Opioid industry paid advocacy groups $65M

A bi partisan congressional investigation found that key players in the nation’s opioid industry have spent $65 million since 1997 funding nonprofits that advocate treating pain with medications, a strategy intended to boost the sale of prescription painkillers. The report from Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Wyden of Oregon found the contributions continued in recent years, even as the industry’s practices and the toll of opioid addiction cameunder greater scrutiny. The senators, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, are considering legislation to expand an existing federal systemthat tracks payments from companies to doctors so it will include payments to nonprofit organizations.