amy: talk about the growth of purdue pharma.alk about the sackler family, what was unusual about this company, what also makes it so difficult to investigate. >> the sackler family is a fascinating family. their names are on every museum in the united states here in new york at the metropolitan, at the national gallery in washington. amy: their names are on wings. their names are very prominent. but when it comes to the drug where they make their fortune, we don't see their name. >> not only that, -- there are three brothers. and mortimer.d, arthur was the eldest. he was this kind of, i guess, you will genius, if you will. he invented the modern day drug advertising industry. all of the ads that we see on tv today are in print are kind of a result of arthur sackler's genius, or lack there of as you see it. wedded together the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession. he made doctors shields for drug companies. he created medical journals that were really kind of fake medical journals because drug adadvertisers had toto

real drug dealers this week massachusetts attorney general mara healey filed a lawsuit against purdue pharma and the sackler cartel alleging the company and its executives knowingly engaged in the unconscionable scheme to mislead doctors and consumers about the deadly dangers of its opioids so will this be the turning point where they real drug dealers in america are finally brought to heel let's find out as we start watching the hawks. that's. the bottom. like you know that i got. with. this. well in the in the watching the hawks i am i robot for joining us today to discuss this a landmark lawsuit by the state of massachusetts on the real war on drugs is a man who knows a thing or two about the highs and lows of the u.s. legal system one lion-el of lionel media always a pleasure thank you sir so. we see other you know we've seen others a state attorney general's take similar action against big pharma in the past what makes this lawsuit against purdue pharma by the attorney general massachusetts soaps so unique. what is going out for the actual family members and i notice the way you said ca

just this week, purdue pharma which makes oxycont laid off its entire sales force. now a former purdue sales rep is coming forward with information about how the company down played the dangers of opioids to increase sales. >> reporter: purdue makes objection oxycontin. the company admitted falsely selling the drug as less addictive than rivals. the now former purdue salesperson tells cbs news the deceptive sales did not end there. >> it was always in the back of my mind that maybe the company had not told us the whole truth when they hired us, when we interviewed, when we went through training. this is our cl >> reporter: carol panera trained for a sasales job with purdue pharma in 2008. >> so, this was for the quarter. >> reporter: not bad. she showed us how the company's bonus system put her in position to make more money, by convincing doctors to prescribe higher doses of oxycontin for a wider range of pain. >>> so bottom line sell as much as you can. >> sell as much as you can, the idea being we're trying to expand our reach beyond just pain doctors. >> reporter

real drug dealers this week massachusetts attorney general mara healy filed a lawsuit against purdue pharma and the sackler cartel alleging the company and its executives knowingly engaged in the unconscionable scheme to mislead doctors and consumers about the deadly dangers of its opioids so will this be the turning point where they real drug dealers in america are privately brought to heel let's find out as we start watching the hawks. with the. with. the bottom. like you know that i got. to. welcome the watching the hawks i am i robot for joining us today to discuss this a landmark lawsuit by the state of massachusetts on the real war on drugs is a man who knows a thing or two about the highs and lows of the u.s. legal system one lion-el of lionel media always a pleasure. thank you sir so lot on we see other you know we've seen others a state attorney general's take similar action against big pharma in the past what makes this lawsuit against purdue pharma by the attorney general massachusetts so so unique. what is going after the actual family members and i notice the way you said card

tell us what purdue pharma knew. >> remarkably, what they knew was that the drug was being abused.m the fda to promote this drug less prone to abuse. they took this claim they ran with it. they made claims that were not true. during that whole time, they were aware that people were abusing the drug. they had reports from their doctors. they had reports from law enforcement officials. and they sat on these reports. they made made no mention of them to regulators, to authorities, to lawmakers. and they just kept selling and selling and selling. >> tucker: so, looking back, i mean, this drug was shipped to some counties famously in kentucky and west virginia in quantities that weren't justifiable under any circumstances, legitimate circumstances you can imagine. it must have been obvious what was going on. they must have known. why has no one been charged from this company? >> well, in fact, the prosecutors that investigated this company want you had to charge them. they wanted to bring very serious charges against the executives. our report and the material that is in pain killer is

real drug dealers this week massachusetts attorney general mara healey filed a lawsuit against purdue pharma and the sackler cartel alleging the company and its executives knowingly engaged in the unconscionable scheme to mislead doctors and consumers about the deadly dangers of its opioids so will this be the turning point where they real drug dealers in america are finally brought to heel let's find out as we start watching the hawks. with. the bottom. like you know that i got. with. well the watching the hawks i am a robot for joining us today to discuss this a landmark lawsuit by the state of massachusetts on the real war on drugs is a man who knows a thing or two about the highs and lows of the u.s. legal system one lion-el of lionel media always a pleasure. thank you sir so a lot oh we see other you know we've seen others a state attorney general's take similar action against big pharma in the past what makes this lawsuit against purdue pharma by the attorney general massachusetts soaps so unique. what is going out for the actual family members and i notice the way you said cart town b

>> reporter: carol panara says t e joined that charade in 2008 as an oxycontin salesperson for purdue pharma. so bottom line, sell as much as you can. >> sell as much as you can. >> reporter: to what end? >> to making money. to making money. >> reporter: just a year earlier, purdue had admitted it falsely promoted oxycontin as y,ss addictive by, among other laims, claiming the drug's slow- release formula did not cause a .buzz" or euphoria. the company said the misstatements ended in 2001. but amid a widening addiction epidemic, paneera claims the company taught her to tell doctors that some patients might only appear to be addicted. in training, she was given a term for this: "pseudoaddiction." does this concept of pseudoaddiction come with studies backing it up? >> we had no studies. we actually-- we did not have any studies. that's the thing that was kind of disturbing was that we didn't heve studies to present to the doctors. >> reporter: you know how that sounds? >> i know. s - i was naive. a reporter: a 2015 study published in "current addiction reports" found no empirical evidence to

do you regret the five years you spent with purdue pharma?> i'm going to sum it up and ory this: i think that was one of the, if not the worst career decisions of my life. >> reporter: tony dokoupil, cbs, news, new york. >> quijano: still ahead, how airlines are cutting costs by making their planes lose weight. little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. afte months, .arer skin is acabia with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and

everyday progress. >>> purdue pharma laid off its entire sales team this week. n "cbs this morning," a former purdue sales rep claimed the drugmaker downplayed the opioids. purdue's 2007 settlement with the justice department included more than $630 million in thafi cities and counties are suing purdue and its competitors, accusing them of fuelling an opoid drug crisis that killed more than 200,000 people. tony dokoupil is here. >> reporter: purdue makes oxycontin. it's perhaps the best known opoid painkiller in d ertoica. falsely selling the drug as less addictive than rivals. now a former purdue salesperson tells cbs news the deceptive sales did not end there. >> it was always in the back of my mind that maybe the company had not told us the whole truth when they hired us, when we interviewed, when we went through training. this is our class. >> reporter: she trained for a sales job with purdue pharma in 2008. >> this was for quarter. >> reporter: not bad. >> reporter: she showed us how the company's bonus system put her in a position to make more money by conv

yesterday virginia's attorney general said he is suing drugmaker purdue pharma. says purdue lied about the opioids such as oxycontin and made patients believe that over-the-counter medicine callings are not effective. lawyers areleaving the dollar amount up to the court. >>> and improved behavioral health facilityis about to ope in fairfax. news 4 got a look inside.ha facility is located at the innovo fairfax medical center. improvements sclu individual patient rooms and adolescent units and added patient safety enhancements.ma ully, what you are concerned about is that someone's illness willsh p them into a decision to harm themtsz or try and take their life, and that's a tragedy that you want to avoid at all cost. >> it will open to its first patients early next month. >>> a naturalarden in alexandria is turning some heads. >> so homeowner jim clark is all about using what heve calls na plants his labor of love is on display in his front yard. so much that the city ya sent clark a notice and told him he needed to cut the weeds or they might do it for him. he mig

massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against sixteen top executives of purdue pharma, the maker of the popular drug oxycontin, claiming they misled doctors, patients and the public about the dangers posed by the opioid-based painkiller. this is massachusetts attorney general maura healey. att gen. healey: the strategy was simple. the more drugs they sold, the more money they made. the more people died. are engaged in a multibillion-dollar enterprise to mislead us about their drugs. --y pushed some prescribers to give higher doses to keep patients on drugs for longer periods of time without regard to the increased risk of addiction, overdose and death. amy: drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for americans under the age of 50, with opiods as the number-one driver.r. to see our interview with the pulitzer prize-winning former new york times journalist on his book oxycontin, about and purdue pharma, you can go to democracynow.org. in l los angeles, prprosecutors are reviewing a sexual assault alallegation against actor sylvester stallone.. stallone's attorney said in december that a

today, virginia's attorney general said he's suing drugmake purdue pharma. the lawsuit accuses purdue of misrepresenting opioid dgs. virginia ag mark herring said the company lied about the dangers of opioids like oxycontin. he alleged purdue conspired to convince people pain medications are not effective. purdue wants them to compensate opioid victims and virginia is leaving the dollar amount up to the court. >>> a teacher i suing a local school district over claims she was bullied and assaulted at a school. she doesn't blame the students, the principal is tlame. she takes her case to court. >>> and rain moving into ur region tonight. dougs back to i t >>> we have thatf little bit rain you said we needed. we won't like inat's b it, are we? >> talking about the heat? >> and humidity. >> this is what we eect as we move from june to the month of july. hot and humid n over thet couple of days and tracking a couple of showers and storms. not a lot. take the umbrella if you're going out to dinner. not everybody will neeit. see the clouds but also see some sunshine

yesterday virginia's attorney general said he is suing drugmaker purdue pharma. herring says purdue lied opioids, dangers of such as oxycont , and made patients believe that over-the-counter pain medications are notef ctive. virginia wants purdue to compensate the victims. we are working for you with another summer stay-cation for you and your family. nothing says summer quite like an amusement park. g moleten is auerbach yard at six flags in largo. hey, molette. >> hey, guys. we havmore people ready to jump into the river attraction here. this is the newest one here at six flags, and it is so much fun as the weather heats up. >> oh, yes. >> freedom and all the ks. tell me about this new ttraction. >>oh, my gosh, it is bigger, better, wider, wetter. all of that. we blew up castaway creek that was here before.in ovation is part of our dna here at sixlags america, so we wanted to do something that just blew people away. we came up with wahoo river. >> you have 17 lifeguards posted up. these kids are going in now. >> oh, yeah. >> a little earlier than we wanted. i l

yesterday virginia's attorney general said he is suing drug maker purdue pharma. mark herring says purdue lied about the dangers of opioid products such asox ontin, and n de patients believe that over-the-counter p medications are not effective. they want purdue to compensate victims. they are leaving tt dollar amo to the court. >>> improved behavioral health a facility iut to open in fairfax county. news 4 was given an inside look. that facility is located at the anova falrfax med center. it includes individual patient rooms and adolescent unit and added patient sfety enhancements. center offers a full spectrum oa mentalh and addiction treatment services. >> ultimately, what you are concerned about is that someone's illness will push tem into a decision to harm themselves or try and take their life, and that's a tragedy that wi want to avoid at all cost. >> the facility open to its first patients early next month. >>> 16 after the hour right now. a natural garden in alexandria is turning some heads. >> homeownerim clark is all about using what he calls native plan

happening is public health got put to the sidelines while profits for purdue -- while profits for purdue pharma took over any debate as to the real impact of this struggle overall. we go back a generation h to the tobacco industry settlement and how we had to learn for a long time to the fact that addictive substance in nicotine marketing the commercial marketing of the cigarettes. so with all of that knowledge why would be surprised if we is a new commercial push, tot push a product out called marijuana there there wouldn't be a deleterious impact on the public health? especially knowing that legalization means commercialization. which really means -- >> tucker: wait a second. wait a second, congressman. we know the people who run the marijuana companies are cool, progressive people. they are not in this for the money. they are in it because they want to make the world an better place. why don't you trust them? >> well, that is the thing we have to ask of ourselves. are the billions of dollars now going into investing intoo cannabis and in the many products that are being produced? i might add

they are the middlemen that ship the pain pills from manufacturers like purdue pharma and johnson & johnsonl over the country. rannazzisi accuses the distributors of fueling 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 i

real drug dealers this week massachusetts attorney general mara healey filed a lawsuit against purdue pharma and the sackler cartel alleging the company and its executives knowingly engaged in the unconscionable scheme to mislead doctors and consumers about the deadly dangers of its opioids.