prescription painkiller abuse which is an epidemic. the cdc says it kills over 16,000 people a year. instead, they re focusing most of their resources on fighting marijuana which some experts say is a cheaper, safe alternative to this product. is that your thinking about i mean, you don t explicitly say this in the piece. you just sort of say what your reporting said about where the funding is coming for some of these groups which are connected to big pharma that manufactures the kind of drugs you talked about. is that what you re thinking, this will represent a threat to the pharmaceutical companies selling drugs that are widely consumed and widely abused, in fact, that are prescription pain pills? it s difficult to say. the prescription drug companies wouldn t comment, but the record shows that these large drug prevention groups have refused to join coalitions to reform how prescription drugs are prescribed in america. something like 84% of hydrocodone products in the whole wor
something like 84% of hydrocodone products in the whole world are consumed by americans though we constitute less than 5% of global population. these drug prevention groups appear to be been co-opted by the industry and are focusing on marijuana. in reading the reporting, it struck me in the relative scheme of things, they could be spending a lot more money on this. you re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. if these groups really did see marijuana as the threat that it appears they might or that it might actually constitute in bottom-line terms, imagine they d start running $10 million. it s a superpac, or could be going after the politicians who are pro-legalization. chris, remember that many of these groups they fund do not disclose their donors. i was able to find some of the money, not all of it. the second thing is, my piece explores many of the special interest groups. law enforcement is spending big bucks this year lobbying against marijuana reform laws, decrimi
prescribed in america. something like 84% of hydrocodone products in the whole world are consumed by americans though we constitute less than 5% of global population. these drug prevention groups appear to be been co-opted by the industry and are focusing on marijuana. in reading the reporting, it struck me in the relative scheme of things, they could be spending a lot more money on this. you re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. if these groups really did see marijuana as the threat that it appears they might or that it might actually constitute in botto bottom-line terms, imagine they d start running $10 million. it s a superpac, or could be going after the politicians who are pro-legalization. chris, remember that many of these groups they fund do not disclose their donors. i was able to find some of the money, not all of it. the second thing is, my piece explores many of the special interest groups. law enforcement is spending big bucks this year lobbying against m