the letter mentions the sacklers by name and notes they own purdue pharma, and reads -- "purdue beganhe opioid crisis that has devastated american communities. today mundipharma is using many of the same deceptive and reckless practices to sell oxycontin abroad." mundipharma is owned by the sacklers, and d "the l.a. times" reporting the company circulated a press release in colombia that suggested 47% of the population suffered from chronic pain. your final comment on all of this, christopher glazek, where it goes now? >> the big question is complicity. it is a tricky question. implicitversity because such a huge amount of money from sacklers? is a third-generation sackler, do they have some burden or complicity to address here? question.complicated the solution to the complexity is not secrecy. what we have seen again and agaiain of people have taken sackckler money in the sacklers himself have concealed their connection to oxycontin, and economic the solution of the problem. amy: christopher glazek, journalist and editor whose new expose was just published in esquire, headlined "the

. >> reporter: the companies sued include purdue pharma, which makes the widely prescribed painkiller, oxycontin; johnson and johnson; teva pharmaceuticals; endo health solutions; and allergan. the pharmaceutical companies filed a joint motion to dismiss the lawsuit. none agreed to our requests to be interviewed. purdue pharma told "newshour weekend": in a statement to us, jannsen, a johnson and johnson subsidiary, noted its painkiller pills... is that going to be difficult for you to convince a jury that this was harmful, when the f.d.a. was very clear in its approval? >> well, merely because the f.d.a. approves something does not mean that a pharmaceutical company cannot mislead people. and i think the evidence is clearly going to show they did consistently over a number of decades. >> reporter: attorney jodi avergun is a former chief of staff for the drug enforcement administration. now, she represents drug companies, though she's not involved in this lawsuit. >> the people that pharmaceutical reps market to are doctors; they're trained physicians. and an opioid is an addictive dru

hundred thousand people since one nine hundred ninety six when it was first put on the market by purdue pharma a branch of sackler pharmaceuticals that two hundred thousand doesn't even include the countless deaths from people who got hope on oxy and then oh deed on harder drugs like heroin the sackler family is worth fourteen billion dollars and they've plastered their name all over our institutions so between the cokes and the sackler is there's hardly a museum university hospital or theater without their call over it. it's like a nation fell asleep at a frat party and woke up with just a drawing on our forehead. so here's the story in ninety nine he produced started work on a pill containing oxy kowtowed a chemical similar to morphine and was not perdue the chicken people. does that would be weird you know cause for all your opium based are conic and chicken wing glitz so purdue pharma puts out oxy cold tone and although it was fifty percent stronger than morphine many doctors believe that wrongly that it was substantially less powerful this was good for purdue because it made doctors last

hundred thousand people since one nine hundred ninety six when it was first put on the market by purdue pharma a branch of sackler pharmaceuticals that two hundred thousand doesn't even include the countless deaths from people who got hoped on oxy and o.d.d. on harder drugs like heroin the sackler family is worth fourteen billion dollars and they've plastered their name all over our institutions so between the cokes and the sac lers there's hardly a museum university hospital or theater without their call over it. it's like a nation fell asleep at a frat party and woke up with just a drawing on our forehead. so here's the story in ninety ninety per do started work on a pill containing oxy kowtowed a chemical similar to morphine and was not perdue the chicken poop. people because that would be weird you know cause guys for all your opium based on convicts and chicken wing glitz so purdue pharma puts out oxy cold tone and although it was fifty percent stronger than morphine many doctors believe that wrongly that it was substantially less powerful this was good for purdue because it made doctors

would be weird you know cause guys for all your opium based on conic and chicken wing glitz so purdue pharma puts out oxy cold tone and although it was fifty percent stronger than morphine many doctors believe that wrongly that it was substantially less powerful this was good for purdue because it made doctors last frightened to prescribe it so this was this is literally big pharma going doctors are confused about our new product and some people are dying. why could fortune. but that's not enough greed in order to increase the number of doctors prescribing it the company's rebranded pain relief as a sacred right or universal narcotic in title meant available not only to the terminally ill but to every american and sure some people have debilitating pain and need help i get that but when you have ads that just say do you feel pain the entire row barracking population goes yeah. i hate my job husbands ass looks like an aircraft carrier but my kids are any ants my cats allergic to gluten and my dogs allergic to cats of course i'm. sure the sack of marketing idea was brilliant you take a problem

nevertheless that company, the officials of that company, purdue pharma paid a fine of over $600 million because of misleading doctors about the addictive qualities of oxy con tin. host: should it have been more? guest: more money? host: should the fine have been more? should people have gone to jail? guest: yes, they should have gone to jail. we're talking thousands of people who are dying, have died because of that mistake. host: to helen township pennsylvania, pat is an independent. caller: actually i'm a democrat, but that's ok. during though ba ma administration, there was a bill and was passed unanimously d.e.a.'s hampered effort to crack down on illegal opioids. i wonder why that bill was passed in the first place and are there calls to repeal that bill? thank you. host: i believe the bill, the law that the caller is referring to is the one that -- [applause]

they're the middle men that ship the pain pills from manufacturers like purdue, pharma, and johnson & johnson all over the country. ran a zee city accuses them of fueling the open point epidemic by turning a blind eye to pain pills being distributed for illicit use. >> this is an industry that allowed millions an millions of bad drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors' offices that distributed them out to people that had no neat for those drugs. >> who are they? >> amary source, mckesson. >> you know what you're saying, that these big companies knew they were pumping these drugs into american communities that were killing people. >> that's not an implication. that's a fact. that's exactly what they did. >> well, the "60 minutes" investigation found congress weakened the dea's ability to go after drug distributors even as opioid-related deaths were on the rise. that's more than three times the number of u.s. military deaths in the vietnam war. >>> ahead on "cbs this morning" coverage continues. demarco morgan speaks to a family that lost their son to an opioid addiction, and they r

they are the middlemen that ship the pain pills from manufacturers like purdue pharma and johnson & johnson to drug stores all over the country. rannazzisi accuses the distributers of fueling the opioid epidemic by turning a blind eye to pain pills being diverted to illicit use. >> this is an industry that allowed millions and millions of drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors' offices that distributed them out to people who had no legitimate need for those drugs. >> who are these distributers. >> the three largest distributedders are cardinal health, mckesson and amerisourcebergen. they control probably 85 or 90% of the drugs going downstream. >> reporter: you know the implication of what you are saying, that these big companies knew that they were pumping drugs into american communities that were killing people. >> that's not an implication, that's a fact. that's exactly what they did. >> quijano: you can see bill's full report tonight on "60 minutes." still ahead, a sight-saving therapy for a rare form of blindness. >> quijano: this past week an fda advisory panel endorsed a pioneer

purdue pharma that makes oxycontin mislead doctors around the country to the effect that oxycontin was not really addictive. of course, we knew that from a long time ago. nevertheless, the officials of that company paid a fine of over $600 million because of misleading doctors about the addictive qualities of oxycontin. >> should it have been more? >> more money? >> should the fine have been more? should people have gone to jail? >> yes, should have gone to jail. i mean, we're talking thousands of people who are dying, have died because of that mistake. >> to helen township, pennsylvania, pat is an independent. good morning. >> actually, i'm a democrat. that's okay. during the obama administration, there was a bill passed unanimously that hampered dea's effort to crack down on illegal opioids. why not go this path in the first place? and two, are there any calls to repeal that bill? thank you. appreciate it. >> congressman, i believe the bill, the law that the caller is referring to is the one that has very much been in the news recently when it cams to president trump's d.e.a. nominee

hundred thousand people since one nine hundred ninety six when it was first put on the market by purdue pharma a branch of sackler pharmaceuticals that two hundred thousand doesn't even include the countless deaths from people who got hope on oxy and o.d.d. on harder drugs like heroin the sackler family is worth fourteen billion dollars and they've plastered their name all over our institutions so we're doing the cokes and the sac lers there's hardly a museum university hospital or theater without their call over it. it's like a nation fell asleep enough.

the sackler from -- the sackler family owning purdue pharma. it was created in the 1990's and you can read that on the new yorker.com. david from missouri, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to tell people that a category of people out here are being forgotten. that's the ones that have a chronic pain for many years. these are from accidents or disease or whatever is the cost. they have gone through every aspect of going to different doctors with tests or whatever. them to thing left for survive in this world is opiates. myself for on the about 35 years. for me, oxycontin is a godsend. i have never gone to the street for drugs ever. why this parttand of the people is being forgotten, the ones that have of problems with this. the problem is the illegal use of drugs. we are being put in the same category as those. it does not make any sense to me. we get thrown under the bus because of the other people that did not handle it right. that was david's take on it. let's go to howard in california, good morning. caller: good morning. how are

the middle men that ship the pain pills from manufacturers, like purdue pharma and johnson & johnsons. he accuses distributors of fueling the opioid epidemic by turning a blind eye to pain pills being diverted to illicit use. >> this is an industry that allowed millions and millions of drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors. >> offices that distributed them out, out to people who had no legitimate need for the drugs. who are these distributors? >> the three largest distributors are cardinal health, mecessin and americoursebergen, they control drugs downstream. >> you know the implication of what you are seeing, that the big companies knew that they were pumping drugs into american communities that were killing people. >> that's not an implication. that's a fact. that's exactly what they did. >> still ahead, a sight saving therapy for a rare form of blindness. >>> this past week an fda advisory panel, endorsed a pioneering gene therapy for a rare form of blindness. that cough doesn't sound so good. take mucinex dm. i'll text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. one pill lasts

they are the middlemen that ship the pain pills from manufacturers, like purdue pharma and johnson &nson to drug stores all over the country. g enazzisi accuses the opioid epidemic by turning a blind eye to pain pills being diverted to illicit use. >> rannazzisi: this is an industry that allowed millions and millions of drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors' offices, that distributed them out to people who had no legitimate need for those drugs. >> whitaker: who are these distributors? >> rannazzisi: the three largest distributors are cardinal health, mckesson, and amerisourcebergen. they control probably 85% or 90% of the drugs going downstream. >> whitaker: you know the implication of what you're saying, that these big companies knew that they were pumping drugs into american communities that were killing people. >> rannazzisi: that's not an implication, that's a fact. that's exactly what they did. >> whitaker: in the late 1990s, opioids like oxycodone and hydrocodone became a routine medical treatment for chronic pain. drug companies assured doctors and congressional investi

this has been well documented and purdue pharma paid hundreds of millions in fines because of their falsehis topic. but they had said that this drug was not addictive, that it could be properly managed and was not a problem. well, that turned out to be false. a lot of people got hooked on oxycontin. when ox kontin crashed and purdue got into trouble, a lot of other manufacturers stepped in to fill the void and started manufacturing oxycodone, hydrocodonen an entire nation got hooked on this. it's been a huge problem. what we're seeing now is so many people have been dying of overdoses. 200,000 deaths from prescription opioid overdoses alone which is, you know, that's more than three times as many people who died in the vietnam war. the entire vietnam war. and so i think doctors now are prescribing more carefully. hospitals, et cetera. it's much harder to get these prescriptions. now what you're seeing is with the scarcity of these pills on the street, a lot of people are turning to heroin and fentanyl. they can get it cheaper, more readily, and they're overdosing left and right. >> you ha

here comes a copy called purdue pharma and they said we have a miracle drug called oxycontin and gives you 24 hours with no addiction. the rest is history. it became so and when the fda does make here is the government agency say we have a product that we approve this product and it does what it's supposed to do. dea basically allows it to be distributed so drug enforcement agency and then you have your doctor who was the most trusted person next to your family member saying this will help you. they legitimized it. government, the most person trusted by your family and it became a legitimized and became a runaway train. then we had the [inaudible] tab scheduled as three and i got here in 2010 and i said i can't believe it that they were passing out vicodin like m&ms. >> to what degree do you think the president now gets it or what degree you think the white house needs to go further? >> first we have to get the secretary, dhs, get a drugs and have a personal relationship with someone with the experience and would -- >> would you suggest? >> i would say someone in the dea. [inaudible] >

purdue pharma is based in connecticut which i had my surgery.dications given that these were dangerous substances at all. the drug company actively tries to go out and convince countries that these were fine if you had a patient coming back he was still experiencing pain, give him more of that. maybe more of higher dose will cure their pain. there is never any talk about addiction problems and that's what got us where we are now today. >> when you walk out after your surgery, how many pills you were given? >> i had 90 pills and a refill >> we should mention the first lady is speaking now the president will start speaking as soon as he starts speaking, we'll take it in full. >> you mentioned before that you are going to work and fully functioning individual and addicted to opioids how prevalent do you think that is on wall street? >> i am not the only guy, i don't know i would expect, in every industry, wall street, legal, entertainment and where ever, there is functioning opioid at acidi attics th addicts that are doing their jobs and doing it w

they are the middle men that ship the pain pills from manufacturers like purdue pharma and johnson &ugstores all over the country. he accuses the distributors of fueling the opioid epidemic by turning a blind eye to pain pills being diverted to illicit use. >> this is an industry that allowed millions and millions of drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors' offices that distributed them out to people who had no legitimate need for those drugs. >> who are these distributors? >> the three largest distributors are cardinal health, mckesson and amir source bergen. they control probably 85% or the 90% of the drugs going downstream. >> you know the implication of what you're saying, that these big companies knew that they were pumping drugs into american communities that were killing people. >> that's not an implication. that's a fact. that's exactly what they did. >> the health care distribution alliance represents the drug distribution companies. it told "60 minutes" they wanted to work with the dea and that effective enforcement must be a two-way street. bill whitaker is here along

. >> we don't know i would guess that the manufacturer, purdue pharma, may not have been interested inticipating in this. manufacture manufacturers of extended release opioids make more money when a higher dose is prescribed and cigna is flipping this upsidedown and creating an incentive for the doses to be kept low >> yeah. >> dr. hiak, what's your read on all this question should note as well, the manufacturer, purdue, has been sued by a number of different states at this point over their cost of dealing with this crisis claiming false advertising on that company's part about how to use these substances properly. >> so, i think in general, we have to look at which patients are receiving these medications. overall, there's very poor evidence that opioids in general are effective for chronic noncancer pain so if this is a move to limit opioid usage in noncancer pain patients, it may be a good move if it is across the board including terminal cancer pain patients, that may that be a good move. we should have a national policy on this. you know, and it probably should involve regulatory

and state regulations when it comes to the medications in question we also got a response from purdue pharmahich denies all the allegations they out of there looking forward to defending their position a former spokesperson for the white house national drug policy office thinks it's the combined fault of not only the companies but also the doctors who over prescribe. the companies have contributed a lot in terms of deception in terms of letting people think that these are only pain killers when they are addiction producers but it's not only on the marketers it's not only on the companies it's also on the doctors the doctors have overprescribed in many cases about a quarter of the usage of opiates abuse and deaths are because doctors have overprescribed and not paid any attention to where the drugs are going so a lot has to be done there but you know this isn't just a doctor's problem it isn't just a marketing problem it isn't just a manufacturers problem it's a national production problem and a worldwide production problem. our news update for this hour looks more updates from right across t

was substantially less powerful this was good for purdue because it made doctors less frightened to prescribe it so this was this is literally big pharma going doctors are confused about our new product and some people are dying. what good fortune but that's not enough greed in order to increase the number of doctors prescribing it the company has recently ended pain really as a sacred right or universal narcotic in title meant available not only to the terminally ill but to every american and sure some people have debilitating pain and need help i get that but when you have ads that just say do you feel pain the entire row barracking population goes yeah. i hate my job husbands ass looks like an aircraft carrier but my kids are any and my cats allergic to gluten and my dog's allergic to cats of course i'm never. sold a second of marketing idea was brilliant you take a problem a lot of people have and prescribe a medication which is ighly addictive so that they won't stop ever taking it this is like someone going feeling a bit depressed or anxious or or slightly parks to. try math. not effective at all. as the billions rolled in per do