and years ago i was prescribed oxycontin for pain. they did not try me on it, they just threw me on oxycontin, which i got addicted to. buti have issues like -- you really cannot understand someone's pain unless you are living it. but i got off of the oxycontin by the way of methadone treatment. now i am stuck there. what do i do about that? host: go ahead, christopher. christopher: it is a good question. another really difficult thing about the opioid epidemic is that we have the interest in trying to prevent new addicts from being created, and we have the question of how to best treat people who are currently addicted. we know the best treatment for opioid addiction is this medication assisted treatment, which involves some kind of opioid maintenance. if you can get people on a standard dose that they take every day that does not increase, that satisfies their physical dependence on opioids and it does not disrupt their lives, evidence shows it is the best strategy. we do that a number of ways and methadone clinics are a successful

and years ago i was prescribed oxycontin for pain. not try me on it, they just threw me on oxycontin, which i got addicted to. buti have issues like -- you really cannot understand someone's pain unless you are living it. but i got off of the oxycontin by the way of methadone treatment. now i am stuck there. what do i do about that? host: go ahead, christopher. christopher: it is a good question. another really difficult thing about the opioid epidemic is that we have the interest in trying to prevent new addicts from being created, and we have the question of how to best treat people who are currently addicted. we know the best treatment for opioid addiction is this medication assisted treatment, which involves some kind of opioid maintenance. if you can get people on a standard dose that they take every day that does not increase, that satisfies their physical dependence on opioids and it does not disrupt their lives, evidence shows it is the best strategy. we do that a number of ways and methadone clinics are a successful approach

this is part of the investigation because of course pretty pharmaceuticals what they said about oxycontin and how they were able to push it and how they were able to push such a large quantities on to people that suffer from arthritis or back pain which it should never be you know you wouldn't give them heroin right but there is saying that there was a unique brand with non addictive and yet doctors knew very early in pharmacists for sure definitely knew very early that it was clearly addicted and was addictive well yeah but they no such thing as non-addictive heroin that's like being a little bit pregnant you know it's addictive it's frickin heroin it's being pushed by white collar kronk's in leawood the bankers of the d.c. politicians people are dying and so again going back to white collar criminals he mentions that he brings that that term and actually where it came from edwin sutherland who coined the term white collar crime demonstrated the many ways in which such criminals were able to gain great riches cause vast harm and avoid meaningful sanctions at its worst the predators so pe

oxycontin at heart of the u.s. opioid epidemic is regarded as one of the most dangerous products ever sold on a mass scale. if people have not read this article in "the new yorker" get it online and you will understand why i'm so mad giving this speech and why i'm so angry that the administration put a pharma executive in charge of h.h.s. it's not a pharma executive, let me say from perdue pharma, but this whole culture where they can do whatever they want and no one is holding them accountable is what let us to where we are today. perdue pharma marketed oxycontin as a painkiller and said that it would limit the risk of addiction. instead oxycontin led to many new addictions and, as we all know, many addicted patients eventually turned to heroin. here is what is so stunning. the company knew that oxycontin was addictive all along. it knew that its marketing campaign was misleading people. steven may starred at perdue pharma as a sales represent in 1999 and went on to allege fraud against perdue in a whistleblower l

that's the oxycontins. that's what's really driving this. and what we did was we built in those cdc guidelines, and so somebody's wanting to get one of those, per the guidelines, it makes sense. well maybe you don't need maybe even drug therapy. maybe there's another modality to try. okay. that doesn't work. try it -- let's try a medication, but maybe not an opioid. many atlas v.a. health care system in april came out with a controlled study that said -- compared opioids versus nonopioids, and back pain and rheumatoid arthritis, so it's about the same. it makes sense. if you've really got to go further, let's use a short acting opioid to start out with before you get to the long acting. that is he that's a very important piece we have in here. other things we have is we limit the fentanyl patch because that is appropriate. there is appropriate times to use this, and that's the key here: the appropriate times to use these medications, but have the safeguards in place so you start-up above, before you get into the very powerful long acting dru

then it was the dependency on oxycontin that followed. lisa thomas-laury, a fixture in the philadelphia news landscape since 1979, says she was an addict. >> ten milligrams twice a day. then up to 20 milligrams four times a day. >> that's what happens. you know, you develop this dependency on it. and when you start trying to manage your own prescription medication. it's not good. i learned that after the fact. i tried to cut off a little, one-third of a pill just to make me feel a little more comfortable than the ten milligrams was. what i think i didn't realize was i was taking a little bit more, little bit more. little bit more until when i missed those doses by even 20 minutes was very uncomfortable. >> reporter: in her book, lisa thomas-laury, on camera and off, she describes driving for a few hours with her husband and had forgotten her medication. >> nothing settles you down. there's nothing to calm you down or soothe you or -- i said, ibm, you're a doctor, can we stop at a hospital, can i get something to calm me? and no, i don't h

imagine if the makers of the painkiller oxycontin admitted they knew their product was likely to addictillions of americans to opiates, but "did it anyway." that's pretty much exec they would happen with oxycontin by the way, but so far the family has been wise enough not to say so in public. sean parker isn't quite so guarded. and his conversation with axial's, he describes facebook as a drug which it functionally is. when they design the product, they said they kept one question in mind, "how can we consume as much as overtime and conscious attention as possible?" parker acknowledges facebook has become an epidemic that is devastating this country. "it literally changes her relationship with society and each other" he said god only knows what it's doing to our children's brains. let that sink in. imagine how you would feel if you knew you had entered the brains of millions of children. sean parker does not seem especially concerned by the spirit and fact in his interview with ex-seals, he brags about how rich it has made him. "because of a billionaire, i'm going to have better access

. >> reporter: matt stopped using oxycontin just two months ago. >> mostly what i was escaping from is i didn't feel i belonged, i didn't feel like i fit in. >> reporter: he's now trying to find his footing in sobriety. >> i hurt a lot of people. i remember telling my dad, bursting into tears when i told him, it hurt him so bad. >> reporter: to help him, susan tries to find a hook. something to distract him from the urge to use. susan is hoping that hook is hockey. >> i'm out there, it's like a natural high. oh, yeah, right! >> reporter: matt's father, who lives in another town, comes to watch him play. >> he took to it. it's so awesome that matt's dad came today. that's a relationship that's really important to matt. >> it's my favorite thing to do is this. play hockey. i don't know, why it's just really fun. see you later. >> reporter: as we near the end of december, matt and all the students are dreading the holidays. >> because it's going into the holidays. >> holidays are usually the worst in recovery. i don't know, it's just really stressful to have the whole family together. >>

talking about the investigation of the family behind oxycontin and how they are profiting from the opioid crisis.

we will speak with an esquire writer about his story on the family that profited from the sale of oxycontin. ♪ host: it is saturday, november 18, 2017 and the end of a busy week in washington where the president returned from asia, his longest foreign trip in this term. the gop passed the tax bill in the house and a sitting u.s. senator corruption trial ended in a hung jury and the debate over whether to repeal the affordable care act individual mandate intensifies. and claims of sexual misconduct rocked the alabama u.s. senate race and washington. today, asking our

already covered this the pretty family out of connecticut who run purdue pharmaceuticals which makes oxycontin and by the way they're now under investigation because of all the stories coming out they're now being investigated criminally for pushing basically heroin on to the u.s. population that he's saying that you know the political class allowed this predator class of the family that runs purdue pharmaceuticals to be basically operate a legal structure but no different than anything out of narcos and you know the thing about these pills is that they're addicted because this hair on horse smack. he'd be doing up town down such a large quantities on to people that suffer from arthritis or back pain which it should never be you know you wouldn't give them heroin right but there is saying that there was a unique brand was non addictive and yet doctors knew very early and pharmacists for sure definitely knew very early that it was clearly addictive and was addictive well yeah but they no such thing is not addictive heroin that's like being a little bit pregnant you know it's addictive it's fric

we have folks that have become addicted all of these close the border you know because of the oxycontin express. this is a manmade. epidemic and it is controlled by the physician community. so josh says this is a manmade epidemic does that ring true from the reporting you did yeah i absolutely think so and in fact it's one thing talk about the criminalization of it now has created this that problem the problem but it that also dovetails with a movement in the medical industry to treat pain this is came out in the ninety's that patient had a right to say they were in pain and that a doctor should treat it that came around the same time as all is coming up in these type of programs where you would review doctors so if doctors didn't treat pain they might start to lose business to start those customers this also converges that same time that the companies who create these pills are incentivizing the doctors on the back end and also advertising for these pills which is unusual in america you can advertise for a prescription pill is good compared to other countries so this is really driven f

on our spotlight on magazine segment, we feature esquire and writer discussing oxycontin. these sure to watch washington journal live at 7:00 eastern saturday morning. joining discussion. josh -- join the discussion. this weekend on book tv, live coverage of the miami book fair. at 10:30 a.m.day eastern, chris matthews on the political life of bobby kennedy. best-selling biographer walter isaacson on da vinci, caesar con and his immigration to the united states and nbc news on katie to uncovering the truck campaign. live coverage continues sunday, 10:30 a.m. eastern on how spear tactics are used to input is public opinion. charles sykes offers his thoughts on the conservative movement. van jones weighs in on partisan politics. collegeident of spelman looks at race relations in the united states. coverage lives we can of the miami book fair this weekend on c-span two book tv. >> as grants nighthawk walked into the room first, he was wearing military camouflage, fatigues with the blood drop in one right here. the initials kkk on his chest embroidered across his beret on his

oxycontins, fluoxetine-- these are the ones-- these are my antipsychotic pills.lunesta, robaxin, klonopin-- my anxiety pills. dioxecine, imitrex, and fish oil. that's supposed to help with my blood pressure. male interviewer: how do you feel, like, in--in your head? alex, voice-over: the mental side? yeah. i feel tranquilized a lot. i mean, that's the best way to say it. i mean, it's better than the alternative-- locking me up someplace... [chuckles] or sitting on a water tower with a sniper rifle and... female interviewer: do you really feel like that would be the alternative, knowing yourself, that it's those extremes? alex, voice-over: yeah. [chuckles] jessica: you know, to be honest, growing up, i never thought i'd get married. i had self-esteem issues, and, um, so i just... i don't know. i just didn't ever think it would ever happen. [chatter] alex, voice-over: you want to see how sappy i am? i wrote my own vows. "i, alexander, take you, jessica, "to be my lawfully wedded wife. "i will have and hold you even though you've been "out birthing goats or pitch-fo

of the person who went in for a wisdom tooth extraction and was sent home with oxycontin. the college football player who had a knee sprain was medicaid with opioids and went on to a pathway of addiction. a story i will share briefly, the high school quarterback in indiana my met,'s range his knee and was given opioids for something that could've been treated with ice and ibuprofen. five years later, i was talking to him because he started on kills, went to snorting them, shifted to hear when, contracted hiv. 20 ok with hiv because we, and i say we, as medical personnel, we were not providing alternatives to pain management. i talk about stigma. we have to see addiction not just as a bad choice but as a disease. not just as a disease, but a symptom. a symptom of what? trauma. childhood trauma and physical, that we have to do a better job of treating. we talk about disease or addiction as a disease of despair. we know all too often it is. adverse childhood experiences. half a volatile to have had one adverse childhood experience -- half of all adults have had one adverse ch

you know, i felt like, hey, i'm not in prison but i told him oxycontin and that's what we were therefor, is to be open and transparent. and how much? well, i told him my dose. and he's like, ah, that's kid play. that's nothing. i was taking 120 a day. and he says, did you ever chew them? he said, that's a great high. i said, no, i didn't. i don't think i'll do that. but at that point i realized, i'm in here with people that have much worse problems than i do, who are going to stay here longer but it was such an education for me. >> you can watch my entire interview with lisa thomas-laury right here on nbc 10 news. >> his travel plans were put on hold when hurricane maria struck. >>> they informed me that, yeah, you can cancel but if you cancel, it's going to be a $200 per person cancellation fee. >> sew called nbc 10 harry and hairston and what everyone should know about booking through a third site. >>> a floor collapses at a college party. >>> a rally for meek mill in center city. this is hundreds of supporters gathering outside the criminal justice center. >> meek mill was sentenc

went to my doctor the other day, i went to the dentist and they gave me a prescription for this oxycontin or something like that, and all i really needed was tylenol. so patients are starting to step back from this. so something's getting to them. there's beginning to be a level of public awareness around this. when will you look at the situation, based on your experience and being involved with this commission, and what will you see, what will be the indications to you that the level of urgency is where it needs to be among policymakers, that the level of education and awareness out in the public is where it needs to be? is it t.s.a.'s coming across the airwaves -- p.s.a.'s coming across the airwaves in a way that matches election time in a swing election somewhere? is it the president getting a briefing every monday morning on what the status is with all the steps that are being taken with respect to addressing this crisis? what are the indicators that you're looking for to say to yourself, we're starting to get it here? >> that's a really good question, congressman, thank you. i've bee

and get hundreds of oxycontin. it was completely out of control .hat you are saying is we can't overcorrected and take it away from everyone. that would be very damaging. host: we are joined by jesse mechanic, venture bitter at the huffington post and founding editor of the overgrown, a website where he has published over 300 pieces, and a clinical researcher at beth israel hospital. we are talking about the opioid crisis. democratic line, (202) 748-8000. republican, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002. if you have been affected by the opioid crisis, (202) 748-8003. he wrote another piece of the huffington post entitled "when a drug epidemic hits white america addiction became a disease." you talk about the scorn over the epidemic in comparison to the compassion shown over the opioid crisis. is race a factor? race is ahink factor in most things in this country. i have written similar articles. some of the issues in the country is we tend to put different races and groups into a box, kick them down the stairs and look at them and say why are

and new jersey's attorney general has sued purdue pharma, the maker of oxycontin, accusing the drug company of deceptive marketing that has fueled new jersey's opioid crisis. new jersey is one of 11 states that have now sued the pharmaceutical giant over the opioids. to see our interview about the sacklers, the secretive family that owns purdue and has made billions off the opioid crisis, you can go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show with shocking new revelations about the assassination of renowned honduran indigenous environmental leader berta caceres. on tuesday in tegucigalpa, honduras, a team of international lawyers released a new report that shows how the plot to murder caceres was months in the making and went up to the highest levels of the company, whose hydroelectric dam project caceres and her indigenous lenca community were protesting

. >> new jersey is suing the company that makes oxycontin, claiming a direct link between the state'soid crisis and the firm's deceptive mark marketing practices, starts' attorney general says it is against perdue pharma, seeks undisclosed monetary damages for fraud and false claims, purdue pharma says it quote investigate lustily denies its allegations, and deep dedicated to being part of the solution. new jersey claims purdue exploited certain groups like the elderly to boost profits. >>> a long running lawsuit that's hell up construction on the live hotel and casino in philadelphia, has been dropped by rival sugarhouse casino. the gambling expansion bill signed this week, repeals a 2004 provision limiting ownership every casinos which was a key element of the sugarhouse lawsuit. gaming officials now consider the legal matter over, and the casino cleared for construction. no word yet when officials plan to have that casino completed. >> well, the pet store that was right next to bridget foy's when the huge fire broke out, now donating its inventor toy help out other pets and rescue

. >> any kind of pils, oxycontin? a lot of stuff out there on the street right now?> oh, yeah. >> if i leave tomorrow, i'm scared. >> you leave tomorrow? >> yeah. >> what are you going to do different this time? >> go to my meetings. i'm just trying to do the best i can to stay away from old people, places and things. >> easier said than done. >> yes, sir. >> talk is cheap, isn't it? >> yes, sir. >> knowing that drug use led to about 80% of the arrests here, jail officials have dedicated special housing units to inmates who want to make a change. >> we talk about women have very difficult in recovery because of guilt, shame and remorse they experience. because you made a mistake doesn't mean that you are a mistake. >> the program is called enough is enough and it's run by the jail's substance abuse program coord nay coordinator, ken wright. >> you have a disease and you are not responsible for having it but you are responsible for recovery. >> the focus is on basic recovery to help them get back into main stream society. to help them get back into main one of the thi

george and jackie were shocked to learn josh eventually moved from oxycontin, expensive and hard to find, to heroin, which was cheap and easily found. a transition that's all too common. tragedy struck the redner family with the passing of josh's older brother george. devastated by the loss of his role model, josh used the power of his grief to get clean and live a life that would have made his older brother proud. josh found a good-paying job, acted as a role model for his three younger brothers and was saving money to buy a home. mr. speaker, it's with a broken heart that i say this is not how josh's story ended. josh once again relapsed. speaking with his parents over the phone, josh assured him he would be ok and asked they pick him up the next morning. having no other options, george and jackie agreed. next morning george and jackie found josh next to a picture of his older brother, george, having lost his battle with addiction. in closing, mr. speaker, i'd like to share with you the words that jackie shared with me. her incredible strength is a testament to the love she has for her

i went to my doctor the other day i went to my dentist and they gave me a prescription for this oxycontin or something like that in all he really needed was tylenol. so patients are starting to step back from this. something is getting to them. there is beginning to be a level of public awareness around this. when will you look at the situation based on your experience and being involved in this commission and what will you see it? what will be the indications to you that the level of urgency is where it needs to be among policymakers that the level of education and awareness out in the public is where it needs to be? is a psa's coming across the airwaves in a way that matches you know at election time in a swing election somewhere? visit the president getting a briefing every monday morning on what the status is with all the steps are being taken with respect to addressing this crisis? what are the indicators that you are looking for to say to yourself we are starting to get it? >> congressman thank you. i've been asked this before. someone in our remarks i forget which member talked abo

in our spotlight on magazines, we will finish -- feature onuire and is risen piece oxycontin. so :00 eastern this morning, join the discussion. this weekend on american history , the 70th anniversary of the hearings before the house un-american activities. employment, i just finished a picture called the tar -- all target. >> i've been leader or about 25 years. i am well enough known for the roles i played. >> were you a member of the communist party in 1942. >> i stand on the grounds of the fifth amendment. the word communist is an emotional hysterical word. it's much like the word which in salem. >> the discussion on civil war monuments. waysctory in many celebrated in so many can utter it monuments was the victory over reconstruction. ii propagandaar film on the north africa campaign. >> the president of the united states, the gravity of the moment that brought them together. >> alexander router talks about ,er book >> gradually, versions of the film began to leak out. people began to see it. when they saw it, because of the look, it didfilm not look like what the warren co

about the bureau's future and our magazine segment, writer christopher glazik and the family behind oxycontin that profits from the opioid crisis. be sure to watch it live saturday eastern saturday morning. join the discussion. >>> this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, saturday at noon eastern, the 70th anniversary of the hollywood tent hearings before the house on american activities committee. family members of blacklisted artists read from congressional hearing scripts. >> what was your last employment? >> my last employment, i just finished a picture called "the tall target". >> did you furnish any references to those studios for your employment? >> i have been in theater about 25 years, sir. i think i'm well enough known to all of them from the roles i have played. >> were you a member of the communist party in 1942? >> i stand on the grounds of the fifth amendment. well, that might incriminate or degrade me. see, the word "communist" is an emotional hysterical word of the day, much like the word "witch" in salem. >> and discussion on civil war monuments. >> it was about victor

. >> you were using oxycontin for five years. you've used false names to get drugs?defense indicated because of her addiction to drugs, her memory was not to be trusted. >> when detectives talked to you, you told them that your memory is not very good, didn't you? >> i don't recall saying that. >> do you remember telling them, i don't remember verbatim the conversation between you and ryan? >> i do not remember the conversation verbatim. >> the defense hammered on what day the phone call came through, even the day it was placed. >> you told investigators the call was in the middle of the night. >> i was asleep and i thought that the call came in later than it did. >> everything critical in terms of time, duration, any memory about the call, was all different once she got to testify, but only after she saw her phone records. >> after jennifer crew stepped down, the prosecution called the woman's fiance to try to undo any damage to her testimony caused by the defense. he confirmed that she related the alleged confessional phone call to him immediately after hanging up