontin. he is author of "pain killer: an empire of deceit and the origin of america's opioid epidemic." we'll also speak with abdullah shihipar, author of a "new york times" op-ed "the opioid crisis isn't white." now more than 500 cities, counties, and native american tribes have filed a lawsuit against eight members of the sackler family, owners of purdue pharma, for the role in the opioid crisis. and we will discuss another side

of the crisis, the flipside, the under prescribing of opioids for patients who rely on them for pain management. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the state of oklahoma has reached a $270 million agreement with purdue pharma, the makers of oxycontin, settling a lawsuit that claimed the company contributed to the deaths of thousands of oklahoma residents by downplaying the risk of opioid addiction and overstating the drug's benefits. as part of the settlement, more than $100 million will fund a new addiction treatment and research center at oklahoma state university in tulsa. this is the first settlement purdue has made amid some 2000 additional lawsuits connecting its painkiller oxycontin to the opioid crisis.s. after headlines, we'll spend the rest of the hour looking at the opioid crisis.

the house of representatives failed tuesday to overturn trump's veto of a resolution nullifying the president's declaration of a national emergency at the u.s.-mexico border. just 14 republican lawmakers joined tuesday's 248-to-181 vote, which failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override the first veto of donald trump's presidency. trump's moveve to declare an emergency to circumvent congress in order to pay for the wall still faces a number of legal challenges in federal court. the senate tuesday rejected the resolution on a green new deal after 43 democrats voted "present" on a measure introduced by republican senate leader mitch mcconnell. four other democrats joined all 53 republican senators and voting against the green new deal. democrats blasted mcconnell's move as a stunt vote, aiaid at forcrcing democrats to t take a stanand on a still divisive resolution. republicans have been spreading

misinformation about the green new deal, champion run your congress member alexandria cortez, which seeks to transform the was economy through funding, renewable energy, while ending u.s. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. democratic leaders have resisted backing the deal, which has the support of all 2020 democratic presidential hopefuls in congress. in more climate news, global greenhouse gas emissions rose to an all-time high in 2018, with countries adding over 33 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. an international energy agency study found global carbon dioxide levels rose by 1.7% last year. u.s. emissions rose by over 3%, while europe and japan saw slight decreases. meanwhile, united nations secretary-general antonio guterres said tuesday th cyclone idai i is the latest alm bell about the dangers of climate change. the storm killed over 750 people and has left nearly 2 million people in need of assistance in

mozambique, malawi, and zimbabwe. the cyclone idai was a prolonged storm, yet another alarm bell about the dangers of climate change, especially in vulnerable , at risk countries. such events are becoming more frequent, more severe and devastating, and more widespread. and this will only get worse if we do not act now. amy: in yemen, the charity save the children says an airstrike by the saudi-led coalition killed seven people, including four children, after a missile tore through a hospital tuesday outside the city of saada. the chief executive of save the children said -- "innocent children and health workers have lost their lives in what appears to been an indiscriminate attack on a hospital in a densely populated civilian area. attacks like these are a breach of international law." meanwhile, thousands of yemenis rallied in the capital sana'a tuesday to protest on the 4th

anniversary of the start of the saudi-led assault on yemen. a new study by the yemen data project founund more than 1717,0 cicivilians haveve been lleded d injured in air raids since the u.s.-backed assault bebegan in march of 2015. a quarter of the more than civilians killed were women and 8000 children. the war has devastated yemen's infrastructure and economy, pushing half of yemen's 28 million people to the brink of starvation. israeli warplanes pounded the gaza strip, despite reports of a cease-fire after a palestinian rocket was fired for the israeli city of ashkelon. deniednd jihad responsibility, saying it was in individual act. killed forces shot and an 18-year-old palestinian in the west bank during an arrest raid in a refugee camp near bethlehem. the latest violence came as israeli prime minister benjamin

netanyahu returned to israel early from a trip to the u.s. where he met president trump at the white house and welcomed was rerepublican and dememocratic lalawmakers to the annual conference of aipacc. in brazil, far-right president jair bolsonaro has ordered the army to commemorate the u.s.-backed military coup in 1964 that ushered in two decades of dictatorship. bolsonaro said generals should organize celebrations across brazil on march 31, which will mark the 55th anniversary of the coup. under military rule, brazil's media was widely censored, and political dissidents faced cap, exile, and torture. despite this, bolsonaro's spokesperson said in a statement tuesday, "the president does not consider what happened march 31, 1964 a military coup." meanwhile, bolsonaro's predecessor, former president michel temer, was released from jail on monday after a judge overturned his preventative detention while he faces corruption charges. temer r was arrested last thursy and d charged with leading an

embezzlement and money laundering scheme. temer tookok power after his prpredecessor dilma rorousseff s impeached in what many criticscs called a legislative coup.p. in brussels, the european parliament has approved a massive overhaul of copyright laws that critics say will bring widespread censorship to the internet. one measure would effectively tax internetet sites l like gooe when they y display y snippets f copyrighted materirial incluludg news articles. another measure will likely prompt sites like youtube to install filters that search for, anand then automatically delete, uploads that are determined to be copyright violations. ahead of tuesday's vote, the proposed copyright rules prompted massive protests, with more than 100,000 marching in cities across europe over the weekend. in a statement, openmedia executive director laura tribe said -- "today's vote is a major blow to the open internet. this directive positions the internet as a tool for corporations and profits, not for people."

nsa whistleblower edward snowden condemned the vote in a tweet, writing in german, "never forget what they did here." "the new york times" is reporting that president trump's nominee to head the interior department killed a major study in late 2017 that found three widely used pesticides posed an existential risk to 1200 endangered species. "the times" reveals that david bernhardt, a former oil-l-indusy lawyer who was then the deputy secretetary ofof the interior, canceled publication of a years-long study into the pesticides' dangers just before the results were set to be made public. bernhardt's move benefited major pesticide makers, including fmc corporation and dow agrosciences. dow was a major donor to president trump, giving $1 million to his inaugural committee. on thursday, david bernhardt will testify to the senate committee on energy and natural resources at his confirmation hearings. education secretary betsy devos refused to state tuesday whether

scschools should be allowed to discriminate against students based on sexual ororientation or gender identity. this is betsy devos being questioned by wisconsin democrat mark pocan during testimony before a house education appropriations subcommittee. >> d do you think it is all rirt for school to discriminate based on someone's sexual orientation or gender identity? >> we have laws that cover discriminate -- discriminatory efforts, and our office for civil rights has continued to be very diligent in investigating any allegation of discrimiminatn and will continue to do so. >> so isis that a yes or no? >> we follow the law -- >> personally, you do not haveve an opinion on it? you are giving money to some charter schools that do discriminate. amy: the trump administration says it will expand the so-called global gag rule, a reagan-era policy that bans u.s. funding for any international healthcare organization that

performs abortion, advocates for the legalization of abortion, or even mentions abortion. secretary of state mike pompeo said tuesday the u.s. will cut funding to foreign ngos that fund other groups that provide or promote abortions. on twitter, naral pro-choice america warned the trump administration's global gag rule policies will result in "2.2 million unsafe abortions and 21,700 preventable maternal deaths by 2020." a federal judge has struck down a 1973 north carolina law that banned women from having abortions after the 20th week of their pregnancies. the ruling came as an increasing number of f states have passeded so-called fetal heartbeat laws, highghly restrictive bans on abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that typically happens just six weeks into a pregnancy before many women even realize they're pregnant. former vice president joe biden said tuesday he regretted his role in confirmation hearings for supreme court justice

clarence thomas in 1991. duriring thehe hearings, anita l -- an afrirican american woman - was questioned by an all-male, all-white senate judiciary committee over her allegations that thomas had sexually harassed her in the workplace. speaking at a ceremony for the biden courage awards in new york tuesdaday evening, joe biden condndemned a white man's cultue for not taking hill's claims seriously. >> we knew a lot less about the extent of harassment back then, over 30 years ago. she paid a terrie prprice. was abubused, takenen advantage of, her reputatition was attack. i wish i could have done something. amy: biden's comments drew widespread condemnation, with many social media commentators noting biden was chair of the senate judiciary committee at the time of anita hill's testimony. joe biden has launched a new political action committee ahead of a widely expected announcement he'll seek the democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020.

it is not clear whether he has ever personally apologized to anita hill. and in chicago, prosecutors have dropped felony charges against actor jussie smollett, who was arrested last month and charged with faking an attack in january that sparked widespread outrage. smollett, a star on fox's hit tv show "empire" who is rican-amererican and gay, initially told police he was violently attacked on the street in an apparent hate crime, saying his attackers placed a rope around his neck w while shouting homophobic, pro-trump and racist slurs. but police investigators believe smollett paid two brothers, who were personal acquaintances, to carry out a staged attack. on tuesday, prosecutors said they dropped charges against smollett after he agreed to perform community service and to forfeit his $10,000 bond. he was chaharged with 16 felonis originally. jussie smollett maintains he gave a truthful account of the event and continues to claim he was the victim of a hate crime. >> i have been truthful and

consistent on every single level since day one. i would not be my mother's son if i was capable of one drop of what i have been accused of. amy: chicago state's attorney kim foxx said despite the move, her office has not exonerated smollett. the decision drew outrage from chicago mayor rahm emanuel who called it a whitewash of justice. chicago's police union, the fraternal order of police, called on the department of justice to investigate. this is chicago police superintendent eddie johnsnson. >> do i think justice was served? no. where do i think justice is? still oweds city is an apologygy. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the state of oklahoma h has reached a $270 million agreement with purdue pharma to the makers of oxycontin, settling a lawsuit that claimed the company contributed to the deaths of thousands of the state's residents by downplaying the risk of opioid addiction and overstating the drug's benefits.

oklahoma says more oklahomans have died from opioids over the last decade than have been killed in vehicle accidents. more than $100 million f from te settlement will fund a new addiction treatment and research center at oklahoma state university in tulsa. this is oklahoma attorney general mike hunter announcing e agreement wednesday.y. oklklahomanew day in and for the nation in our battle opioioidddictition and the epidemic. the endowmwment will establish a foundation that will receive an initiall $102.5 million that wil the osucifically to center for heaealth sciences center for wellness and recovery. year,ing january 1 next the foundation will receive an annual $15 million payment over a five-year period. and during that same five year

timeframe, it will receive ongoing contributions of , treatment medicine both for rescue and recovery, and that has a market how you of $20 million. so $4 million in rescue and treatment drugs over a five-year period. theher $12.5 million from settlement has been set aside to providing funds that will directly abate and address the opioid epidemic's effects in oklahoma's towns, cities, and counties. purdue will alalso make a $60 millllion payayment to offset af the state's litigation costs to this point. amy: purdue is one of several firms named in the lawsuit that alleges pharmaceutical companies like johnson & johnson and teva pharmaceutical knowingly helped create the opioid crisis. the trial for the other companies is still on track to -- for this is the first may 28. settlement purdue has made amid some additional lawsuits

2000 connecting its painkiller oxycontin to the opioid crisis. government data has found that deadly opioid overdoses are responsible for nearly 50,000 deaths per year in the u.s. purdue argues that u.s. food and drug administration-approved labels for its opioids carried warnings about the risk of abuse and misuse associated with them. theresa sackler, the chair of the sackler trust and widow of late purdue pharma co-owner mortimer sackler, responded tuesday to the settlement with oklahoma, saying -- "i am deeply saddened by the addiction crisis in america and support the actions purdue pharma is taking to help tackle the situation, whilst still rejecting the false allegations made against the company and several members of the sackler family." the settlement comes as the sacklers face increasing outrage for the role in the opioid crisis. the sacklers are known worldwide for their patronage of the arts; and the sackler name appears in museums including the metropolitan museum in new york.

but in the past week, following immense public pressure, the tate museums in london and the solomon r. guggenheim in new york have announced they will no longer accept money from the sacklers. the national portrait gallery in london announced it was cancelling a $1.3 million donation from the sackler trust. the sackler trust declined a request from democracy now! to appear on the show. well, for more we're joined by barry meyer, the first journalist to shine a light on the abuse of oxycontin, former reporter at "the new york times" where he worked for nearly three decades. he is author of the book just recently released, "pain killer: an empire of deceit and the origin of america's opioid epidemic." and --nuclear surprise he has won the pulitzer prize and two polk awards for his past reporting on the intersection of business, medicine and public health. so the significance of the oklahoma settlement? >> this settlement is the first settlement in what is likely to be a wave of settlements or a

wave of cases brought against purdue pharma as well as other manufacturers and distributors of opioids. it is also significant because it comes amid a threatened bankruptcy filing by purdue that would hold all of this litigation. it is really just the first move in what is a very complicated legal chess game. amy: do you think that is what oklahoma subtle because of the threat of bankruptcy? >> i think there's probably no question about it and that is also probably why purdue settled. there were deposositions schedud -- that is to say, several members of the sackler family were scheduled to get pretrial testimony a week ago here in new york city. those depositions were abruptly canceled. i think that was a major turning point in the company's decision toto settle and in oklahoma's

decision to settle. amy: what do we know about this oklahoma settlement, this $270 million settlement? your you mention in introduction, approximately $100 million of this money will go to fund in addiction treatment center at oklahoma state university. i think it is vital that money is made available to treat those .fflicted with opioid addiction and the sackler family, even though they were not defendants in this case -- i think that is a very illuminating aspect to this case -- they have agreed also to make money available to this addiction treatment center. amy: explain that. the difference between purdue pharma and the sackler family and trust. >> essentially, purdue pharma, the manufacturer, was a named defendant in this lawsuit. the members of the sackler family were not mentioned by name.

they are meant to by name in hundreds of other lawsuits, but here in the oklahoma case, they were not mentioned. they had don't actual personal liability or perspective personal liability in this case. to avoid being deposed in this case, they agreed to contribute to the settlement. the centerat about that would be set up at oklahoma state at tulsa? >> we do not know the exact parameters yet. it will be interesting. we know that certain ways of theting addiction -- problem of f addiction n work. they are extremely expensive. they involve not just the use of addiction treatment drugs, but extensive psychological and behavioral counseling to those afflicted with addiction. so i think what kinds of programs are going to be set up -- that will be the real test

here, is this money going to be used wisely in terms of treating addiction or is it going to going to the pocket of people who essentially are running addiction treatment millsls, muh in the same ways that doctors ran pain treatment mills? >> can you talk about the massachusetts lawsuits and documents in the separate lawsuit against purdue and the sackler family, what they revealed? >> they're very interesting. the massachusetts case and oklahoma case our counterparts to each other. in the massachusetts case, the attorney general was very aggressive about disclosing internal corporate records, which indicate that members of the sackler family played an intimate role ininhe operatitios ofof purdue pharma. that is an area the sacklers i think do not want to get into at all. interestingly, in the case of oklahoma, attorney general hunter has apparently agreed to seal those records, to keep

those records concealed. and in some ways, is helping purdue hide the history of this epidemic. i mean, i've never spoken with attorney general hunter, but i think he probably does need to offer some public explanation about why he has agreed to maintain a seal of secrerecy on these records. amy: you talk about in a piece you did for "the new york times" i believe itgo, has to do with kentucky? >> there was a deposition made public their news organizations in which richard sackler come the son of raymond sackler and served for a while as president of purdue pharma, makes certain claims about when he knew about oxycontin's abuse. his statement in that deposition are at odds with documents that

were unearthed by federal prosecutors when they were doing in investigation of purdue back in the early 2000's. i kind of sketch out those documents both in the new editition of painkiller and an article that ran in "the new york times" this year. we basically have a conflict between which richard sackler --tified, what he suggests what the documents suggest tea and the family knew, and the only way to bring this issue to closure and bring it to light is for these documents and all of these documents to become public. amy: and then you have this huge popular understanding of what has taken place. the sackler own purdue pharma, makes it -- maker of oxycontin, have increased outreach for the role in the crisis. the family known worldwide for their patronage of the arts and the sackler name -- though it does not of your on the drugs,

that is purdue pharma, it appears in the wings of museums all over the world, including the metropolitan museum in newew york. in t the past week. talk about what they have decided. looks they have decided they do not want any money from the sacklers. they apparently have taken the position that somehow this money is taiainted, that a portion of this money was derived from the street sales of oxycontin. and they don't want anything to do with that. what is fascinating is the sackler family has denied any wrongdoing. they stated the documents that were released by the massachusetts state attorney general were cherry picked, intended to cast the company in an evil light. but they have it within their power if they want the story of the family to be known, they can release all of the documents.

they can make these documents public. and then history will be able to determine what the sackleler family did win they were confronted -- did when they were confronted with a public health catastrophe involving the family struggles to amy: in february, protesters took over the guggenheim museum to call out its relationship with the sackler family. artist nan goldin, who herself became addicted to oxycontin, has led the calls for art institutions to stop taking money and disassociate themselves from the sacklers. she and other protesters staged a die-in after dropping thousands of fake prescriptions with anti-sackler messages from the museum's famous winding walkway. the action was a reference to a quote by a member of the sackler family who once claimed the launch of oxycontin would be "followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that would bury the competition." a protest also took place at the metropolitan museum. nan goldin tweeted "the sackler million in the

oklahoma settlement today, which admits their culpability. by the way, that is only .2% of the $35 billion and profit they made from oxycontin." >> to be clear, the sackler family denies any culpability. what isess, i think happening through the efforts of nan goldin and others is a realization that museums need to be -- need to take account, where did this money come from? what do these families due to earnest money? and just as importantly, what did they do? throughout this entire epidemic, i have been covering this for 20 years, there was not a single point of until yesterday when the sackler family said, you know what? we're going to take $300 million or $200 million, $100 million,

and fund in addiction treatment center. that is what we want our charity to be. that is what we're going to do as a family. it had to come to this. it had to come to a point 20 years later where they were basically forced under the threat of a lawsuit to take this action. amy: in just one minute, can you sum up what it is they get over these decades? >> they did nothing. they hid behind lawyers. they hid behind public relations people. there has not been a single point during this 20-year period where any member of the sackler family has stepped forward and said, we are defending this drug on this basis or we are taking this public health action on this basis. amy: but explain how they pushed the drug. >> purdue pharma basically turned the drug industry and the

medical profession upside down. they convinced doctors this drug was safe. they convinced doctors this truck had a laura risk of addiction. they admitted in 2007 they had lied to doctors, had lied to patients, had lied to public health authorities, that the entire marketing of oxycontin had been built on a basis of deceit. and basically -- amy: talk about the increasing potency of these trucks that they understood would kill people. >> they certainly understood that people could become addicted to these drugs. they understood that the higher dosages of these drugs could pose the greatest health threat to people. and they basically, certainly for a number of years, incentivized their sales

representatives to market these drugs and convince these doctors to use these drugs at the highest dosages possible. as it turns out, those higher dosages also brought the greatest prophets. to the company. barrye're talking to meier author of "pain killer: an , empire of deceit and the origin of america's opioid epidemic." he will stay with us for the hour and we will be joined by many others. we will again help opioid crisis is not white and how it particularly has affected native americans. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "sam stone" by john prine. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are spending the hour on the opioid crisis. right now we're joined by abdullah shihipar, who wrote "the opioid crisis isn't white." explain. crisishe opioid traditionally is considered to be white because people are numbers,t the total which no one would deny that mostly white americans are dying of overdose from opioids will

stop it is about 78%. it especially in the last two years, if you look at the ratess of increase of opioid overdose death rates, we find especially black americans have a stark increase in the death rates compared to other groups. ofyou give rather rates increase from 2015 t to 2017, it has almost doubled. essentially, the opioid crisis, wewe tend to look at it as a whe problem, but when you scratch beneath the service, you can really see it affects cross-sections of america. amy: can you talk about what you think accounts for the increase in addiction and the black and latino communities? knowght, so we deftly fentanyl is a part of it. the cdc just released a report overdosesg those

which shows are sharper rise compared to white americans. that said, that is all we really know about it. we don't really know too much about why all of a sudden black and hispanics are overdosing and greater race than white americans at the moment. is definitely part of that. we don't know specifically. amy: for a long time, there is criticism that for the drug epidemic in this country, it was not taken seriously in any national way, it was simply criminalized, not made a public health issue. but with the opioid crisis being white, it is being dealt with in a different way. you write "were the opioid crisis has affected nonwhite communities, the response has often been slow and inadequate." explain, even in the case of opioid addiction when it comes to people of color.

>> so i think the two most -- potent except as of this are washington, d.c., and puerto rico. washingtonon, d.c., advocates he complained their health department has not been as forthcoming or not -- in terms ofof getting services available like naloxone, the drug that can brbrg someone back frfrom an overdose. but t really, the mostst egregis cases happened in puerto rico where before hurricane maria, the numbers adjusted to it there were about 300 fentanyl-related overdoses and 60 deaths. was 2017. since then, we have no real numbers, but advocates on the ground say the crisis has gotten worse and there is been no response. unlike other places in the continental united states, naloxone is not legal for nonmedical personnel to use.

although, some advocates on the ground are using it to treat overdose. and there haven't been any federal dollars allocated for any sort of response in puerto rico. --rto rico, there is not we're not even surveilling the problems, any data suggesting how bad the problem is. reports, it is quite bad. amy: you w write, "prior to entering public health, you been interested in cars or asian in criminal justice. a good part of that type to incarceration is drug policy and the war on drugs." your from toronto, graduate student at brown university were you say the opioid epidemic is as largege. >> right. in toronto, the opioid crisis is quite severe. in cananada, and people are contininuing to die from overdo, canada has taken some stepss moe

positively than the u.s. has since they do have the consumption sites, which are basically places were people can .o to use drugs in a safe way someone is there to respond if they overdose. however, those sites are not funded enough. we don't have nearlrly enough. have attempted to restrict the actions. the united ahead d of states in terms of its response, but there's much left to do. amy: and the issue of native america, the opioid epidemic ththere. what you f found, abdullllah shihipar? how talk in the piece about specifically in south dakotata a bunch of native american tribes have launched a lawsuit against a bunch of pharmaceutical companies. bubut actually, in december, the cdc released a report about

overdose deaths in washington state in which they released new numbers that accountnted for misclassificatation embrace. they said -- they said misclassification of native american deaths has resulted inn a 40% previous underestimation of their deaths. that seems to suggest that rates of light native americans, perhaps even other people, multiracial,-- could be higher if misclassification is a factor. , thankdullah shihipar you for being here, who wrote the piece "the opioid crisis isn't white." when we come back from break, we will focus particularly on native america, what is happening with native americans and the opioid crisis. this is democracy now! back in 30 seconds. ♪ [music break]

amy: "stand down margaret" by the english beat. ranking roger, a member of the english beat and later general public, died tuesday at the age of 56 in his home.

this is demomocracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.n. we turn now toto look at how a group of more than 500 cities, counties, and native american tribes have filed a lawsuit against members of the sackler family for their role in creating "the worst drug crisis in american history" by lying about the dangers of the opioid painkiller oxycontin and deceitful marketing of the drug. the lawsuit was filed last week in the southern district of new york, and differs from other lawsuits that targeted drug compananies because it names eit members of the sackler family, which founded and owns purdue pharma, the maker of oxycontin.. opioid overdoses are responsible for nearly 50,000 deaths per year in the united states, and the centers for disease control and prevention found native americans have suffered the lalargest increase in overdose deaths. for more, we're joined in sioux falls, south dakota, by attorney brendan johnson, partner in the law firm robins kaplan and chair of their american indian law and policy group. earlier this year, he filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of three native american tribes from the dakotas against major opioid manufacturers and

distributors. johnson is the former u.s. attorney for south dakota. and in washington, d.c., stacy bohlen is the chief executive officer of the national indian health board. she is a citizen of the sault ste. marie tribe of chippewa indians. brendan johnson and stacy bohlen, welcome to democracy now! brendan, lay out your lawsuit. >> first of all, it t an honor to be here and t thank you for putting attetention on this important issue. our wsuit inin terms of the legal claims and the facts are not dissimilar frfrom several of the otr lawsuits ththat you have discusussed thisis morning in tt wewe are tarargeting the prescrcription drug comompaniest we f feel likike inappropriately marketeded this productct. were houours -- where e our laws are different, we were just representing indiaian tribes. indianribes, a as you heheard is morning, haven't

disproportionally y affected. this is something i saw while i was u.s. attorney y insult the code as we would go o from tribl community to tririball community while we wouldononsistentltly hr ababout how these opioid -- that opioids had realal affected d te community bubut e high ratates f addiction, both amongst the elderly as well as the young.. a consistentot demographic. unfortunately, what t we'reeeeen asas this proboblem continued to escalate, now we're seeing g moe and momore native american children that are being born addicted to opioidsds and it is creating -- wreaking havavoc in tribal communitities, even to te popoint where we're seeing more nanative american children who wind up being put up for adoption as a result of having parents that are addicted to opioids. this threat to tribabal communities across the united

states, not just south dakota, is an existential one. you talk specifically about ththe native americann nations, the tribes you are representing? >> so what we have seeeen with e beens is ththe i impact has significant. teach rhymymes, of course, range from, forr exampmple, pine ridg, one e of our clients that has sr 40,000 m members, to some of our tribes that have 200 t to 300 members. each of t them has bebeen impacd significantly. oftentimest of all, we're talking about s some of te most straiained economies in t e countrtry. you ll see unempmployment rates ofof 80%. you will see already high rates of drug and alcohohol addiction. but nonow when youou layer the it t is havaving on, this profofound impact on thesee communities that frankly oftentimes don't have any sort

of resources when itit comes to drug treatment centers. so you have e people oftentimemn rolling isolatated communitities withthout access toto drug treat prprograms. and, a again, this is affecting the e elderly, men, , women, chilildren. it knows no bounds within these communities. it poses a real threat for the future of our tribal communities in america. amy: can youou compare this lawsuit arare taking on bibig tobacco?o? >> our law firm was one of the leaders in big t tobacco.. onone of t the biggest differens -- and one thing tribes should feel real prou about n now i thinink is when it came to big tobacco o when ourur law firm represesented ththe state minnesota a in that case, tribes did not have a a seat at the table. that i is how it hasas often ben for tribes over ththe last 2 200 years. what is different here is tribes do h have a seat at ththe tables

been verery aggggressive inin tr claimsms. oftentimes, the statate and the desk attorn general's too often the tribabal commununs are forgotten. that will nonot be the casase h. i think that is the biggest difference iss that tribes are involved whereas with the tobacco, they were not. amy: i want to turn now to stacy bohlen, chief executive officer of the national indian health board. citizen of the sault saint marie tribe of chippewa indians. betweeng to the cdc, 1999 in 2015, native americans have the largest increase and opioid deaths compared to other groups. why have native americans been hit so hard by the opioid crisis? cokes first of all, thank you for having me on the show. it is a real honor to be here. i think there are a lot of complex reasons why this crisis

has hit indian country harder than other places. but t those reasons translate to all of the other health disparities in challenges tribes face. while i think you're looking a very vulnerable revelations of people that have a relationship with the federal government through ththe treaties and trust responsibility and have very vulnerable health care systems funded below 50% of need despite those funds been promised through treataties and the political status of our people to the u.s. constitution. so you are dealing with rural and remote america in many cases. however, i think one of the foundadational issues that is really important to understand is that because of our status as sovereign nations and our relationship with the federal govovernment, w when funding is brought frfrom c congress to ste

block k wrist to fight the opiod crisis, the states are under no obligation to share any of that funding with tribes bebecause te relationship is with the federal governrnment. ofi think you have a number , what aances conspiring structural, one is unmet promises to native people that have existeded before the existence e of this country, one is communities that live with the trauma -- postcolonial trauma that they have experienced in their own unique ways. there are a number of ways to address the crisis, but i think those are some of ththe elemenes of why it has hit our people so hard. amy: can you link this, stacy bohlen, to the number of native american medical stutudents and doctors?s? >> absolutely. i think one of the greatest challenges that indian couountry fafaces is we lack health care providers in a very profound way

. we have vavast openings for physysicians, dentistss,, behavioral health professionals, substance abuse professionals. unitedthnicity in the states, every sort of f group of people i in the u.u.s. whoho atd medical school from all of their numbers are increasing for the number of graduates of medical school -- hours are declining. number declining from a that was already not representative of our people. we had 11 1 graduates of medical schoolols last year. i believe the number was five the year before. it is very low. very challenging to get our people in a medical school. actually, we have higher acceptance rates, but the way to fund being a medical student in the kind of support that an individual needsds to be

successful are absent in our communities. amy: canan you talk about how tribes have taken matters into their own hands in dealing with the opioid epidemic? ..u testified before congress what are you calling for? >> first of all, we worked very hard to educate members of congress about the fact the great work they werere doing to attempt to fund this crisis in america was not reaching our people.. we did have some success in getting air marked funding, $50 million in 2018 and 2019, to go directly to tribes to help p wih this crisis. we were grateful for that. that needs to continue and increase. more healthlled foror cacare providers in ourr whoho are well qualified to help p in these kind of criss situations. we need economic development investment.

you have heard the statistics. some of our communities have of to 8 80% unemployment. that crereates a foundndation ol nerarability that affects every aspect of life. and while this current status economicallyly is being talked about is howow strong our economies are in thisis country, that is not reaching indian country, either. so i think the number one disease that o our people suffer orm is anonymity invisibility. people don't think about indians. they don't have knowledge of the treaties that exist in the social contracact between the u. government and thehe many indian nations. but some of the tribes are able touse their own resources create clinics, toto partner wih local and state governments when possible, washington state led by the the tribe are doing an excellent job of creating clinical opportunities for

people too receive drug treatment, drug counseling, , ad preventative measures. in -- throughout the country, your thing tribes have insurgents of returning to cultural ways of knowing ways of treating addiction and revitalization of t those colt's as part of the answer that is successful for our people. you forcy b bohlen, thank being with us, and helping to make what has been invisible visible, ceo of the national indian health board, citizen of the sault saint marie tribe of chippewa indians. brendan johnson, thank you for joining us, chair on their american indian law and policy group. as we turn now, and the show, by looking at another side of the opioid crisis -- the under-prescribing of opioids for patients who rely on them for pain management. this month more than 300 doctors and medical researchers sent an open letter to the centers for

disease control and prevention that warns patients have been harmed by a lack of clarity in guidelines for prescribing opioids. the cdc revised the guidelines for primary care physicians in 2016 in order to improve safety and reduce risks associated with long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain. but many say the new guidelines caused confusion and led to the reduction or discontinuation of opioids for people who reresponsibly use the medication to manage painin related to cancer, multltiple sclerosis, lupus fibromyalglg. a survey by the pain n news network found more than 8585% of patientsts say the cdc's guididelines have made theheir n and quality of l life worse. almost half of those sururveyed said the poor r management of their pain prompted them t to consider suicidede. for more, we are joined in -- joined by terri lewis. social scientist, rehabilitation

practitioner a and clinical educator. she is running a national survey of patients and physicians to calculate the impacts of changes in chronic pain treatment. welcome to democracy now! can you explain this flipside? people might be congratulating the cdc by saying prescriptions must be much lower, but talk about what is happening for people who are n not addicted bt ne serious pain management. >> the bottom line is the cdc guididelines were written forr primimary care, for r new casesf ilillness and injury, and they were designed toto prevent addiction from developoping by t newew people e who were goining to have a proboblem. the problem ththat we are seeing is t these guiuidelis s have ben adopopted and incorpoporated ino federal and statate regegulatios and away that they werere nev intetended to.

and we have chararaeristics i in our populatition that t we havet accounted for in this design.. wewe h have an aging populatati. h have an existing multiplyly chchronic care population thahas on thehe books. stablere people who are or have b been stable in care, d they are no longer getting the care that they need because we have applied a an adopted a one-size-fits-all policy, a square peg in a round holole. and we're seeing that problem develop in creating structural barriers throughout the whole care system. amy: some people aren't losing the ability to have the drurugs paid f for by y insurance. what rolol to pharmamacies playn this? >> pharmacies are enrolled in insurer networks. to o be a party to the dispensing decision that is

mamade for people o live both in urban environments and r rural environments. as the dea reduces the available supplies, the job of the pharmacist is now to parse and a legititimate i is patient at the dispensnsing and versus who is not an secondndarily, to deteine who is a reliable, l legitimate prescriber and who is not. and that is a new role for pharmacists. to go to jeffnt sessions speaking in february of last year about the opioid crisis will stop >> we need to stopop addiction. the plain fact is,s, i believe, and i am operating on the assumption, that this countryy prescribes too many opioids. people need to take some aspirin sometimes and tough it out a little bit.

general kelly, he is marine am having surgery -- painful surgery. he says, "i'm not taking any drugs." he did admit it hurt. a lot of people can get through these things. any code that is just sessions saying, just take some aspirin. i want to bring barry meier back into the conversation, author of "pain killer: an empire of deceit and the origin of america's opioid epidemic." what about this flipside, people who desperately need chronic pain management and now they're losing their insurance for these drugs? the management of pain is an extremely complicated issue. s saide withth what ms. lewi there is a a need fofor those patients to receive appropriated treatment. appropriate treatment does not necessarily mean opioids. one does not equal the other. i think what doctors, medical institutions are trying to do our use other technologies,

other means of managing pain other than opioids. and the successful application of those strategies has great value for patients in pain. because while we focus a lot on addiction, there are other serious health consequences to the long-term use of high doses of opioids. they have a range of side beects that patients would well to be without. so i think what we need to see and encourage is an evolution in pain management. and i think pain patients are critical parart of that evoluti. amy: terri l lewis, can you respond? all, i have beenn servrving this populatioion sine 202012. the majojority of people that we are concerned ababout our people withixix or more chrhronic comorbid condiditions. these are peoplele who have been folded u up in car wreck byy freight truck. they have multitiple progressise

diseaseses that are not goiningo get better. by denying care at thiss level without a replacement system, we are denying peoeople treatment. we do not haveve a replacement trtreatment to deal with the kis of problems s that these f folks have. nor do we have papaymt systems and physicians trained to provove the carare that is needd both in urban and rural america to service popopulation. so it is a little nanaive to 82gest t that grandma whoho is who isis dealingng with not only alzheimemer's,s, but alsoo lupud rheumatoid arthritis, is going to b benefit from m yoga and exererse. we have e a very diverse, complx prproblem. there e are at least four populationons of pain patients n

this problem. we need to get the data right. amy: last comment, barry meier? have experienced a huge public health problemem. part of it has to do with the overprescribing of opioids. the over prescribing of opioids for patients who could benefit from other treatments. there are certainly patients that require and deserve these drugs. buffer back pain, dental pain, the problems for which purdue and othersrs promoted this drug, that laid the seed for what is the biggest self crisis we are now facing. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, barry meier, author of "pain killer: an empire of deceit and the origin of america's opioid epidemic." and terri lewis, social scientist rehabilitation , practitioner who is running a national survey of patients and physicians to calculate the impacts of changes in chronic pain treatment. and that does it for our show.

i will be speaking in boston at the south church on april 11, along with noam chomsky. you can check democracynow.org. happy birthday, nermeen shaikh. democracy now! has an immediate

theresa may said she would step down if her own deal is approved. none of the m.p.'s proposals gained a majority of wednesday. the opt