1 00:00:01,041 --> 00:00:02,166 When we talk about drugs like oxycodone, 2 00:00:02,250 --> 00:00:03,125 you're talking about drugs that are 3 00:00:03,208 --> 00:00:04,917 essentially heroin pills. 4 00:00:05,417 --> 00:00:07,166 I was pretty convinced that we had a major problem 5 00:00:07,250 --> 00:00:08,208 on our hands. 6 00:00:08,667 --> 00:00:09,709 ♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ 7 00:00:10,041 --> 00:00:11,750 This is the first time I've ever seen this. 8 00:00:11,917 --> 00:00:14,500 NARRATOR: Purdue didn't have any evidence that the drug was safe, 9 00:00:14,583 --> 00:00:17,208 so the company obtained the help of a medical officer 10 00:00:17,291 --> 00:00:20,959 in FDA to claim that OxyContin was not prone to abuse. 11 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:23,792 If you're Richard Sackler, if you're Purdue, 12 00:00:23,875 --> 00:00:27,166 that means your army of sales reps can go out and say 13 00:00:27,250 --> 00:00:28,625 that the FDA approved this. 14 00:00:30,125 --> 00:00:31,959 They knew that OxyContin was being abused. 15 00:00:32,208 --> 00:00:34,333 When you're in that much pain and you're addicted 16 00:00:34,417 --> 00:00:37,125 at such a high dose, you're a trapped rat. 17 00:00:38,291 --> 00:00:40,750 SPEAKER: Purdue ends up getting pursued by the authorities. 18 00:00:40,834 --> 00:00:44,709 The Justice Department effectively agreed to bury 19 00:00:44,792 --> 00:00:45,792 critical information. 20 00:00:46,166 --> 00:00:49,208 PAUL PELLETIER: Purdue made about nine billion dollars 21 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:50,709 marketing OxyContin. 22 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,291 They paid 600 million to the government. 23 00:00:53,583 --> 00:00:56,208 You are basically telling pharmaceutical companies 24 00:00:56,417 --> 00:00:58,500 you have a green light to do this. 25 00:00:58,792 --> 00:01:00,166 They paid the speeding ticket. 26 00:01:01,208 --> 00:01:02,083 [TV static drones] 27 00:01:02,166 --> 00:01:05,166 [bright tone] 28 00:01:13,500 --> 00:01:16,417 [soft dramatic music] 29 00:01:16,500 --> 00:01:23,500 ♪ ♪ 30 00:01:31,917 --> 00:01:34,834 - [breathes deeply] 31 00:01:36,667 --> 00:01:38,417 - Drug overdose deaths across the U.S. 32 00:01:38,500 --> 00:01:40,500 have more than tripled since 1990. 33 00:01:40,583 --> 00:01:42,291 - 40 people die every day 34 00:01:42,375 --> 00:01:44,166 from prescription painkiller overdoses. 35 00:01:44,250 --> 00:01:46,083 - The trajectory has simply been upward. 36 00:01:46,166 --> 00:01:48,000 - It's America's silent epidemic. 37 00:01:48,083 --> 00:01:50,625 - A plague in our country. 38 00:01:50,709 --> 00:01:57,291 ♪ ♪ 39 00:01:57,375 --> 00:02:00,333 [indistinct chatter] 40 00:02:00,417 --> 00:02:07,375 ♪ ♪ 41 00:02:10,917 --> 00:02:13,125 - Good afternoon. - How are you? 42 00:02:13,208 --> 00:02:15,000 ♪ ♪ 43 00:02:15,083 --> 00:02:18,125 - We have with us today Joe Rannazzisi. 44 00:02:18,208 --> 00:02:20,709 He is retired from the DEA. 45 00:02:22,250 --> 00:02:25,166 - The opioid crisis started with prescriptions. 46 00:02:25,250 --> 00:02:27,083 Prescriptions and patient care-- 47 00:02:27,166 --> 00:02:30,166 this idea that we weren't adequately treating pain. 48 00:02:30,250 --> 00:02:33,083 Drugs like OxyContin come on to the market 49 00:02:33,166 --> 00:02:35,208 and thought provokers and medical experts 50 00:02:35,291 --> 00:02:37,875 began to preach the gospel of the opioid. 51 00:02:37,959 --> 00:02:39,542 ♪ ♪ 52 00:02:39,625 --> 00:02:40,959 We started using the pain scale. 53 00:02:41,041 --> 00:02:42,500 "Pain is the fifth vital sign." 54 00:02:42,583 --> 00:02:45,500 They developed new medical terms like "pseudoaddiction." 55 00:02:45,583 --> 00:02:47,041 Craziness. 56 00:02:47,125 --> 00:02:49,375 Your body builds a tolerance, you need more drug. 57 00:02:49,458 --> 00:02:51,667 As you need more drug, you need stronger drug. 58 00:02:51,750 --> 00:02:53,667 As you get stronger drug, it's more expensive. 59 00:02:53,750 --> 00:02:57,041 And instead of buying $150 worth of pills a day, 60 00:02:57,125 --> 00:03:00,000 you're buying $20 or $30 of heroin bags a day. 61 00:03:00,083 --> 00:03:02,333 - The problem encroaching on Colorado. 62 00:03:02,417 --> 00:03:03,709 - Taking a toll on the Magnolia State. 63 00:03:03,792 --> 00:03:05,500 - More and more lives in Farmburg County-- 64 00:03:05,583 --> 00:03:07,083 - Woodland Hills-- - West Palm Beach-- 65 00:03:07,166 --> 00:03:08,542 - Springfield area-- - Denver-- 66 00:03:08,625 --> 00:03:11,583 - Right now we have this wide-ranging 67 00:03:11,667 --> 00:03:14,667 amount of fentanyl and fentanyl byproducts, 68 00:03:14,750 --> 00:03:16,333 and it's killing a lot of people. 69 00:03:16,417 --> 00:03:17,583 ♪ ♪ 70 00:03:17,667 --> 00:03:18,709 - The synthetic opioid 71 00:03:18,792 --> 00:03:21,208 is the deadliest drug in the United States. 72 00:03:21,291 --> 00:03:23,542 - Five people OD'd on the same day in January. 73 00:03:23,625 --> 00:03:25,208 - We lost three people last weekend. 74 00:03:25,291 --> 00:03:26,959 - We didn't just wake up one day and say, 75 00:03:27,041 --> 00:03:29,375 "Everybody just switch over to fentanyl." 76 00:03:29,458 --> 00:03:32,166 It was a progression, and it was a natural progression. 77 00:03:32,250 --> 00:03:34,583 - Here in Cook County, it's three deaths per day. 78 00:03:34,667 --> 00:03:37,583 - Mississippi's seen close to 200 overdose deaths. 79 00:03:37,667 --> 00:03:39,417 - Opioid deaths are up 20% 80 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:41,333 since the start of the pandemic. 81 00:03:41,417 --> 00:03:43,375 - And overdose death is underreported. 82 00:03:43,458 --> 00:03:44,709 We know that for sure. 83 00:03:44,792 --> 00:03:47,417 So we really don't know how many people died. 84 00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:48,583 - Hundreds of cities, counties, 85 00:03:48,667 --> 00:03:49,917 and states across the country 86 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:51,917 have launched a wide-ranging lawsuit 87 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,417 targeting the pharmaceutical industry. 88 00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:54,542 - To stop the behaviors. 89 00:03:54,625 --> 00:03:56,417 To hold these folks accountable. 90 00:03:56,500 --> 00:03:57,417 Enough is enough. 91 00:03:57,500 --> 00:04:00,417 We've got people dying on our streets. 92 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:02,625 - We started seeing massive amounts of death. 93 00:04:02,709 --> 00:04:06,917 Our prescriptions by 2012 were over 250 million. 94 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:07,875 The question is, why? 95 00:04:07,959 --> 00:04:09,291 Are we the only people in the world 96 00:04:09,375 --> 00:04:10,709 that know how to treat pain? 97 00:04:10,792 --> 00:04:12,417 ♪ ♪ 98 00:04:12,500 --> 00:04:14,083 No. 99 00:04:14,166 --> 00:04:16,583 We consume that much 100 00:04:16,667 --> 00:04:18,750 because our policies 101 00:04:18,834 --> 00:04:22,250 are basically created by the manufacturers. 102 00:04:22,333 --> 00:04:25,250 [ominous music] 103 00:04:25,333 --> 00:04:29,542 ♪ ♪ 104 00:04:38,917 --> 00:04:41,083 - So we've reached out to all the companies. 105 00:04:41,166 --> 00:04:42,375 We have all the responses, 106 00:04:42,458 --> 00:04:44,333 which we have woven into the story. 107 00:04:44,417 --> 00:04:45,291 - Yeah. 108 00:04:45,375 --> 00:04:47,166 Half the company's declined to comment 109 00:04:47,250 --> 00:04:48,959 because of the ongoing litigation, 110 00:04:49,041 --> 00:04:50,667 and then the other half, you know, 111 00:04:50,750 --> 00:04:52,125 issued fairly lengthy statements. 112 00:04:52,208 --> 00:04:55,000 - Purdue, Johnson & Johnson, all commented. 113 00:04:55,083 --> 00:04:59,125 - What's their, you know, main defense right now? 114 00:04:59,208 --> 00:05:01,000 - Yeah, FDA-approved drugs, 115 00:05:01,083 --> 00:05:04,500 that they weren't doing anything illegal. 116 00:05:04,583 --> 00:05:06,291 - Each point they pushed back on. 117 00:05:06,375 --> 00:05:07,458 - Okay. 118 00:05:07,542 --> 00:05:09,709 - You know, one of the remaining questions is, 119 00:05:09,792 --> 00:05:12,500 are there gonna be any criminal charges against anybody? 120 00:05:12,583 --> 00:05:16,166 And whether they're coordinated by the Department of Justice 121 00:05:16,250 --> 00:05:19,041 or if they're individual investigations 122 00:05:19,125 --> 00:05:20,875 by U.S. Attorneys Offices. 123 00:05:20,959 --> 00:05:22,000 We're not quite sure, 124 00:05:22,083 --> 00:05:24,041 but there's something happening. 125 00:05:24,125 --> 00:05:27,333 [soft dramatic music] 126 00:05:27,417 --> 00:05:28,917 narrator: The investigative team at the "Post" 127 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,333 began to follow leads to a very big story. 128 00:05:32,417 --> 00:05:35,166 Some of America's largest pharmaceutical companies 129 00:05:35,250 --> 00:05:38,000 were not only profiting from the opioid crisis, 130 00:05:38,083 --> 00:05:41,333 they may have been manufacturing it. 131 00:05:41,417 --> 00:05:43,333 The origin of the opioid story 132 00:05:43,417 --> 00:05:45,375 began with the role of Purdue Pharma 133 00:05:45,458 --> 00:05:48,333 and the family who controlled it--the Sacklers. 134 00:05:48,417 --> 00:05:50,041 ♪ ♪ 135 00:05:50,125 --> 00:05:52,834 - We have had many run-ins with the Sacklers recently. 136 00:05:52,917 --> 00:05:56,583 Their main point of contention 137 00:05:56,667 --> 00:05:59,709 is that they did not ignite 138 00:05:59,792 --> 00:06:02,250 the opioid crisis singlehandedly. 139 00:06:02,333 --> 00:06:05,166 Whether you believe that or don't believe that, 140 00:06:05,250 --> 00:06:08,917 there is voluminous evidence that the crisis began 141 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,208 when OxyContin hit the streets. 142 00:06:11,291 --> 00:06:15,041 Purdue led the charge, Sackler came up with the idea, 143 00:06:15,125 --> 00:06:17,542 and everybody else followed. 144 00:06:17,625 --> 00:06:21,250 - Other drug companies moved into that market 145 00:06:21,333 --> 00:06:23,667 that Purdue had created. 146 00:06:23,750 --> 00:06:25,750 They moved into that huge opioid 147 00:06:25,834 --> 00:06:27,834 multibillion-dollar market. 148 00:06:27,917 --> 00:06:30,041 - So other manufacturers began 149 00:06:30,125 --> 00:06:32,125 making generic versions 150 00:06:32,208 --> 00:06:33,125 of OxyContin-- 151 00:06:33,208 --> 00:06:36,417 oxycodone, hydrocodone, 152 00:06:36,500 --> 00:06:38,417 drug distributors started sending 153 00:06:38,500 --> 00:06:40,792 massive amounts of these drugs downstream 154 00:06:40,875 --> 00:06:44,125 because there were corrupt doctors all over the country. 155 00:06:44,208 --> 00:06:46,375 It became like the Wild West. 156 00:06:46,458 --> 00:06:49,750 This was a new drug cartel that was being established 157 00:06:49,834 --> 00:06:50,875 in the United States. 158 00:06:50,959 --> 00:06:53,041 But instead of coming in from a foreign country, 159 00:06:53,125 --> 00:06:56,083 there were drug dealers who were wearing suits 160 00:06:56,166 --> 00:06:58,750 and lab coats. 161 00:06:58,834 --> 00:07:01,083 I think that's it. 162 00:07:01,166 --> 00:07:03,917 Go and do. - All right. 163 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:05,583 narrator: To penetrate the network 164 00:07:05,667 --> 00:07:07,125 of corporate drug dealers, 165 00:07:07,208 --> 00:07:09,583 the investigative unit at the "Post" needed help 166 00:07:09,667 --> 00:07:11,625 from an inside source, 167 00:07:11,709 --> 00:07:13,041 someone with firsthand knowledge 168 00:07:13,125 --> 00:07:15,041 of the way the deals worked 169 00:07:15,125 --> 00:07:18,166 and how they turned into crimes. 170 00:07:18,250 --> 00:07:19,333 On a tip, 171 00:07:19,417 --> 00:07:24,417 they contacted a retired DEA agent, Joe Rannazzisi. 172 00:07:24,500 --> 00:07:26,417 - Eventually got him on the phone. 173 00:07:26,500 --> 00:07:31,291 He was very animated, and he was very upset. 174 00:07:31,375 --> 00:07:33,125 He had a lot of great information 175 00:07:33,208 --> 00:07:35,667 and, essentially, we just kept on talking, 176 00:07:35,750 --> 00:07:37,208 and I figured, "Okay. 177 00:07:37,291 --> 00:07:39,041 "If he's not crazy and he's not making this up, 178 00:07:39,125 --> 00:07:40,959 this is a really good story." 179 00:07:41,041 --> 00:07:43,417 - I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to appear today 180 00:07:43,500 --> 00:07:45,166 to discuss prescription drug diversion 181 00:07:45,250 --> 00:07:46,792 and the critical role the DEA plays-- 182 00:07:46,875 --> 00:07:48,083 narrator: Before he left the DEA, 183 00:07:48,166 --> 00:07:51,000 Rannazzisi repeatedly tried to warn Congress 184 00:07:51,083 --> 00:07:52,792 about prescription drug abuse. 185 00:07:52,875 --> 00:07:54,917 - The abuse of pharmaceuticals continues to be 186 00:07:55,041 --> 00:07:56,959 a significant problem in the United States, 187 00:07:57,041 --> 00:07:59,709 and it's based on pharmaceutical diversion 188 00:07:59,792 --> 00:08:01,000 from the supply chain. 189 00:08:01,083 --> 00:08:04,667 - He was in charge of the Diversion Control Division 190 00:08:04,750 --> 00:08:06,291 at the DEA. 191 00:08:06,375 --> 00:08:09,333 They make sure that pharmaceuticals 192 00:08:09,417 --> 00:08:12,208 that are controlled substances like opioids 193 00:08:12,291 --> 00:08:14,500 are not diverted to the black market, 194 00:08:14,583 --> 00:08:17,166 that they stay within the supply chain, 195 00:08:17,250 --> 00:08:19,333 from the manufacturer 196 00:08:19,417 --> 00:08:22,166 to the drug distributors, which are the middlemen, 197 00:08:22,250 --> 00:08:26,041 to the pharmacies on the retail level. 198 00:08:26,125 --> 00:08:28,166 - Individuals and organizations have created schemes 199 00:08:28,250 --> 00:08:31,208 within the health care delivery system that appear legitimate 200 00:08:31,291 --> 00:08:33,000 but are nothing more than illegal operations 201 00:08:33,083 --> 00:08:34,834 to facilitate the illegal distribution 202 00:08:34,917 --> 00:08:36,208 of pharmaceuticals. 203 00:08:36,291 --> 00:08:37,375 Pharmaceutical diversion... 204 00:08:37,458 --> 00:08:39,208 - I've dealt with a lot of whistleblowers 205 00:08:39,291 --> 00:08:41,709 throughout my career, and, you know, 206 00:08:41,792 --> 00:08:43,208 some of them are a little crazy, 207 00:08:43,291 --> 00:08:46,583 some of them are a little paranoid and conspiratorial, 208 00:08:46,667 --> 00:08:50,542 but I really wanted to meet Joe to vet him more. 209 00:08:50,625 --> 00:08:52,208 So I went out 210 00:08:52,291 --> 00:08:55,041 to a little Greek restaurant in Northern Virginia. 211 00:08:55,125 --> 00:08:57,583 I interviewed him for about two hours. 212 00:08:57,667 --> 00:09:01,041 ♪ ♪ 213 00:09:01,125 --> 00:09:03,583 - Look, I made a lot of my decisions over the years 214 00:09:03,667 --> 00:09:06,041 at the Athena Pallas. 215 00:09:06,125 --> 00:09:08,000 I could sit there and just think 216 00:09:08,083 --> 00:09:11,875 and not have to worry about DEA and headquarters 217 00:09:11,959 --> 00:09:12,875 and the phone ringing. 218 00:09:12,959 --> 00:09:15,583 So, when I had important decisions to make, 219 00:09:15,667 --> 00:09:17,417 I would go and find a table, 220 00:09:17,500 --> 00:09:19,583 sometimes with somebody else, sometimes by myself, 221 00:09:19,667 --> 00:09:24,458 and sit there and just try and work things out. 222 00:09:24,542 --> 00:09:27,166 Scott Higham starts asking me questions, 223 00:09:27,250 --> 00:09:28,834 and I'm telling him a story 224 00:09:28,917 --> 00:09:32,083 about congressional and industry influence 225 00:09:32,166 --> 00:09:34,083 and, you know, money going in 226 00:09:34,166 --> 00:09:36,583 and the Justice Department folding and all this stuff. 227 00:09:36,667 --> 00:09:39,083 And I don't know if Scott believed me or not, 228 00:09:39,166 --> 00:09:40,208 but, you know, 229 00:09:40,291 --> 00:09:43,250 Scott's from Long Island, and I'm from Long Island. 230 00:09:43,333 --> 00:09:45,417 - We kind of talked the same talk, you know? 231 00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:47,792 We come from the same place. 232 00:09:47,875 --> 00:09:49,917 - We're on the South Shore of Long Island. 233 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,417 I always wanted to be a police officer 234 00:09:52,500 --> 00:09:55,041 in narcotics, specifically. 235 00:09:55,125 --> 00:09:58,750 - I've been around law enforcement my whole life, 236 00:09:58,834 --> 00:10:01,250 as a kid growing up in a law enforcement family, 237 00:10:01,333 --> 00:10:03,125 and so I got cops. 238 00:10:03,208 --> 00:10:04,792 I covered them as a reporter 239 00:10:04,875 --> 00:10:08,625 at "The Baltimore Sun" and in Miami. 240 00:10:08,709 --> 00:10:10,583 - I studied pharmacy 241 00:10:10,667 --> 00:10:13,250 at Butler University in Indianapolis. 242 00:10:13,333 --> 00:10:15,458 I figured that being a pharmacist 243 00:10:15,542 --> 00:10:18,959 is the quickest way to learn about the drugs. 244 00:10:19,041 --> 00:10:20,625 Once I got my pharmacy degree, 245 00:10:20,709 --> 00:10:24,041 I started applying to be a law enforcement officer. 246 00:10:24,125 --> 00:10:27,667 And then I was subsequently hired by DEA. 247 00:10:29,208 --> 00:10:30,625 - Log on to the Internet, 248 00:10:30,709 --> 00:10:33,000 type in the keyword "medications," 249 00:10:33,083 --> 00:10:34,792 and you'll get hundreds of results, 250 00:10:34,875 --> 00:10:36,500 many of them promising drug delivery-- 251 00:10:36,583 --> 00:10:39,417 - Right after 2000, 2001, 252 00:10:39,500 --> 00:10:43,125 what we started seeing was Internet pharmacies. 253 00:10:43,208 --> 00:10:46,125 A patient would get on the Internet, and he would say, 254 00:10:46,208 --> 00:10:47,834 "Hydrocodone without a prescription." 255 00:10:47,917 --> 00:10:50,834 And you'd get a million hits that would pop up. 256 00:10:50,917 --> 00:10:53,333 And so you'd find one and go to that website, 257 00:10:53,417 --> 00:10:56,208 and it would take you to a patient survey form, 258 00:10:56,291 --> 00:10:59,625 and you would say, "I've got back pain." 259 00:10:59,709 --> 00:11:01,500 The problem is, is no one ever saw the patient. 260 00:11:01,583 --> 00:11:03,792 As long as they had any kind of credit card, 261 00:11:03,875 --> 00:11:04,959 they were fine. 262 00:11:05,041 --> 00:11:07,834 You had a doctor on the East Coast, 263 00:11:07,917 --> 00:11:10,500 the patient or the drug seeker was on the West Coast, 264 00:11:10,583 --> 00:11:13,000 the pharmacy was in the Midwest. 265 00:11:13,083 --> 00:11:16,166 It was just a trafficking organization 266 00:11:16,250 --> 00:11:18,792 that was hiding behind the veil of the Internet. 267 00:11:18,875 --> 00:11:20,875 ♪ ♪ 268 00:11:20,959 --> 00:11:21,959 - Without objection, 269 00:11:22,041 --> 00:11:24,208 the bill was read a third time and passed. 270 00:11:24,291 --> 00:11:27,417 [gavel bangs] 271 00:11:27,500 --> 00:11:31,333 - As soon as Congress shut down the Internet sites 272 00:11:31,417 --> 00:11:33,875 by passing the Ryan Haight Act, 273 00:11:33,959 --> 00:11:37,834 almost overnight, we started seeing these clinics pop up, 274 00:11:37,917 --> 00:11:41,166 and our people in Florida saying, "Yeah, all of a sudden, 275 00:11:41,250 --> 00:11:43,125 we have all these clinics all over the place." 276 00:11:43,208 --> 00:11:47,500 - I'm going down to Florida. 277 00:11:47,583 --> 00:11:50,583 [Butthole Surfers' "Moving To Florida"] 278 00:11:50,667 --> 00:11:52,709 - Florida is a very corrupt state. 279 00:11:52,792 --> 00:11:55,709 [rowdy rock music] 280 00:11:55,792 --> 00:11:57,083 It's a place 281 00:11:57,166 --> 00:12:00,667 where a lot of people who want to get involved in rackets go 282 00:12:00,750 --> 00:12:01,750 to make fast money. 283 00:12:01,834 --> 00:12:04,583 ♪ ♪ 284 00:12:04,667 --> 00:12:08,250 So the Mob is down there. Drug dealers are down there. 285 00:12:08,333 --> 00:12:09,917 There's a lot of money laundering, 286 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:11,542 poor regulations. 287 00:12:11,625 --> 00:12:12,792 There's a patchwork of law enforcement. 288 00:12:12,875 --> 00:12:15,208 [engine revving] 289 00:12:15,291 --> 00:12:17,834 - The regulations over the practice of medicine 290 00:12:17,917 --> 00:12:19,875 and pharmacy in Florida were a lot more lax 291 00:12:19,959 --> 00:12:21,208 than other states. 292 00:12:21,291 --> 00:12:25,792 It provided fertile ground for these clinics to open up. 293 00:12:25,875 --> 00:12:27,083 ♪ ♪ 294 00:12:27,166 --> 00:12:30,959 Right around 2010 in Broward County, 295 00:12:31,041 --> 00:12:34,417 they went from a very small amount of pain clinics 296 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:37,375 to 142, I think, in a period of a couple years, 297 00:12:37,458 --> 00:12:38,625 two or three years. 298 00:12:38,709 --> 00:12:42,375 - Palm Beach County has more pill mills than McDonald's. 299 00:12:42,458 --> 00:12:43,375 - The sense was that 300 00:12:43,458 --> 00:12:45,583 we were always just trying to tread water. 301 00:12:45,667 --> 00:12:47,250 We needed more resources. 302 00:12:47,333 --> 00:12:49,291 We needed more field investigations, 303 00:12:49,375 --> 00:12:52,166 and we needed more lawyers. 304 00:12:52,250 --> 00:12:53,333 When I started, 305 00:12:53,417 --> 00:12:56,500 all of our focus had been on these pill mills. 306 00:12:56,583 --> 00:12:58,583 There's one hallway is the doctor's. 307 00:12:58,667 --> 00:12:59,792 And you go in, 308 00:12:59,875 --> 00:13:02,750 and they often literally had a laminated menu, 309 00:13:02,834 --> 00:13:05,667 and they would say, "It's a cash-only business. 310 00:13:05,750 --> 00:13:08,500 You give me the cash for what it is you're looking for." 311 00:13:08,583 --> 00:13:10,625 And then you take that prescription, 312 00:13:10,709 --> 00:13:11,959 you go down to the other end of the hallway, 313 00:13:12,041 --> 00:13:13,000 and it's a dispensary. 314 00:13:13,083 --> 00:13:14,750 And it's all owned by the same person, 315 00:13:14,834 --> 00:13:16,333 so they're running the doctor's, 316 00:13:16,417 --> 00:13:17,750 and they're running the pharmacy. 317 00:13:17,834 --> 00:13:20,500 - They were basically fronts for drug dealers, 318 00:13:20,583 --> 00:13:22,625 for really corrupt doctors 319 00:13:22,709 --> 00:13:25,291 who were selling prescriptions for cash, 320 00:13:25,375 --> 00:13:27,500 trading prescriptions for sex. 321 00:13:27,583 --> 00:13:29,542 - They actually basically just give 'em out. 322 00:13:29,625 --> 00:13:31,166 - ♪ OxyContin, Xanax bars ♪ 323 00:13:31,250 --> 00:13:32,667 ♪ Percocets and Lortab ♪ 324 00:13:32,750 --> 00:13:34,500 ♪ Valiums, morphine patches, ecstasy ♪ 325 00:13:34,583 --> 00:13:35,583 ♪ And it's all up for grabs ♪ 326 00:13:35,667 --> 00:13:37,792 ♪ What you want? What you need? ♪ 327 00:13:37,875 --> 00:13:38,792 ♪ Hit me up... ♪ 328 00:13:38,875 --> 00:13:40,166 - People would hop in their car, 329 00:13:40,250 --> 00:13:42,500 they'd get onto Interstate 75. 330 00:13:42,583 --> 00:13:45,834 It's a highway that runs up the spine of America 331 00:13:45,917 --> 00:13:48,875 from Florida up through Appalachia 332 00:13:48,959 --> 00:13:50,542 all the way through Ohio. 333 00:13:50,625 --> 00:13:51,667 - ♪ Hit me up, I got you... ♪ 334 00:13:51,750 --> 00:13:55,125 - It was a very busy, very lucrative pathway 335 00:13:55,208 --> 00:13:57,125 for narcotics in America. 336 00:13:57,208 --> 00:14:00,041 It became known as the Oxy Highway. 337 00:14:00,125 --> 00:14:01,166 ♪ ♪ 338 00:14:01,250 --> 00:14:02,500 - I'm Doug Smith with Fox 13. 339 00:14:02,583 --> 00:14:03,709 Can I talk with you about the clinic, 340 00:14:03,792 --> 00:14:05,500 what's going on inside the clinic? 341 00:14:05,583 --> 00:14:07,709 - ♪ Some people melt 'em down in a needle ♪ 342 00:14:07,792 --> 00:14:08,709 ♪ And shoot 'em up ♪ 343 00:14:08,792 --> 00:14:09,875 - When I pass by here, 344 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:11,917 the frickin' line is around the corner. 345 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,583 - Patients would be lined up in the morning, 346 00:14:13,667 --> 00:14:16,041 waiting to get into these pill mills 347 00:14:16,125 --> 00:14:18,917 so they could get a cursory examination, 348 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:20,750 if any examination. 349 00:14:20,834 --> 00:14:23,500 - We were in there less than ten minutes with a doctor, 350 00:14:23,583 --> 00:14:25,417 walked out with a prescription for Vicodin. 351 00:14:25,500 --> 00:14:26,417 - Mm-hmm. 352 00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:28,041 - Is that the way it works inside? 353 00:14:28,125 --> 00:14:30,375 - If you have proper, uh, 354 00:14:30,458 --> 00:14:32,041 documentation and everything, we take care of you. 355 00:14:32,125 --> 00:14:36,375 - We had no medical records. We had no X-rays. 356 00:14:36,458 --> 00:14:38,542 Yeah. Who would that doctor be? 357 00:14:38,625 --> 00:14:40,083 - I'm not quite sure. 358 00:14:40,166 --> 00:14:41,917 But if you give me a call, I'll be checking into it. 359 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,375 - ♪ See, I'm a pill popper ♪ 360 00:14:43,458 --> 00:14:45,583 ♪ So I'ma keep poppin' 'em ♪ 361 00:14:45,667 --> 00:14:48,375 - So a bad doctor who's running a clinic 362 00:14:48,458 --> 00:14:52,208 writes a script not for a legitimate medical purpose. 363 00:14:52,291 --> 00:14:55,583 Okay, you can't stop that guy from writing that prescription, 364 00:14:55,667 --> 00:14:56,959 but a pharmacist could, 365 00:14:57,041 --> 00:14:59,083 because if a pharmacist gets that prescription 366 00:14:59,166 --> 00:15:01,083 and it shows red flags, 367 00:15:01,166 --> 00:15:02,875 that pharmacist has a requirement 368 00:15:02,959 --> 00:15:04,417 to resolve those red flags 369 00:15:04,500 --> 00:15:07,250 before he dispenses the medication. 370 00:15:07,333 --> 00:15:09,583 Now, what are these red flags? 371 00:15:09,667 --> 00:15:12,417 Patient traveling 200 miles to a pharmacy. 372 00:15:12,500 --> 00:15:15,583 You could be the greatest pharmacist in the galaxy. 373 00:15:15,667 --> 00:15:18,792 No one's driving 200 miles for you to fill their prescription. 374 00:15:18,875 --> 00:15:21,250 There's a reason for that. 375 00:15:21,333 --> 00:15:25,458 We had to take action, and we had to do it very quickly. 376 00:15:25,542 --> 00:15:28,375 We just started moving massive amounts of resources 377 00:15:28,458 --> 00:15:30,625 down into Florida. 378 00:15:30,709 --> 00:15:32,583 - They got task force officers. 379 00:15:32,667 --> 00:15:35,500 They got every diversion investigator in the state, 380 00:15:35,583 --> 00:15:40,291 and they ran undercover operations all over the place. 381 00:15:40,375 --> 00:15:44,000 - There was one case. It was a female undercover. 382 00:15:44,083 --> 00:15:45,959 Doctor said, "So how you feeling today?" 383 00:15:46,041 --> 00:15:48,125 "Oh, I'm fine." 384 00:15:48,208 --> 00:15:49,959 "So what are you here for? You here for your Oxycodone?" 385 00:15:50,041 --> 00:15:50,959 "Yes. 386 00:15:51,041 --> 00:15:53,834 Could I have some alprazolam, too?" 387 00:15:53,917 --> 00:15:56,417 And he says yes, and he wrote the prescription. 388 00:15:56,500 --> 00:15:59,291 He goes, "Would you like some methadone also?" 389 00:15:59,375 --> 00:16:00,792 And she goes, "Sure." 390 00:16:00,875 --> 00:16:02,834 That was the extent of the visit. 391 00:16:02,917 --> 00:16:04,959 And you look at that, and you go, 392 00:16:05,041 --> 00:16:08,625 "My God, this is not medi-- This is a crack house." 393 00:16:08,709 --> 00:16:11,959 [soft dramatic music] 394 00:16:12,041 --> 00:16:12,959 - Hi. 395 00:16:13,041 --> 00:16:14,166 - First of all, turn that off, man. 396 00:16:14,250 --> 00:16:15,500 I don't want to be recorded, okay? 397 00:16:15,583 --> 00:16:17,166 Let's talk about that. - Are you a doctor? 398 00:16:17,250 --> 00:16:18,333 - Excuse me? - Are you a doctor? 399 00:16:18,417 --> 00:16:20,166 - Don't-- it don't matter who I am. 400 00:16:20,250 --> 00:16:22,417 In a minute, I'm gonna snatch this camera from this, dude. 401 00:16:22,500 --> 00:16:24,667 You don't even know, man. - Okay, sir. 402 00:16:24,750 --> 00:16:26,500 - Follow 'em wherever they're going. 403 00:16:26,583 --> 00:16:29,542 [tense music] 404 00:16:29,625 --> 00:16:31,333 ♪ ♪ 405 00:16:31,417 --> 00:16:33,667 - There was one store in particular 406 00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:38,208 that was known by drug users as the go-to CVS. 407 00:16:38,291 --> 00:16:40,500 A DEA investigator said to the pharmacist, 408 00:16:40,583 --> 00:16:41,834 "What's going on here? 409 00:16:41,917 --> 00:16:43,625 "Don't you see that all these people 410 00:16:43,709 --> 00:16:46,834 "are coming with out-of-state licenses and out-of-state tags 411 00:16:46,917 --> 00:16:50,000 "and they're lining up at your door at 8:00 in the morning? 412 00:16:50,083 --> 00:16:51,959 Don't you think that's suspicious?" 413 00:16:52,041 --> 00:16:55,458 And this pharmacist told the DEA, "Well, you know, look. 414 00:16:55,542 --> 00:16:58,500 At 2:00, we cut off our sales." 415 00:16:58,583 --> 00:17:00,000 And the investigator said, 416 00:17:00,083 --> 00:17:01,875 "Why do you cut off your sales at 2:00?" 417 00:17:01,959 --> 00:17:04,667 And she said, "Well, we want to save medication 418 00:17:04,750 --> 00:17:07,333 for our real pain patients." 419 00:17:07,417 --> 00:17:10,375 - Open the door! On the ground, on the ground! 420 00:17:10,458 --> 00:17:11,583 - Go, go, go! - Get on the ground! 421 00:17:11,667 --> 00:17:14,917 narrator: In 2011, there was a crackdown by the DEA. 422 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,542 Operation Pill Nation 423 00:17:16,625 --> 00:17:19,375 involved more than 500 law enforcement officers, 424 00:17:19,458 --> 00:17:21,875 resulting in seizures of 70 vehicles, 425 00:17:21,959 --> 00:17:26,166 $19 million in cash, and 105 arrests. 426 00:17:26,250 --> 00:17:27,917 - Doctor, do you feel like you were contributing 427 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,542 to addicts' addictions? 428 00:17:30,625 --> 00:17:32,291 Was it worth it? 429 00:17:32,375 --> 00:17:34,917 narrator: But the real problem wasn't on the street. 430 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,208 It was in the executive suites of pharmaceutical companies, 431 00:17:38,291 --> 00:17:40,583 which had become addicted to the profits 432 00:17:40,667 --> 00:17:42,917 opioids could deliver. 433 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,959 [cheers and applause] 434 00:17:47,041 --> 00:17:49,083 - Please help me welcome John Kapoor. 435 00:17:49,166 --> 00:17:51,750 [cheers and applause continue] 436 00:17:51,834 --> 00:17:55,625 [soft dramatic music] 437 00:17:55,709 --> 00:17:57,125 narrator: John Kapoor 438 00:17:57,208 --> 00:17:58,291 was a veteran pharmaceutical investor 439 00:17:58,375 --> 00:18:01,166 who saw a business opportunity in pain relief. 440 00:18:01,250 --> 00:18:04,083 He started a company called Insys 441 00:18:04,166 --> 00:18:06,583 to market a drug called Subsys. 442 00:18:06,667 --> 00:18:09,625 It was a fast-acting spray device for fentanyl, 443 00:18:09,709 --> 00:18:13,709 a synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than morphine. 444 00:18:13,792 --> 00:18:16,125 - I know there are all kinds of definitions 445 00:18:16,208 --> 00:18:18,291 for entrepreneurs. 446 00:18:18,375 --> 00:18:22,125 The one that I think we all recognize most 447 00:18:22,208 --> 00:18:24,959 is that entrepreneurs are risk takers. 448 00:18:25,041 --> 00:18:28,625 ♪ ♪ 449 00:18:28,709 --> 00:18:31,166 narrator: The FDA limited the use of Subsys 450 00:18:31,250 --> 00:18:32,458 to a very narrow market-- 451 00:18:32,542 --> 00:18:35,959 cancer patients suffering so-called breakthrough pain. 452 00:18:36,041 --> 00:18:38,333 To expand the market, 453 00:18:38,417 --> 00:18:41,625 Kapoor was determined to find a way around the FDA's rules. 454 00:18:41,709 --> 00:18:46,291 - You, as an entrepreneur, have to have a dream. 455 00:18:46,375 --> 00:18:50,125 And then you work with passion 456 00:18:50,208 --> 00:18:53,417 to make that dream come true. [applause] 457 00:18:53,500 --> 00:18:55,792 narrator: That passion to make a dream come true 458 00:18:55,875 --> 00:18:59,667 is what would lead Kapoor and Insys into the world of crime. 459 00:18:59,750 --> 00:19:06,792 ♪ ♪ 460 00:19:09,750 --> 00:19:11,208 - Every U.S. Attorney's Office 461 00:19:11,291 --> 00:19:12,709 in every district in the United States 462 00:19:12,792 --> 00:19:15,750 has someone who's supposed to specialize in health care. 463 00:19:15,834 --> 00:19:18,500 Boston has always taken a lead role in that. 464 00:19:18,583 --> 00:19:20,500 They've taken on some very high-profile 465 00:19:20,583 --> 00:19:22,917 criminal investigators involving Pfizer 466 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,333 and GSK and several others. 467 00:19:25,417 --> 00:19:28,667 And because our office has a reputation 468 00:19:28,750 --> 00:19:31,458 for being successful with these types of cases, 469 00:19:31,542 --> 00:19:35,166 we get a lot of whistleblower lawsuits filed in Boston. 470 00:19:35,250 --> 00:19:37,333 [suspenseful music] 471 00:19:37,417 --> 00:19:39,041 And so, in 2013, 472 00:19:39,125 --> 00:19:42,166 I got a whistleblower complaint sent to me. 473 00:19:42,250 --> 00:19:45,250 It laid out some of the things that were happening 474 00:19:45,333 --> 00:19:46,750 at Insys Therapeutics. 475 00:19:46,834 --> 00:19:49,375 ♪ ♪ 476 00:19:49,458 --> 00:19:52,875 Subsys was launched in March of 2012, 477 00:19:52,959 --> 00:19:55,083 and it goes into this very tight market. 478 00:19:55,166 --> 00:19:59,583 And for the next three months, from March to early June 2012, 479 00:19:59,667 --> 00:20:01,041 Kapoor is devastated, 480 00:20:01,125 --> 00:20:03,709 and he calls it the worst effing launch 481 00:20:03,792 --> 00:20:06,583 in the history of the pharmaceutical industry, right? 482 00:20:06,667 --> 00:20:08,542 So he starts firing people. 483 00:20:08,625 --> 00:20:10,542 Fires the VP of sales, 484 00:20:10,625 --> 00:20:15,000 and he's trying to find a way to be profitable. 485 00:20:15,083 --> 00:20:17,834 narrator: Kapoor hatched a plan to exploit a loophole. 486 00:20:17,917 --> 00:20:21,083 While the FDA limited the drug to patients with cancer pain, 487 00:20:21,166 --> 00:20:23,709 doctors were allowed to use their own judgment 488 00:20:23,792 --> 00:20:26,250 about whether to expand the market, 489 00:20:26,333 --> 00:20:27,959 so Kapoor leaned on his sales reps 490 00:20:28,041 --> 00:20:31,458 to court doctors to write more scripts for Subsys 491 00:20:31,542 --> 00:20:33,750 and to increase the doses. 492 00:20:33,834 --> 00:20:35,417 Through emails and phone recordings, 493 00:20:35,500 --> 00:20:37,709 prosecutors discovered a sales campaign 494 00:20:37,792 --> 00:20:40,834 to lead doctors into raising the demand for fentanyl 495 00:20:40,917 --> 00:20:45,041 by expanding the very definition of pain. 496 00:20:45,125 --> 00:20:47,458 ♪ ♪ 497 00:21:17,500 --> 00:21:22,834 ♪ ♪ 498 00:21:22,917 --> 00:21:25,959 - I assign two criminal prosecutors, 499 00:21:26,041 --> 00:21:28,625 and they began working on the case in late 2013-- 500 00:21:28,709 --> 00:21:32,000 Fred Wyshak, who is sort of a legend in Boston. 501 00:21:32,083 --> 00:21:35,959 He prosecuted Whitey Bulger. He's prosecuted the Mob. 502 00:21:36,041 --> 00:21:40,542 - In all these types of cases, you need insiders. 503 00:21:40,625 --> 00:21:42,083 It's very difficult 504 00:21:42,166 --> 00:21:44,834 to penetrate a criminal organization 505 00:21:44,917 --> 00:21:47,792 to the top of that organization 506 00:21:47,875 --> 00:21:50,083 without insiders. 507 00:21:50,166 --> 00:21:51,792 - Alec Burlakoff. 508 00:21:51,875 --> 00:21:54,083 You must've identified him early on 509 00:21:54,166 --> 00:21:55,917 in your investigation. - Absolutely. 510 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,291 Alec Burlakoff was a primary target of the investigation. 511 00:21:58,375 --> 00:22:02,667 ♪ ♪ 512 00:22:02,750 --> 00:22:06,083 - And so what in your mind makes a good salesman? 513 00:22:06,166 --> 00:22:09,166 - One word--passion. 514 00:22:09,250 --> 00:22:11,542 It's not deceit. It's not lies. 515 00:22:11,625 --> 00:22:14,041 It's not not having a conscience. 516 00:22:14,125 --> 00:22:15,500 It's passion. 517 00:22:15,583 --> 00:22:18,834 ♪ ♪ 518 00:22:18,917 --> 00:22:19,834 When I was hired, 519 00:22:19,917 --> 00:22:21,208 there was a meeting that took place 520 00:22:21,291 --> 00:22:22,291 where all the managers were there, 521 00:22:22,375 --> 00:22:24,458 and, basically, everybody was yelled and ridiculed 522 00:22:24,542 --> 00:22:26,709 and screamed at for the lack of sales. 523 00:22:26,792 --> 00:22:29,208 They were abysmal, basically. They're nonexistent. 524 00:22:29,291 --> 00:22:31,750 It's all on the rep 525 00:22:31,834 --> 00:22:36,166 to ensure that this drug starts getting prescribed. 526 00:22:36,250 --> 00:22:38,417 And none of it's doable... [chuckles] 527 00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:40,667 Unless you break the rules. 528 00:22:40,750 --> 00:22:44,583 But to tell the truth-- this job was made for me. 529 00:22:44,667 --> 00:22:47,333 I mean, I was raised in a family 530 00:22:47,417 --> 00:22:49,750 where you don't cry... 531 00:22:49,834 --> 00:22:53,208 you don't lose, you don't take off work, 532 00:22:53,291 --> 00:22:55,917 you don't miss school, you are not sick, you know, 533 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,250 and you get the job done. 534 00:22:59,333 --> 00:23:02,208 [Billy Joel's "My Life"] 535 00:23:02,291 --> 00:23:04,583 [upbeat '70s rock music] 536 00:23:04,667 --> 00:23:07,166 ♪ ♪ 537 00:23:07,250 --> 00:23:10,917 I grew up in a lower-class, middle-class neighborhood 538 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,875 way out on Long Island-- 539 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:14,291 a small town called King's Park. 540 00:23:14,375 --> 00:23:17,041 - ♪ I don't need you to worry for me ♪ 541 00:23:17,125 --> 00:23:18,917 ♪ 'Cause I'm all right ♪ 542 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,583 - There was a lot going on in my house. 543 00:23:20,667 --> 00:23:22,125 Wasn't a place to have friends over. 544 00:23:22,208 --> 00:23:25,792 - ♪ I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home ♪ 545 00:23:25,875 --> 00:23:27,500 - Never knew what kind of yelling and screaming 546 00:23:27,583 --> 00:23:28,959 and fighting was gonna take place. 547 00:23:29,041 --> 00:23:31,917 - ♪ I don't care what you say anymore ♪ 548 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:33,792 ♪ This is my life ♪ 549 00:23:33,875 --> 00:23:35,291 - I got a bachelor's in psychology, 550 00:23:35,375 --> 00:23:36,583 a master's in social work. 551 00:23:36,667 --> 00:23:38,709 - ♪ Go ahead with your own life ♪ 552 00:23:38,792 --> 00:23:40,375 ♪ Leave me alone ♪ 553 00:23:40,458 --> 00:23:41,583 - I said, "You know, I'm gonna go work 554 00:23:41,667 --> 00:23:44,250 for the best school that I can find." 555 00:23:44,333 --> 00:23:46,917 And I did a search, and a private school came up 556 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:48,417 in Boca Raton. 557 00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:50,458 - ♪ I never said I was a victim... ♪ 558 00:23:50,542 --> 00:23:51,959 - I did phys ed for two years. 559 00:23:52,041 --> 00:23:54,917 After that, I was a guidance counselor. 560 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,166 It was a very small salary, 561 00:23:56,250 --> 00:23:57,750 but I was hanging out with kids all day, 562 00:23:57,834 --> 00:23:58,792 doing what I love. 563 00:23:58,875 --> 00:24:01,125 - ♪ Don't get me wrong ♪ 564 00:24:01,208 --> 00:24:03,000 [music fades] 565 00:24:03,083 --> 00:24:05,792 - The problem with working at this school 566 00:24:05,875 --> 00:24:09,709 was that I put myself around very wealthy people-- 567 00:24:09,792 --> 00:24:12,959 all affluent, I mean, beyond affluent. 568 00:24:13,041 --> 00:24:15,458 And I went out to the parking lot one day, 569 00:24:15,542 --> 00:24:16,500 and I went to the parent 570 00:24:16,583 --> 00:24:18,125 who was driving a Bentley convertible, 571 00:24:18,208 --> 00:24:19,959 and he was smoking a cigar, and I said, 572 00:24:20,041 --> 00:24:21,959 "Sir, you know, we have a no-smoking policy here." 573 00:24:22,041 --> 00:24:23,583 Can you kindly put that out?" 574 00:24:23,667 --> 00:24:24,667 And he took a puff. 575 00:24:24,750 --> 00:24:26,625 He blew it right in my face, in my eyes and said, 576 00:24:26,709 --> 00:24:28,709 "Petty rules from petty people." 577 00:24:30,083 --> 00:24:31,500 It was literally from that moment 578 00:24:31,583 --> 00:24:33,959 that I knew I had to go make some money. 579 00:24:34,041 --> 00:24:35,792 [tense music] 580 00:24:35,875 --> 00:24:37,667 I leveraged some of the relationships 581 00:24:37,750 --> 00:24:39,834 that I had at the school-- a lot of doctors there. 582 00:24:39,917 --> 00:24:41,375 One of the doctors basically said to me, 583 00:24:41,458 --> 00:24:44,125 "Well, I'm a big prescriber of a product 584 00:24:44,208 --> 00:24:47,000 that Eli Lilly promotes," at the time, 585 00:24:47,083 --> 00:24:48,542 "And I can get you an interview." 586 00:24:48,625 --> 00:24:51,667 And I jumped all over it, finished the school year, 587 00:24:51,750 --> 00:24:54,166 and was on my way into pharmaceuticals. 588 00:24:54,250 --> 00:24:56,125 narrator: Working for Eli Lilly, 589 00:24:56,208 --> 00:24:59,458 Burlakoff's first pharmaceutical was Prozac. 590 00:24:59,542 --> 00:25:01,083 He was named rookie of the year 591 00:25:01,166 --> 00:25:03,458 for his big batting average with doctors, 592 00:25:03,542 --> 00:25:06,125 but he was soon fired for handing out free samples 593 00:25:06,208 --> 00:25:10,834 to hundreds of people, including one 16-year-old. 594 00:25:10,917 --> 00:25:13,333 He hooked up next with Johnson & Johnson 595 00:25:13,417 --> 00:25:15,208 and then applied for a sales job 596 00:25:15,291 --> 00:25:18,542 for a company named Cephalon. 597 00:25:18,625 --> 00:25:19,709 - And I never heard of Cephalon. 598 00:25:19,792 --> 00:25:21,875 It's not like Johnson & Johnson or Eli Lilly. 599 00:25:21,959 --> 00:25:25,125 So that was my first taste of small biotech. 600 00:25:25,208 --> 00:25:26,709 And what does "small biotech" mean? 601 00:25:26,792 --> 00:25:27,709 It means a lot. 602 00:25:27,792 --> 00:25:31,417 The payouts, the bonus plan is "uncapped." 603 00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:34,667 It's a very attractive word to a salesperson--"uncapped." 604 00:25:34,750 --> 00:25:37,750 There's no ceiling-- - The more you sell... 605 00:25:37,834 --> 00:25:41,667 - The more you sell, the more you get compensated, period. 606 00:25:41,750 --> 00:25:43,542 By the time I walked out of the interview, 607 00:25:43,625 --> 00:25:46,500 I called my wife and said, "I'm going to a new company." 608 00:25:46,583 --> 00:25:49,041 ♪ ♪ 609 00:25:49,125 --> 00:25:51,041 narrator: The product was Actiq. 610 00:25:51,125 --> 00:25:53,542 It was a lollipop made of fentanyl, 611 00:25:53,625 --> 00:25:57,917 whose potency carried an enormous risk of overdose. 612 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,417 For end-of-life cancer pain, Actiq made sense, 613 00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:03,875 but that was a very small market. 614 00:26:03,959 --> 00:26:05,041 To pump up sales, 615 00:26:05,125 --> 00:26:07,750 Burlakoff had to convince doctors to prescribe it 616 00:26:07,834 --> 00:26:11,375 for much more, from back aches to ankle sprains. 617 00:26:11,458 --> 00:26:12,709 How to do that? 618 00:26:12,792 --> 00:26:16,709 Through bribes packaged as speaker's programs. 619 00:26:16,792 --> 00:26:18,750 - If you have pain that lasts all day... 620 00:26:18,834 --> 00:26:21,917 narrator: Burlakoff would pay doctors to promote the drug. 621 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,667 In exchange, doctors would prescribe more and more. 622 00:26:24,750 --> 00:26:27,792 It was a program that appealed to the founder of Insys, 623 00:26:27,875 --> 00:26:29,458 John Kapoor. 624 00:26:29,542 --> 00:26:30,917 - At the interview, 625 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,750 once I got into the nuances of the program 626 00:26:33,834 --> 00:26:35,208 and what it took to be successful, 627 00:26:35,291 --> 00:26:37,417 he just banged his fist on the table and said, 628 00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:40,542 "That's our next VP of sales," and walked out the door. 629 00:26:40,625 --> 00:26:44,166 ♪ ♪ 630 00:26:47,083 --> 00:26:49,625 - I don't think there's any way to understand 631 00:26:49,709 --> 00:26:51,625 what happened at a company like Insys 632 00:26:51,709 --> 00:26:54,959 without referring to Purdue Pharma. 633 00:26:55,041 --> 00:26:57,041 They were the pioneers. 634 00:26:57,125 --> 00:26:59,458 They went out and had a mission 635 00:26:59,542 --> 00:27:02,667 to change the mind of the medical establishment 636 00:27:02,750 --> 00:27:05,458 about how dangerous these drugs were 637 00:27:05,542 --> 00:27:09,500 and to persuade physicians not to worry too much 638 00:27:09,583 --> 00:27:13,000 about the addictiveness of strong opioids. 639 00:27:13,083 --> 00:27:16,500 Insys used Purdue's playbook. 640 00:27:16,583 --> 00:27:20,417 You have a very strong, powerful product, 641 00:27:20,500 --> 00:27:23,667 and you incentivize your sales reps 642 00:27:23,750 --> 00:27:24,834 with the understanding 643 00:27:24,917 --> 00:27:27,500 that they're going to be compensated based on volume, 644 00:27:27,583 --> 00:27:31,375 and they go out with an incentive to sell. 645 00:27:31,458 --> 00:27:33,834 - For many of you out there, 646 00:27:33,917 --> 00:27:35,291 you have not had the opportunity 647 00:27:35,375 --> 00:27:37,500 to experience the excitement 648 00:27:37,583 --> 00:27:39,834 or, more importantly, the achievement 649 00:27:39,917 --> 00:27:41,375 of being on this stage. 650 00:27:41,458 --> 00:27:44,875 [ominous music] 651 00:27:44,959 --> 00:27:45,959 ♪ ♪ 652 00:27:46,041 --> 00:27:48,834 - So John Kapoor hires Burlakoff, 653 00:27:48,917 --> 00:27:51,000 and he makes him the head of the Southeast district-- 654 00:27:51,083 --> 00:27:53,667 Florida, Alabama. 655 00:27:53,750 --> 00:27:54,667 With Kapoor's permission, 656 00:27:54,750 --> 00:27:56,208 he hires his buddy from college, 657 00:27:56,291 --> 00:27:58,834 this guy called Joe Rowan, as a sales rep. 658 00:27:58,917 --> 00:28:00,792 Rowan has a very close relationship 659 00:28:00,875 --> 00:28:04,417 with a doctor in Mobile, Alabama, named Xiulu Ruan, 660 00:28:04,500 --> 00:28:08,208 and Ruan's known to be running a pill mill operation. 661 00:28:08,291 --> 00:28:12,375 So they start to bribe Ruan in August of 2012. 662 00:28:12,458 --> 00:28:13,542 [engines revving] 663 00:28:13,625 --> 00:28:16,041 And immediately there's a massive turnaround 664 00:28:16,125 --> 00:28:18,709 in the success of the drug in the Southeast. 665 00:28:18,792 --> 00:28:20,083 [engine accelerating] 666 00:28:20,166 --> 00:28:21,709 A pharmaceutical company has a right 667 00:28:21,792 --> 00:28:23,041 to try to educate people, right? 668 00:28:23,125 --> 00:28:24,041 So they do what's called 669 00:28:24,125 --> 00:28:25,667 non-research payments to doctors. 670 00:28:25,750 --> 00:28:27,709 They give you money, and in exchange, 671 00:28:27,792 --> 00:28:31,250 you go and you talk about the drug to colleagues. 672 00:28:31,333 --> 00:28:33,583 By itself, it's not illegal. 673 00:28:33,667 --> 00:28:35,375 What happens with Insys is that 674 00:28:35,458 --> 00:28:39,458 they start paying exorbitantly huge number 675 00:28:39,542 --> 00:28:40,709 of speaker programs, 676 00:28:40,792 --> 00:28:42,417 and they use the speaker program 677 00:28:42,500 --> 00:28:43,917 basically as a way to cover 678 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,250 for the bribes that they're paying. 679 00:28:46,333 --> 00:28:47,542 Kapoor, ultimately, 680 00:28:47,625 --> 00:28:50,417 he invested between $3 million and $4 million a year 681 00:28:50,500 --> 00:28:52,750 on the speaker program at its height. 682 00:28:52,834 --> 00:28:56,458 They were bribing people at that level nationwide. 683 00:28:56,542 --> 00:28:57,917 - So it was basically, 684 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,083 "Here's some money. Write some scripts." 685 00:29:00,166 --> 00:29:01,583 - Yes. 686 00:29:01,667 --> 00:29:04,041 It was actually-- Well, you say "basically." 687 00:29:04,125 --> 00:29:05,750 That word makes me nervous, 688 00:29:05,834 --> 00:29:08,792 because if I said "basically" to Dr. John Kapoor, 689 00:29:08,875 --> 00:29:10,917 he'd say, "Basically, you're fired." 690 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,250 [chuckles] There is no "basically" here. 691 00:29:13,333 --> 00:29:17,083 It's very clear, concise. It's very direct. 692 00:29:17,166 --> 00:29:20,000 - As an entrepreneur, 693 00:29:20,083 --> 00:29:23,417 don't get arrogant, even if you're successful. 694 00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:26,417 You should believe in yourself, 695 00:29:26,500 --> 00:29:30,166 and one important thing is stay humble. 696 00:29:30,250 --> 00:29:33,417 [laughter, upbeat music playing] 697 00:29:33,500 --> 00:29:36,333 - We are so professional! - Oh, are you videotaping this? 698 00:29:36,417 --> 00:29:38,125 [laughter] Turn that shit off! 699 00:29:38,208 --> 00:29:39,667 - What, what-- 700 00:29:39,750 --> 00:29:43,000 [cheering] The best region at Insys! 701 00:29:43,083 --> 00:29:45,291 - ♪ Rack City, bitch, Rack, Rack City, bitch ♪ 702 00:29:45,375 --> 00:29:47,667 ♪ Rack City, bitch, Rack, Rack City, bitch ♪ 703 00:29:47,750 --> 00:29:50,125 ♪ Rack City, bitch, Rack, Rack City, bitch ♪ 704 00:29:50,208 --> 00:29:52,583 ♪ Ten, ten, ten, twenties and them fifties, bitch ♪ 705 00:29:52,667 --> 00:29:54,959 ♪ Rack City, bitch, Rack, Rack City, bitch ♪ 706 00:29:55,041 --> 00:29:57,750 ♪ Rack City, bitch, Rack, Rack City, bitch ♪ 707 00:29:57,834 --> 00:29:59,875 ♪ Rack City, bitch, Rack, Rack City, bitch ♪ 708 00:29:59,959 --> 00:30:02,500 ♪ Ten, ten, ten, twenties and them fifties, bitch ♪ 709 00:30:02,583 --> 00:30:04,792 ♪ I'm a motherfucking star ♪ 710 00:30:04,875 --> 00:30:07,458 - The key to increasing sales of Subsys 711 00:30:07,542 --> 00:30:10,834 was to build a relationship with a doctor. 712 00:30:10,917 --> 00:30:11,959 When you go into the office 713 00:30:12,041 --> 00:30:13,208 and they meet you for the first time, 714 00:30:13,291 --> 00:30:14,667 it's a test. 715 00:30:14,750 --> 00:30:16,166 They're gonna look you in the eye, and they're gonna say, 716 00:30:16,250 --> 00:30:19,208 "Hey, Alec, how you doing? So you have Subsys? 717 00:30:19,291 --> 00:30:20,875 What's that indicated for?" 718 00:30:20,959 --> 00:30:22,125 And you have some reps say, 719 00:30:22,208 --> 00:30:24,333 "Oh, it's indicated for... [mumbling] breakthrough pain," 720 00:30:24,417 --> 00:30:26,000 or they say, "It's indicated for breakthrough pain... 721 00:30:26,083 --> 00:30:27,000 [mumbling] in cancer patients." 722 00:30:27,083 --> 00:30:28,333 Something like that. 723 00:30:28,417 --> 00:30:30,875 My play is I look 'em dead, directly in the eye, 724 00:30:30,959 --> 00:30:32,500 and I laugh, and I go, "Doc, 725 00:30:32,583 --> 00:30:34,792 "you know exactly what this drug's indicated for. 726 00:30:34,875 --> 00:30:36,000 "It's indicated for breakthrough pain 727 00:30:36,083 --> 00:30:39,333 "in cancer patients 18 or older that are opioid tolerant 728 00:30:39,417 --> 00:30:42,625 "on 24-hour, around-the-clock medications. 729 00:30:42,709 --> 00:30:44,000 "Why do you ask me that question? 730 00:30:44,083 --> 00:30:45,041 "You know I can't talk to you 731 00:30:45,125 --> 00:30:46,959 "about anything outside of that indication. 732 00:30:47,041 --> 00:30:48,709 "However, you also know you are the doctor 733 00:30:48,792 --> 00:30:51,500 "and you can do whatever you damn well please. 734 00:30:51,583 --> 00:30:54,166 So is this game over yet? Are we done?" 735 00:30:54,250 --> 00:30:55,583 And they go, "Hey, how can I help you? 736 00:30:55,667 --> 00:30:57,208 What can I sign for? What's your sample?" 737 00:30:57,291 --> 00:30:59,375 Blah, blah, blah. Or, "You have 30 seconds." 738 00:30:59,458 --> 00:31:01,667 I love when they say I have 30 seconds. 739 00:31:01,750 --> 00:31:03,166 "I have 30 seconds what? 740 00:31:03,250 --> 00:31:05,041 "To sell you a schedule II opioid? 741 00:31:05,125 --> 00:31:07,250 "'Cause I'll probably do it, and the sad part is 742 00:31:07,333 --> 00:31:09,750 "you'll probably have no idea how to manage the side effects, 743 00:31:09,834 --> 00:31:12,667 "the drug interactions, the precautions, the warnings, 744 00:31:12,750 --> 00:31:13,834 "the respiratory depression, 745 00:31:13,917 --> 00:31:15,834 "and everything else that's gonna come along with it. 746 00:31:15,917 --> 00:31:18,041 "So let's both do each other a favor. 747 00:31:18,125 --> 00:31:20,041 "You name the restaurant. You name the time. 748 00:31:20,125 --> 00:31:21,500 "You name the date. 749 00:31:21,583 --> 00:31:24,667 "I don't care where it is. I don't care what it costs. 750 00:31:24,750 --> 00:31:26,875 "I will be there. 751 00:31:26,959 --> 00:31:30,041 "You stay as long as you want or as short as you want, 752 00:31:30,125 --> 00:31:33,250 "but I can't sell this drug to you in 30 seconds. 753 00:31:33,333 --> 00:31:34,583 It's irresponsible." 754 00:31:34,667 --> 00:31:36,750 Now, back then, did I really care about being responsible? 755 00:31:36,834 --> 00:31:38,625 No. 756 00:31:38,709 --> 00:31:40,583 - So, look, Alec Burlakoff's a lot to take. 757 00:31:40,667 --> 00:31:43,709 I mean, he is a car salesman on steroids. 758 00:31:43,792 --> 00:31:46,709 But there's an honesty to what he's saying that is-- 759 00:31:46,792 --> 00:31:49,250 a frankness to what he's saying that's unique. 760 00:31:49,333 --> 00:31:52,125 - Cut me off if I'm rambling, 'cause I know I am, 761 00:31:52,208 --> 00:31:54,125 but there's four categories. 762 00:31:54,208 --> 00:31:56,917 There's blue, yellow, green, red. 763 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:58,875 Blue is analytical. - Hmm! 764 00:31:58,959 --> 00:32:01,625 - That means if you don't have a scientific, double-blind, 765 00:32:01,709 --> 00:32:03,917 placebo-controlled study with a lot of patients 766 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,125 that proves your data is right, you're not getting a sale. 767 00:32:08,208 --> 00:32:09,625 What does that mean to me? 768 00:32:09,709 --> 00:32:11,792 It means I don't call on analytical doctors 769 00:32:11,875 --> 00:32:13,709 'cause I don't have any studies like that. 770 00:32:13,792 --> 00:32:16,792 Then you have your yellow. That's your amiable doctor. 771 00:32:16,875 --> 00:32:18,166 They want to be friends with everybody. 772 00:32:18,250 --> 00:32:19,166 They want everybody to love them... 773 00:32:19,250 --> 00:32:20,208 - You're the best! 774 00:32:20,291 --> 00:32:21,458 - Which means if you're selling a drug 775 00:32:21,542 --> 00:32:23,000 and there's five other competitors, 776 00:32:23,083 --> 00:32:24,834 they just go on a rotation. 777 00:32:24,917 --> 00:32:27,000 "This one gets Subsys. This one gets Lazanda. 778 00:32:27,083 --> 00:32:29,291 This one gets Abstral." And then we go back around. 779 00:32:29,375 --> 00:32:30,458 Guess what. 780 00:32:30,542 --> 00:32:33,083 They're out because they're just sharing the wealth. 781 00:32:33,166 --> 00:32:34,917 So now you got your green, 782 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,625 which is kind of like your earthy type of doctor. 783 00:32:37,709 --> 00:32:39,125 - Renewable. 784 00:32:39,208 --> 00:32:40,750 - Like, God forbid you do a lunch and not recycle. 785 00:32:40,834 --> 00:32:42,083 You'll never go back there again. 786 00:32:42,166 --> 00:32:43,291 But then you got your reds. 787 00:32:43,375 --> 00:32:45,125 Reds are your businessmen. 788 00:32:45,208 --> 00:32:47,959 They own their practice. They run their practice. 789 00:32:48,041 --> 00:32:49,792 They manage their books. - [grumbling] 790 00:32:49,875 --> 00:32:52,000 - They see a crazy number of patients. 791 00:32:52,083 --> 00:32:54,083 It's all about efficiency. 792 00:32:54,166 --> 00:32:55,959 In fact, when you as the rep walk in there, 793 00:32:56,041 --> 00:32:58,250 they run to you with a pen to sign, 794 00:32:58,333 --> 00:32:59,875 and they're running away at the same time 795 00:32:59,959 --> 00:33:02,083 because they don't have time to talk with you 796 00:33:02,166 --> 00:33:04,500 because they're treating patients, making money. 797 00:33:04,583 --> 00:33:06,166 And if he's a red and he's a businessman, 798 00:33:06,250 --> 00:33:08,667 I got to show him the WIFM. 799 00:33:08,750 --> 00:33:10,542 What is the WIFM? 800 00:33:13,041 --> 00:33:15,375 [cash register bell dings] That's all they're thinking-- 801 00:33:15,458 --> 00:33:16,542 "What's in it for me?" 802 00:33:16,625 --> 00:33:19,250 "Buddy, will you stop talking about the freakin' drug? 803 00:33:19,333 --> 00:33:21,166 "Will you stop talking about saving the patient? 804 00:33:21,250 --> 00:33:23,000 "Will you stop talking about the science, 805 00:33:23,083 --> 00:33:24,834 "and will you please tell me what's in it for me? 806 00:33:24,917 --> 00:33:27,333 Because you're wasting my time." 807 00:33:27,417 --> 00:33:28,709 Those are the reds. 808 00:33:28,792 --> 00:33:30,500 Those are the doctors you want to find, 809 00:33:30,583 --> 00:33:32,208 and those are the doctors you want to move in, 810 00:33:32,291 --> 00:33:34,709 live, eat, and breathe with. 811 00:33:34,792 --> 00:33:36,667 It was a seven-day, 24-hour-a-day job. 812 00:33:36,750 --> 00:33:37,875 They call me at 3:00 in the morning, 813 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:39,083 they want to go out, I go. 814 00:33:39,166 --> 00:33:41,792 They want me to go to temple on Saturday, I go. 815 00:33:41,875 --> 00:33:44,875 They want me to go to church on Sunday, I go. 816 00:33:44,959 --> 00:33:46,792 You go through the step-by-step process. 817 00:33:46,875 --> 00:33:48,959 Okay, did I take him to dinner? Check. 818 00:33:49,041 --> 00:33:51,041 Did I take him to a hockey game? Check. 819 00:33:51,125 --> 00:33:53,375 Did I take him to a nightclub? Check. 820 00:33:53,458 --> 00:33:55,166 - ♪ Shake up the dice ♪ 821 00:33:55,250 --> 00:33:56,250 ♪ Throw down your ice ♪ 822 00:33:56,333 --> 00:33:58,083 ♪ Bet it all, playa, fuck the price ♪ 823 00:33:58,166 --> 00:34:00,583 ♪ Money ain't a thing, throw it out like rice ♪ 824 00:34:00,667 --> 00:34:03,333 ♪ Been around the world cop the same thing twice ♪ 825 00:34:03,417 --> 00:34:05,000 ♪ Rub on my tits, squeeze on my ass ♪ 826 00:34:05,083 --> 00:34:06,375 ♪ Give me some, unh! ♪ 827 00:34:06,458 --> 00:34:07,667 ♪ Step on the gas ♪ 828 00:34:07,750 --> 00:34:09,583 ♪ Pop the cork and roll up the hash ♪ 829 00:34:09,667 --> 00:34:12,709 ♪ You know what we about, sex, drugs, and cash ♪ 830 00:34:12,792 --> 00:34:14,250 - I mean, this is uncapped bonuses. 831 00:34:14,333 --> 00:34:15,458 This is your opportunity. 832 00:34:15,542 --> 00:34:17,208 You wanted to put the money in the doctor's pocket. 833 00:34:17,291 --> 00:34:18,709 Didn't care about anything else. 834 00:34:18,792 --> 00:34:20,750 Just wanted that bonus. 835 00:34:20,834 --> 00:34:22,250 ♪ ♪ 836 00:34:22,333 --> 00:34:25,417 - ♪ East Coast, West Coast, worldwide... ♪ 837 00:34:25,500 --> 00:34:28,291 - They start the bribe scheme in the summer of 2012. 838 00:34:28,375 --> 00:34:30,333 By the beginning of 2013, 839 00:34:30,417 --> 00:34:32,959 as the company is launching its first IPO, 840 00:34:33,041 --> 00:34:36,750 they can now go and say that the drug is profitable. 841 00:34:36,834 --> 00:34:38,041 And so right away, 842 00:34:38,125 --> 00:34:39,750 investors look at it and said, "Something's going on here." 843 00:34:39,834 --> 00:34:40,917 and they started investing. 844 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:42,625 By the end of the year, 845 00:34:42,709 --> 00:34:45,083 Insys was the most popular pharmaceutical drug 846 00:34:45,166 --> 00:34:46,166 to invest in. 847 00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:48,917 It was the most popular IPO on Wall Street. 848 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:50,750 - ♪ Mafioso, that's how this thing go ♪ 849 00:34:50,834 --> 00:34:54,375 - The CEO, Mike Babich, was being interviewed on MSNBC. 850 00:34:54,458 --> 00:34:57,583 By the end of 2014, the market cap was in the billions. 851 00:34:57,667 --> 00:35:00,125 2015, Subsys was one 852 00:35:00,208 --> 00:35:02,625 of the top five most profitable opioid products 853 00:35:02,709 --> 00:35:04,834 in the United States. 854 00:35:04,917 --> 00:35:08,458 - That product that we launched three years ago today, 855 00:35:08,542 --> 00:35:11,458 this year will do close to $300 million. 856 00:35:11,542 --> 00:35:13,333 - You can make a lot of money 857 00:35:13,417 --> 00:35:16,917 getting doctors to prescribe a medication 858 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,166 to people who don't need it, 859 00:35:19,250 --> 00:35:22,709 who they're not just gonna lose a couple thousand dollars. 860 00:35:22,792 --> 00:35:25,250 They're gonna lose their life. 861 00:35:25,333 --> 00:35:29,000 [music fades] 862 00:35:29,083 --> 00:35:32,125 [birds singing] 863 00:35:32,208 --> 00:35:35,125 [Muzak playing over phone] 864 00:35:35,208 --> 00:35:37,917 ♪ ♪ 865 00:35:47,583 --> 00:35:49,583 [laughter] 866 00:35:52,792 --> 00:35:54,125 - So one whole piece of the case 867 00:35:54,208 --> 00:35:56,000 is we're gonna bribe doctors 868 00:35:56,083 --> 00:35:58,834 to write as many scripts as we possibly can, 869 00:35:58,917 --> 00:36:01,333 but then they very quickly realized 870 00:36:01,417 --> 00:36:04,208 written scripts without payment doesn't help anybody. 871 00:36:04,291 --> 00:36:05,959 - The drug's expensive. - Very expensive. 872 00:36:06,041 --> 00:36:08,542 So there's different dosages of the medication. 873 00:36:08,625 --> 00:36:11,166 For the highest dosage, 1,600 micrograms, 874 00:36:11,250 --> 00:36:13,125 at times, I believe it was going 875 00:36:13,208 --> 00:36:15,166 for more than $15,000 a month. 876 00:36:15,250 --> 00:36:16,834 And insurance companies, 877 00:36:16,917 --> 00:36:18,834 Medicare in particular, have rules. 878 00:36:18,917 --> 00:36:21,792 And in this case, Subsys, you know, 879 00:36:21,875 --> 00:36:24,291 has to be prescribed for the treatment 880 00:36:24,375 --> 00:36:28,917 of breakthrough cancer pain in cancer patients. 881 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,709 - If you're an insurer and you're trying to figure out 882 00:36:30,792 --> 00:36:32,875 whether or not you're willing to pay for a drug, 883 00:36:32,959 --> 00:36:34,709 one of the things you're gonna look at is, 884 00:36:34,792 --> 00:36:36,875 are they prescribing it for what the label says it's for? 885 00:36:36,959 --> 00:36:37,875 Right? 886 00:36:37,959 --> 00:36:38,917 "The label says it's for cancer patients. 887 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:40,500 "This patient doesn't have cancer. 888 00:36:40,583 --> 00:36:42,000 Why are we paying for this?" Right? 889 00:36:42,083 --> 00:36:44,875 And so they started misleading them. 890 00:36:44,959 --> 00:36:47,250 - What they set up is this Insys reimbursement center, 891 00:36:47,333 --> 00:36:49,500 the IRC, and what they would do 892 00:36:49,583 --> 00:36:52,000 is they would work with doctor's offices 893 00:36:52,083 --> 00:36:54,750 to get prescriptions for Subsys approved. 894 00:36:54,834 --> 00:36:56,041 People would go, they would clock in, 895 00:36:56,125 --> 00:36:58,875 and they would put the headset on and get assigned files, 896 00:36:58,959 --> 00:37:00,333 and they would just call and lie. 897 00:37:03,834 --> 00:37:05,333 The insurance company would say, 898 00:37:05,417 --> 00:37:07,375 "Are you calling from Dr. Smith's office?" 899 00:37:11,166 --> 00:37:13,083 "Oh, yes. I'm right here in sunny Florida." 900 00:37:13,166 --> 00:37:15,959 But really, they blocked their outgoing caller ID. 901 00:37:16,041 --> 00:37:18,625 They were in Arizona in a cubicle the whole time. 902 00:37:23,625 --> 00:37:25,250 So a patient goes to see a doctor, 903 00:37:25,333 --> 00:37:27,417 the doctor prescribes Subsys, 904 00:37:27,500 --> 00:37:31,417 somehow the office at the IRC needs to know enough 905 00:37:31,500 --> 00:37:33,417 about the patient to be able to call 906 00:37:33,500 --> 00:37:35,208 on the patient's behalf and lie. 907 00:37:35,291 --> 00:37:37,500 So the sales reps had to convince the doctors 908 00:37:37,583 --> 00:37:39,750 to agree to give them access 909 00:37:39,834 --> 00:37:41,500 to patients' personal information 910 00:37:41,583 --> 00:37:43,959 and various pieces of information 911 00:37:44,041 --> 00:37:45,667 about their diagnoses. 912 00:37:49,083 --> 00:37:51,625 Let's say a doctor just wrote Subsys for back pain 913 00:37:51,709 --> 00:37:53,000 or for neck pain. 914 00:37:53,083 --> 00:37:55,166 What Insys did was say... 915 00:37:58,375 --> 00:38:00,458 One of the tactics that they figured out worked 916 00:38:00,542 --> 00:38:02,041 was talk really fast... 917 00:38:07,250 --> 00:38:08,792 Give them a lot of information at once, 918 00:38:08,875 --> 00:38:10,709 sound like you know what you're talking about. 919 00:38:16,667 --> 00:38:18,500 And they would spin these stories 920 00:38:18,583 --> 00:38:20,583 that just weren't true. 921 00:39:12,125 --> 00:39:14,250 [dramatic music] 922 00:39:14,333 --> 00:39:15,250 They had a list. 923 00:39:15,333 --> 00:39:16,250 If you're calling Humana, 924 00:39:16,333 --> 00:39:18,000 these are the lies you need to say. 925 00:39:18,083 --> 00:39:20,083 If you're calling Blue Cross Blue Shield, 926 00:39:20,166 --> 00:39:21,709 say this. 927 00:39:21,792 --> 00:39:24,792 And then insurance companies, they used the algorithm. 928 00:39:24,875 --> 00:39:26,875 So, if the answer triggered the right way, 929 00:39:26,959 --> 00:39:28,875 it would lead them down a decision tree 930 00:39:28,959 --> 00:39:30,375 to approve or not approve. 931 00:39:30,458 --> 00:39:32,625 And Insys knew this and took advantage of this. 932 00:39:35,333 --> 00:39:36,959 - Yes, um... 933 00:39:45,458 --> 00:39:47,250 - So you'll hear these callers anticipate 934 00:39:47,333 --> 00:39:50,250 not only the next question, but the next three questions. 935 00:39:50,333 --> 00:39:52,000 - So if Insys knows the algorithm, 936 00:39:52,083 --> 00:39:53,250 they've, like, broken the code. 937 00:39:53,333 --> 00:39:55,208 - They've broken the code. They cracked the code. 938 00:39:55,291 --> 00:39:57,250 And they could call all day, every day 939 00:39:57,333 --> 00:39:58,583 and get these approved. 940 00:39:58,667 --> 00:40:02,208 - Okay, the medication's been approved until one year... 941 00:40:02,291 --> 00:40:03,458 - It's approved. It's approved. 942 00:40:03,542 --> 00:40:07,208 - The request is approved through March 13. 943 00:40:07,291 --> 00:40:10,458 - So you can go ahead and call it in to the pharmacy. 944 00:40:10,542 --> 00:40:12,417 - This was something driven from John Kapoor, 945 00:40:12,500 --> 00:40:16,250 driven at the top--what the success rate was on the IRC, 946 00:40:16,333 --> 00:40:17,667 how they were doing. 947 00:40:19,667 --> 00:40:22,125 - The lies, the deceit. 948 00:40:22,208 --> 00:40:24,875 There's nothing they wouldn't say to get the drug approved. 949 00:40:24,959 --> 00:40:27,083 And Dr. Kapoor's philosophy was very simple. 950 00:40:27,166 --> 00:40:30,083 "The doctor prescribes it. He puts pen to pad. 951 00:40:30,166 --> 00:40:32,250 "That patient will get the drug. 952 00:40:32,333 --> 00:40:33,750 Do you understand me?" 953 00:40:33,834 --> 00:40:34,917 - John Kapoor insisted 954 00:40:35,041 --> 00:40:37,834 that their approvals be something like 90% to 100%, 955 00:40:37,917 --> 00:40:41,458 which according to the testimony was way beyond 956 00:40:41,542 --> 00:40:43,667 any kind of industry goal or standard. 957 00:40:43,750 --> 00:40:45,291 - I've been through this before. 958 00:40:45,375 --> 00:40:48,125 I'm looking at this, and I'm going, "Okay. 959 00:40:48,208 --> 00:40:49,959 Clearly, we're breaking the law." 960 00:40:50,041 --> 00:40:52,000 - That medication's intended for the use and management 961 00:40:52,083 --> 00:40:54,125 of breakthrough pain in cancer patients. 962 00:40:54,208 --> 00:40:56,959 Dr. Volking is treating the breakthrough pain 963 00:40:57,041 --> 00:40:59,417 as 338.29. 964 00:40:59,500 --> 00:41:02,417 [serious music] 965 00:41:02,500 --> 00:41:09,500 ♪ ♪ 966 00:41:25,458 --> 00:41:28,500 - The opioid crisis today is just that. 967 00:41:28,583 --> 00:41:31,000 It's a crisis. We all have to work together. 968 00:41:31,083 --> 00:41:35,125 Because our prescriptions by 2012 were over 250 million. 969 00:41:35,208 --> 00:41:37,667 250 million in the United States. 970 00:41:37,750 --> 00:41:39,375 Everybody who's registered 971 00:41:39,458 --> 00:41:41,959 to handle a controlled substance 972 00:41:42,041 --> 00:41:44,375 has a requirement under the law 973 00:41:44,458 --> 00:41:47,583 to maintain effective controls against diversion. 974 00:41:47,667 --> 00:41:49,125 Manufacturers-- "Well, we just make the drugs. 975 00:41:49,208 --> 00:41:50,333 We don't prescribe 'em." 976 00:41:50,417 --> 00:41:52,500 Distributors--"Well, we're just logistic companies. 977 00:41:52,583 --> 00:41:54,625 We don't prescribe or dispense." 978 00:41:54,709 --> 00:41:56,500 Pharmacies--"We just take valid prescriptions 979 00:41:56,583 --> 00:41:57,667 "written by doctors 980 00:41:57,750 --> 00:41:59,542 and dispense the medications as ordered." 981 00:41:59,625 --> 00:42:02,875 Doctors--"We're just treating our patients." 982 00:42:02,959 --> 00:42:04,291 And then it goes to the patients. 983 00:42:04,375 --> 00:42:06,583 By the way, those are the guys that are dying. 984 00:42:08,458 --> 00:42:11,041 And everybody's pointing the fingers at each other, 985 00:42:11,125 --> 00:42:13,583 but all downstream towards the doctors. 986 00:42:13,667 --> 00:42:14,709 I don't want you to think 987 00:42:14,792 --> 00:42:16,542 that I have a problem with doctors. 988 00:42:16,625 --> 00:42:19,250 In fact, most of the doctors, the vast majority of doctors 989 00:42:19,333 --> 00:42:21,709 are doing exactly what they're supposed to do. 990 00:42:21,792 --> 00:42:23,208 But there are bad doctors 991 00:42:23,291 --> 00:42:25,083 that were doing really bad things 992 00:42:25,166 --> 00:42:26,709 with controlled substances. 993 00:42:26,792 --> 00:42:29,041 I can't stop them. 994 00:42:29,125 --> 00:42:30,375 But the pharmacists can, 995 00:42:30,458 --> 00:42:32,458 because the pharmacists don't have to fill the prescriptions 996 00:42:32,542 --> 00:42:34,417 But if the pharmacist continues 997 00:42:34,500 --> 00:42:35,709 to fill the prescriptions, 998 00:42:35,792 --> 00:42:38,875 the Controlled Substances Act supplies a check 999 00:42:38,959 --> 00:42:40,792 at the distributor-to-pharmacy level. 1000 00:42:40,875 --> 00:42:43,583 ♪ ♪ 1001 00:42:43,667 --> 00:42:45,125 - When the manufacturer makes the pill, 1002 00:42:45,208 --> 00:42:47,250 they're not allowed to sell it directly to a pharmacy, 1003 00:42:47,333 --> 00:42:49,917 so they sell it to one of these three companies 1004 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:51,208 almost exclusively-- 1005 00:42:51,291 --> 00:42:55,417 McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen. 1006 00:42:55,500 --> 00:42:57,250 And those three companies own 1007 00:42:57,333 --> 00:43:01,250 something along the lines of 90% of the opioid market. 1008 00:43:01,333 --> 00:43:03,542 - When I first started doing this investigation, 1009 00:43:03,625 --> 00:43:05,709 I had never heard of these companies. 1010 00:43:05,792 --> 00:43:08,208 I had never heard of McKesson. 1011 00:43:08,291 --> 00:43:09,375 They are not only 1012 00:43:09,458 --> 00:43:11,333 the largest drug distribution company in America, 1013 00:43:11,417 --> 00:43:15,041 they are the fifth-largest company in the United States. 1014 00:43:15,125 --> 00:43:18,083 These companies keep very low profiles. 1015 00:43:18,166 --> 00:43:21,542 They don't want to be in the press, 1016 00:43:21,625 --> 00:43:22,667 and they do a very good job 1017 00:43:22,750 --> 00:43:25,125 of just staying off the radar screen. 1018 00:43:25,208 --> 00:43:27,041 ♪ ♪ 1019 00:43:27,125 --> 00:43:29,792 - Hello? Can I help you? - How you doing? 1020 00:43:29,875 --> 00:43:32,583 - What are you shooting? - The trucks coming in and out. 1021 00:43:32,667 --> 00:43:35,291 - What are you shooting for? - It's for a documentary. 1022 00:43:35,375 --> 00:43:37,583 - Nope. Cannot do that. Nope, not here. 1023 00:43:39,875 --> 00:43:42,125 - The distributors, the big three-- 1024 00:43:42,208 --> 00:43:43,959 when an order comes in, 1025 00:43:44,041 --> 00:43:46,458 they have an obligation to have a system in place 1026 00:43:46,542 --> 00:43:49,959 that identifies whether the order is suspicious. 1027 00:43:50,041 --> 00:43:51,208 If the order is suspicious, 1028 00:43:51,291 --> 00:43:53,625 they need to stop the shipment. 1029 00:43:53,709 --> 00:43:55,625 - So, if you see a pharmacy 1030 00:43:55,709 --> 00:43:59,959 that's been ordering 5,000 tablets for the last two years 1031 00:44:00,041 --> 00:44:04,166 and now they're ordering 40,000, then 60,000, 1032 00:44:04,250 --> 00:44:08,000 then 100,000, that's suspicious. 1033 00:44:08,083 --> 00:44:12,667 You--there's no way you could say it's not suspicious. 1034 00:44:12,750 --> 00:44:14,834 But what we saw was 1035 00:44:14,917 --> 00:44:19,166 distributors not filing suspicious orders 1036 00:44:19,250 --> 00:44:21,667 and then continuing to ship. 1037 00:44:21,750 --> 00:44:26,500 ♪ ♪ 1038 00:44:26,583 --> 00:44:28,709 narrator: When distributors recklessly filled hundreds 1039 00:44:28,792 --> 00:44:30,792 of suspicious orders, 1040 00:44:30,875 --> 00:44:33,166 the DEA had the ability to shut them down 1041 00:44:33,250 --> 00:44:35,333 with a powerful weapon-- 1042 00:44:35,417 --> 00:44:38,166 an ISO, or Immediate Suspension Order. 1043 00:44:38,250 --> 00:44:40,375 Nobody used that weapon more effectively 1044 00:44:40,458 --> 00:44:43,500 than a DEA lawyer named Linden Barber. 1045 00:44:43,583 --> 00:44:46,333 - DEA's regulation calls on distributors 1046 00:44:46,417 --> 00:44:49,375 to detect and report suspicious orders to DEA. 1047 00:44:49,458 --> 00:44:51,500 Those are, according to the regulations, 1048 00:44:51,583 --> 00:44:54,041 orders of unusual size, unusual frequency, 1049 00:44:54,125 --> 00:44:55,000 or those that... 1050 00:44:55,083 --> 00:44:56,041 narrator: One of the top lawyers 1051 00:44:56,125 --> 00:44:58,166 at the DEA's Drug Diversion Division, 1052 00:44:58,250 --> 00:45:01,041 Linden Barber worked closely with Joe Rannazzisi 1053 00:45:01,125 --> 00:45:03,458 in preventing companies from profiting 1054 00:45:03,542 --> 00:45:05,750 from opioid abuse. 1055 00:45:05,834 --> 00:45:09,375 - He was doing a lot of work with us, 1056 00:45:09,458 --> 00:45:12,250 trying to get the industry in compliance. 1057 00:45:12,333 --> 00:45:14,208 - Linden would be the first to get angry 1058 00:45:14,291 --> 00:45:16,375 about how many people died. 1059 00:45:16,458 --> 00:45:19,041 He had that drive, that push to file all these cases, 1060 00:45:19,125 --> 00:45:20,375 to cowboy it. 1061 00:45:20,458 --> 00:45:22,667 narrator: Late in 2007, 1062 00:45:22,750 --> 00:45:24,834 Barber, Rannazzisi, and the DEA 1063 00:45:24,917 --> 00:45:27,291 set their sights on Cardinal Health. 1064 00:45:27,375 --> 00:45:29,458 They shut down a key distribution center 1065 00:45:29,542 --> 00:45:30,959 with an ISO 1066 00:45:31,041 --> 00:45:34,083 for failing to report hundreds of blatantly suspicious orders 1067 00:45:34,166 --> 00:45:36,417 of narcotics. 1068 00:45:36,500 --> 00:45:39,291 A $130 billion company, 1069 00:45:39,375 --> 00:45:43,875 Cardinal settled the case by paying a $34 million fine. 1070 00:45:43,959 --> 00:45:45,375 In the final deal, 1071 00:45:45,458 --> 00:45:47,542 Cardinal did not admit wrongdoing, 1072 00:45:47,625 --> 00:45:52,250 and damaging evidence of public harm was suppressed. 1073 00:45:52,333 --> 00:45:54,709 - I didn't want to settle these cases. 1074 00:45:54,792 --> 00:45:57,542 I wanted to go in front of a court. 1075 00:45:57,625 --> 00:46:00,041 I wanted to present all the evidence. 1076 00:46:00,125 --> 00:46:01,917 I wanted to be transparent. 1077 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:03,917 A $34 million fine does nothing. 1078 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:05,709 That's a traffic ticket. 1079 00:46:05,792 --> 00:46:08,291 $34 million for Cardinal is nothing. 1080 00:46:08,375 --> 00:46:09,458 - It didn't take very long 1081 00:46:09,542 --> 00:46:12,458 before they basically were turning around 1082 00:46:12,542 --> 00:46:14,291 and doing the same thing. 1083 00:46:14,375 --> 00:46:17,750 Cardinal was distributing millions of pills 1084 00:46:17,834 --> 00:46:22,041 to two CVS pharmacies in Sanford, Florida, 1085 00:46:22,125 --> 00:46:23,917 right on the edge of a highway. 1086 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,291 So people would cruise in, get their drugs, 1087 00:46:26,375 --> 00:46:28,959 and be out in, like, no time at all. 1088 00:46:29,041 --> 00:46:31,333 narrator: As part of the CVS case, 1089 00:46:31,417 --> 00:46:35,625 the DEA started investigating Cardinal once more. 1090 00:46:35,709 --> 00:46:38,959 Angered by a second Rannazzisi-led investigation, 1091 00:46:39,041 --> 00:46:41,875 Cardinal started an influence campaign, 1092 00:46:41,959 --> 00:46:44,792 using former Department of Justice officials 1093 00:46:44,875 --> 00:46:46,834 to lobby their old colleagues. 1094 00:46:48,583 --> 00:46:51,166 - You know, the revolving door and the swamp 1095 00:46:51,250 --> 00:46:53,792 is alive and well in Washington. 1096 00:46:53,875 --> 00:46:55,667 [all chuckling] 1097 00:46:55,750 --> 00:46:57,834 Jamie Gorelick was the Deputy Attorney General 1098 00:46:57,917 --> 00:46:59,166 during the Clinton administration, 1099 00:46:59,250 --> 00:47:01,208 so she was the second-highest-ranking 1100 00:47:01,291 --> 00:47:03,834 law enforcement official in the United States. 1101 00:47:03,917 --> 00:47:05,166 After she left, 1102 00:47:05,250 --> 00:47:08,166 she joined one of the biggest law firms in town here. 1103 00:47:08,250 --> 00:47:11,667 She is a exceedingly powerful woman, 1104 00:47:11,750 --> 00:47:15,166 and Cardinal Health had retained her. 1105 00:47:15,250 --> 00:47:18,792 She reached out to the then-Deputy Attorney General, 1106 00:47:18,875 --> 00:47:21,792 James Cole, and asked him 1107 00:47:21,875 --> 00:47:25,166 if they could take a look at this case-- 1108 00:47:25,250 --> 00:47:28,000 you know, "Did they really have to come after them that hard? 1109 00:47:28,083 --> 00:47:29,625 "They're trying to do the right thing. 1110 00:47:29,709 --> 00:47:32,375 Is there a way that we can talk about this?" 1111 00:47:32,458 --> 00:47:34,709 And that got back to Joe, 1112 00:47:34,792 --> 00:47:37,875 that Jamie Gorelick had been involved. 1113 00:47:37,959 --> 00:47:39,709 - Look, as much as I understand 1114 00:47:39,792 --> 00:47:44,417 that Jamie Gorelick is a fine attorney, 1115 00:47:44,500 --> 00:47:46,250 I don't think she knows the Controlled Substances Act 1116 00:47:46,333 --> 00:47:47,583 better than me. 1117 00:47:47,667 --> 00:47:49,375 ♪ ♪ 1118 00:47:49,458 --> 00:47:51,417 narrator: In a series of calls and letters, 1119 00:47:51,500 --> 00:47:55,208 Gorelick pressed Cole to prevent the DEA from acting. 1120 00:47:55,291 --> 00:47:57,333 "Immediate suspension," wrote Gorelick, 1121 00:47:57,417 --> 00:48:00,000 "is a drastic and punitive enforcement tool. 1122 00:48:00,083 --> 00:48:01,583 "We would appreciate the opportunity 1123 00:48:01,667 --> 00:48:03,625 "to discuss this urgent matter with you 1124 00:48:03,709 --> 00:48:06,542 prior to any action by DEA." 1125 00:48:06,625 --> 00:48:07,709 Cole responded 1126 00:48:07,792 --> 00:48:11,750 by demanding an immediate briefing by Rannazzisi. 1127 00:48:11,834 --> 00:48:13,542 - I said, "Before we start, 1128 00:48:13,625 --> 00:48:15,166 "no one's ever wanted a briefing 1129 00:48:15,250 --> 00:48:17,583 "on why we're doing certain things. 1130 00:48:17,667 --> 00:48:20,417 What makes this case so special?" 1131 00:48:20,500 --> 00:48:23,583 And the response was, "'Cause I'm the Deputy Attorney General 1132 00:48:23,667 --> 00:48:26,792 of the United States, and I want to know." 1133 00:48:26,875 --> 00:48:30,083 And that really didn't answer the question. 1134 00:48:30,166 --> 00:48:32,417 And it just got very adversarial. 1135 00:48:32,500 --> 00:48:35,917 But once we presented the facts, they couldn't-- 1136 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:37,875 I mean, the facts were the facts. 1137 00:48:37,959 --> 00:48:40,333 These companies were an imminent danger 1138 00:48:40,417 --> 00:48:41,875 to public health. 1139 00:48:41,959 --> 00:48:43,750 ♪ ♪ 1140 00:48:43,834 --> 00:48:47,083 - Around that time, we're reaching, like, 1141 00:48:47,166 --> 00:48:51,208 170,000 people who had died from drug overdoses. 1142 00:48:51,291 --> 00:48:54,250 That is just a phenomenal number. 1143 00:48:54,333 --> 00:48:55,792 - Doing CPR! 1144 00:48:55,875 --> 00:48:57,125 - During this time period, I'm out on the road. 1145 00:48:57,208 --> 00:48:59,250 I'm talking to parents who've lost kids. 1146 00:48:59,333 --> 00:49:02,000 I'm talking to wives who've lost husbands. 1147 00:49:02,083 --> 00:49:05,458 I'm talking to people who've lost loved ones, 1148 00:49:05,542 --> 00:49:07,125 and they're all saying the same thing-- 1149 00:49:07,208 --> 00:49:08,959 Why is this happening? 1150 00:49:09,041 --> 00:49:11,959 And my response is, "We're doing everything we can." 1151 00:49:12,041 --> 00:49:15,291 And then to sit there and go through an inquisition 1152 00:49:15,375 --> 00:49:17,500 about why I'm doing a certain thing, 1153 00:49:17,583 --> 00:49:19,750 to a company-- to at least one company 1154 00:49:19,834 --> 00:49:23,125 that was already charged with the same violation 1155 00:49:23,208 --> 00:49:27,000 several years ago, it kind of pissed me off. 1156 00:49:27,083 --> 00:49:28,959 And that's when I came back, and I call my team. 1157 00:49:29,041 --> 00:49:32,291 I said, "You know, this is war. We're at war now. 1158 00:49:32,375 --> 00:49:35,625 "You go out and serve those ISOs, 1159 00:49:35,709 --> 00:49:40,125 and we'll just see where it goes." 1160 00:49:40,208 --> 00:49:41,959 I was proud of the work they did. 1161 00:49:42,041 --> 00:49:44,709 Those guys busted their butts for, you know, months, 1162 00:49:44,792 --> 00:49:46,208 getting these cases together. 1163 00:49:46,291 --> 00:49:48,250 ♪ ♪ 1164 00:49:48,333 --> 00:49:50,291 - We were absolutely amped up. 1165 00:49:50,375 --> 00:49:51,709 If you want to do some real good, 1166 00:49:51,792 --> 00:49:53,333 if that's really what you want to do, 1167 00:49:53,417 --> 00:49:55,834 if you want to go out and you want to fight bad guys, 1168 00:49:55,917 --> 00:49:57,625 you're doing this kind of thing, 1169 00:49:57,709 --> 00:49:59,375 and you're thinking, "This is great." 1170 00:49:59,458 --> 00:50:02,125 - So, in February of 2012, 1171 00:50:02,208 --> 00:50:05,333 we issued the Immediate Suspension Orders. 1172 00:50:05,417 --> 00:50:08,792 narrator: A federal judge ruled in favor of the DEA. 1173 00:50:08,875 --> 00:50:10,166 The ISO went into effect, 1174 00:50:10,250 --> 00:50:12,709 shutting down the flow of drugs. 1175 00:50:12,792 --> 00:50:15,333 Ultimately, Cardinal agreed to stop shipping opioids 1176 00:50:15,417 --> 00:50:17,500 from one warehouse for two years 1177 00:50:17,583 --> 00:50:20,750 and paid a $44 million fine, 1178 00:50:20,834 --> 00:50:23,750 but the tactics of the DEA enraged Cardinal 1179 00:50:23,834 --> 00:50:26,125 and other big pharma companies. 1180 00:50:27,208 --> 00:50:29,041 - When the companies didn't like 1181 00:50:29,125 --> 00:50:31,208 that they were being held accountable, 1182 00:50:31,291 --> 00:50:33,709 they said, "Enough is enough." 1183 00:50:33,792 --> 00:50:35,166 And instead of complying, 1184 00:50:35,250 --> 00:50:37,375 they just decided to change the statute. 1185 00:50:37,458 --> 00:50:39,375 - Thank you, Madam Speaker. 1186 00:50:39,458 --> 00:50:43,417 I rise in strong support of HR 471, 1187 00:50:43,500 --> 00:50:46,083 the Ensuring Patient Access 1188 00:50:46,166 --> 00:50:48,458 and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, 1189 00:50:48,542 --> 00:50:52,083 bringing greater clarity and transparency 1190 00:50:52,166 --> 00:50:55,166 to the requirements for safe and secure distribution 1191 00:50:55,250 --> 00:50:56,750 of these medicines. 1192 00:50:56,834 --> 00:50:59,542 - Pharmaceutical companies have infinite gobs of money 1193 00:50:59,625 --> 00:51:02,750 to throw at politicians to change the laws, 1194 00:51:02,834 --> 00:51:04,959 and that is disgusting. 1195 00:51:05,041 --> 00:51:06,291 That's horrible. 1196 00:51:06,375 --> 00:51:07,792 That's not the way the law should work. 1197 00:51:07,875 --> 00:51:10,625 They should be changing their behaviors, not the rules. 1198 00:51:27,959 --> 00:51:30,792 [dreamy electronic music] 1199 00:51:30,875 --> 00:51:37,792 ♪ ♪ 1200 00:51:37,875 --> 00:51:39,083 - Tell me about Rachel's. 1201 00:51:39,166 --> 00:51:40,542 What kind of place was Rachel's? 1202 00:51:40,625 --> 00:51:43,291 - You know, high-end dance club 1203 00:51:43,375 --> 00:51:47,125 with five-star steak restaurant. 1204 00:51:47,208 --> 00:51:50,333 One day Alec comes in to the club. 1205 00:51:50,417 --> 00:51:54,834 It was slow, and I just saw this guy sitting by the stage. 1206 00:51:54,917 --> 00:51:56,250 And I do what I normally do-- 1207 00:51:56,333 --> 00:51:59,166 is I sit down and I talk to people. 1208 00:51:59,250 --> 00:52:00,166 You know? 1209 00:52:00,250 --> 00:52:01,917 That's how I kind of feel them out, 1210 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:03,208 see what kind of people they are, 1211 00:52:03,291 --> 00:52:06,333 and if they appreciate more of a conversation, you know... 1212 00:52:06,417 --> 00:52:08,792 [chuckles] Then I'm good, right? 1213 00:52:08,875 --> 00:52:11,917 Um, but, uh, we talked a bit, 1214 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,250 and he told me that he was VP of sales 1215 00:52:15,333 --> 00:52:18,250 in pharmaceuticals. 1216 00:52:18,333 --> 00:52:21,125 He didn't take any dances till later on that night, 1217 00:52:21,208 --> 00:52:24,667 but he had offered to do a private dance with me. 1218 00:52:24,750 --> 00:52:26,709 And then he left, and I didn't-- 1219 00:52:26,792 --> 00:52:28,500 I really didn't think he would come back, 1220 00:52:28,583 --> 00:52:33,208 but he came back and said, "Yep, let's do this. 1221 00:52:33,291 --> 00:52:35,000 We'll do the private dance." 1222 00:52:35,083 --> 00:52:37,709 And that's how it got started. 1223 00:52:38,750 --> 00:52:41,500 I get a call from him a couple weeks later, 1224 00:52:41,583 --> 00:52:43,000 and he tells me that he thinks 1225 00:52:43,083 --> 00:52:46,959 he has a regional sales manager's position for me. 1226 00:52:47,041 --> 00:52:49,834 And it seemed like it was the perfect job, honestly. 1227 00:52:49,917 --> 00:52:53,667 Just do what I do now, and it wasn't anything different. 1228 00:52:53,750 --> 00:52:55,291 - The first time I interviewed her, 1229 00:52:55,375 --> 00:52:56,875 I told her, "This is the industry." 1230 00:52:56,959 --> 00:53:01,333 And she says, "This is what I do every day." 1231 00:53:01,417 --> 00:53:04,542 - Dancing is how you get a clientele base 1232 00:53:04,625 --> 00:53:08,208 that would come in and see just you. 1233 00:53:08,291 --> 00:53:11,375 I can shoot the shit with men, you know? 1234 00:53:11,458 --> 00:53:14,875 You have to be able to read people by their body language, 1235 00:53:14,959 --> 00:53:16,375 what they talk about. 1236 00:53:16,458 --> 00:53:17,875 You have to be able to listen 1237 00:53:17,959 --> 00:53:20,875 so that you can find out how you relate. 1238 00:53:20,959 --> 00:53:23,041 - As far as psychology, quite frankly, 1239 00:53:23,125 --> 00:53:26,375 her prior employment is all about psychology. 1240 00:53:26,458 --> 00:53:28,709 I mean, you got to meet a customer, right? 1241 00:53:28,792 --> 00:53:32,000 Are you gonna spend an hour, two hours, three hours 1242 00:53:32,083 --> 00:53:35,250 wasting your time when he's not gonna give you a dollar? 1243 00:53:35,333 --> 00:53:37,500 Or are you going to know in five minutes 1244 00:53:37,583 --> 00:53:38,542 that this isn't your guy, 1245 00:53:38,625 --> 00:53:40,583 get up and start circling the place 1246 00:53:40,667 --> 00:53:43,834 and find your next opportunity? 1247 00:53:43,917 --> 00:53:45,250 - What's a whale doctor? 1248 00:53:45,333 --> 00:53:47,333 - We used that in strip clubs, too. 1249 00:53:47,417 --> 00:53:48,375 [chuckles] 1250 00:53:48,458 --> 00:53:49,959 - So what's a whale in a strip club? 1251 00:53:50,041 --> 00:53:51,583 - A whale is the guy with the money 1252 00:53:51,667 --> 00:53:54,750 and that likes to spend it. 1253 00:53:54,834 --> 00:53:57,625 When I worked at Insys, the whales were the guys 1254 00:53:57,709 --> 00:53:59,583 who were prescribing this medication, 1255 00:53:59,667 --> 00:54:01,417 this class of medication for a long time. 1256 00:54:01,500 --> 00:54:03,375 Those were the whales. 1257 00:54:03,458 --> 00:54:05,375 They know what they're doing, 1258 00:54:05,458 --> 00:54:07,875 and if you can get that business, 1259 00:54:07,959 --> 00:54:08,875 then you're good. 1260 00:54:08,959 --> 00:54:10,583 ♪ ♪ 1261 00:54:10,667 --> 00:54:14,750 Base salary for the regional sales manager was $80,000 1262 00:54:14,834 --> 00:54:17,834 before bonuses. 1263 00:54:17,917 --> 00:54:19,417 They called it Mid-Atlantic, 1264 00:54:19,500 --> 00:54:23,917 but it was Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, 1265 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:28,625 Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, and Washington, DC. 1266 00:54:28,709 --> 00:54:30,458 ♪ ♪ 1267 00:54:30,542 --> 00:54:34,125 My sales team, we started off as the worst in the nation, 1268 00:54:34,208 --> 00:54:37,625 and we ended up the top region in the nation 1269 00:54:37,709 --> 00:54:40,208 shortly after I started. 1270 00:54:40,291 --> 00:54:43,250 - She's probably the best salesperson I've ever met. 1271 00:54:43,333 --> 00:54:45,417 And the best salespeople I hired 1272 00:54:45,500 --> 00:54:47,458 were the people who understood, 1273 00:54:47,542 --> 00:54:49,417 what is the most important thing to you? 1274 00:54:49,500 --> 00:54:51,959 Being number one in the country on that list 1275 00:54:52,041 --> 00:54:53,750 or making the most money? 1276 00:54:53,834 --> 00:54:56,750 I typically go with the person who says being number one 1277 00:54:56,834 --> 00:54:58,792 'cause I know they're sick... 1278 00:54:58,875 --> 00:54:59,959 like me. 1279 00:55:00,041 --> 00:55:01,625 Got to be number one. 1280 00:55:01,709 --> 00:55:03,291 [indistinct chatter] 1281 00:55:03,375 --> 00:55:07,208 - When I met Alec, I don't know, he seemed crazy, 1282 00:55:07,291 --> 00:55:09,834 but I thought he was brilliant. 1283 00:55:09,917 --> 00:55:11,333 After starting with the company 1284 00:55:11,417 --> 00:55:13,166 and communicating with him daily 1285 00:55:13,250 --> 00:55:15,875 and listening to him on the conference calls and-- 1286 00:55:15,959 --> 00:55:20,333 that's when I really got to know him. 1287 00:55:20,417 --> 00:55:23,500 We became, you know, good friends 1288 00:55:23,583 --> 00:55:25,959 and developed a relationship, 1289 00:55:26,041 --> 00:55:28,667 even though I knew that he was married. 1290 00:55:28,750 --> 00:55:30,500 [dramatic music] 1291 00:55:30,583 --> 00:55:34,000 Which, I mean, we all say love can be blind, right? 1292 00:55:34,083 --> 00:55:35,959 ♪ ♪ 1293 00:55:36,041 --> 00:55:40,000 You know, I saw this man who worked really hard, 1294 00:55:40,083 --> 00:55:42,667 did things for people, gave people opportunities, 1295 00:55:42,750 --> 00:55:43,834 like myself. 1296 00:55:43,917 --> 00:55:50,792 ♪ ♪ 1297 00:55:52,417 --> 00:55:55,125 I was born in Hawaii, Honolulu. 1298 00:55:55,208 --> 00:55:59,250 Born into a very abusive household. 1299 00:55:59,333 --> 00:56:01,375 My parents got divorced 1300 00:56:01,458 --> 00:56:05,417 shortly after my brother was born. 1301 00:56:05,500 --> 00:56:09,834 And then shortly after that, my father actually took us. 1302 00:56:09,917 --> 00:56:12,250 We were on the, you know, run. 1303 00:56:12,333 --> 00:56:15,250 We were milk-carton children for a few years. 1304 00:56:15,333 --> 00:56:18,875 We lived all over the place-- 1305 00:56:18,959 --> 00:56:21,709 Boston, San Francisco, 1306 00:56:21,792 --> 00:56:24,834 different parts of California, Chicago, Puerto Rico. 1307 00:56:24,917 --> 00:56:28,583 Sometimes two weeks to two months. 1308 00:56:28,667 --> 00:56:31,041 I never had a childhood. 1309 00:56:31,125 --> 00:56:33,083 I raised my sister and my brother 1310 00:56:33,166 --> 00:56:34,834 at a very young age. 1311 00:56:34,917 --> 00:56:38,291 You know, I'm ironing at five years old and cooking. 1312 00:56:38,375 --> 00:56:40,041 ♪ ♪ 1313 00:56:40,125 --> 00:56:42,750 Eventually the law caught up with him. 1314 00:56:42,834 --> 00:56:47,375 They found my mother. We moved to Michigan. 1315 00:56:47,458 --> 00:56:50,917 I ended up getting emancipated when I was 16. 1316 00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:52,583 You have to prove 1317 00:56:52,667 --> 00:56:54,417 that you can take care of yourself financially, 1318 00:56:54,500 --> 00:56:56,583 which I did, working three jobs, 1319 00:56:56,667 --> 00:57:00,375 going to school, a superior honor roll student. 1320 00:57:00,458 --> 00:57:04,250 Finished school, got married, and had a son 1321 00:57:04,333 --> 00:57:08,000 and started going to college. 1322 00:57:08,083 --> 00:57:12,083 And once I turned 18, I started dancing, too. 1323 00:57:12,166 --> 00:57:14,417 When you don't have anything and you don't have any support, 1324 00:57:14,500 --> 00:57:17,208 you've got to grind your way and, you know, 1325 00:57:17,291 --> 00:57:19,166 treat it like a business, and that's what I did. 1326 00:57:19,250 --> 00:57:21,917 You know, I pushed myself through school. 1327 00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:25,417 Initially, it was pre-med and then natural healing. 1328 00:57:25,500 --> 00:57:29,500 And I was board certified for medical massage therapy. 1329 00:57:29,583 --> 00:57:31,166 ♪ ♪ 1330 00:57:31,250 --> 00:57:33,458 Everybody used to call me Superwoman... 1331 00:57:33,542 --> 00:57:35,083 [chuckles] Or Supermom. 1332 00:57:35,166 --> 00:57:36,875 And I could do it all. 1333 00:57:41,500 --> 00:57:43,792 In 2012, 1334 00:57:43,875 --> 00:57:46,667 I went down to Florida with the kids 1335 00:57:46,750 --> 00:57:48,959 to try to make some money. 1336 00:57:49,041 --> 00:57:51,959 And it was that summer when I met Alec. 1337 00:57:52,041 --> 00:57:55,083 ♪ ♪ 1338 00:57:55,166 --> 00:57:57,583 [inhales deeply] I listened to him. 1339 00:57:57,667 --> 00:58:01,667 He said that I needed a four-year degree. 1340 00:58:01,750 --> 00:58:04,500 He knew I didn't have a four-year degree. 1341 00:58:04,583 --> 00:58:08,500 And so he helped me out with my résumé. 1342 00:58:08,583 --> 00:58:10,333 Just said that I had to, you know, 1343 00:58:10,417 --> 00:58:14,125 put that I had this bachelor's degree. 1344 00:58:14,208 --> 00:58:16,792 I trusted him. 1345 00:58:16,875 --> 00:58:19,208 - Part of what Alec Burlakoff did 1346 00:58:19,291 --> 00:58:23,667 is he pulled in three people who he knew he could trust 1347 00:58:23,750 --> 00:58:26,500 to implement Kapoor's strategy. 1348 00:58:26,583 --> 00:58:27,834 That is not easy to do. 1349 00:58:27,917 --> 00:58:29,333 It's not easy to hire people 1350 00:58:29,417 --> 00:58:31,166 who are gonna manage other people 1351 00:58:31,250 --> 00:58:32,959 to engage in criminal activity. 1352 00:58:33,041 --> 00:58:36,500 - You know, they targeted-- they targeted us, 1353 00:58:36,583 --> 00:58:38,333 people who were-- 1354 00:58:38,417 --> 00:58:41,333 I call us the naive dreamers, 1355 00:58:41,417 --> 00:58:43,542 um... 1356 00:58:43,625 --> 00:58:47,375 where we still believed in the dream and worked really hard. 1357 00:58:47,458 --> 00:58:49,834 - Sunrise Lee, you know, there's this sort of narrative 1358 00:58:49,917 --> 00:58:51,041 that wants to portray her 1359 00:58:51,125 --> 00:58:52,875 as this person that worked at a club, 1360 00:58:52,959 --> 00:58:55,041 and that's true, but she was a much more 1361 00:58:55,125 --> 00:58:58,250 sophisticated criminal than that. 1362 00:58:58,333 --> 00:59:00,166 She's so successful, she's promoted. 1363 00:59:00,250 --> 00:59:01,583 She at one point was responsible 1364 00:59:01,667 --> 00:59:03,542 for a third of the country 1365 00:59:03,625 --> 00:59:06,166 in terms of all the sales reps and the sales managers. 1366 00:59:06,250 --> 00:59:08,041 And she has a conversation with the district manager, 1367 00:59:08,125 --> 00:59:09,250 and she said, "Listen, 1368 00:59:09,333 --> 00:59:12,208 "you got to make sure that you stay on top of these guys 1369 00:59:12,291 --> 00:59:13,709 "because they will stop writing 1370 00:59:13,792 --> 00:59:15,542 "unless you're there every day talking to them. 1371 00:59:15,625 --> 00:59:17,083 "You got to hold them accountable 1372 00:59:17,166 --> 00:59:18,500 for what they agreed to do." 1373 00:59:18,583 --> 00:59:20,709 which, of course, is the definition of a bribe. 1374 00:59:20,792 --> 00:59:23,083 ♪ ♪ 1375 00:59:23,166 --> 00:59:26,583 Kapoor wanted doctors to have twice the amount 1376 00:59:26,667 --> 00:59:29,250 of net revenue generated by their prescriptions 1377 00:59:29,333 --> 00:59:33,458 as they were given an honorarium in bribes. 1378 00:59:33,542 --> 00:59:36,625 - You got to tell the doctor, "Look, we are not Pfizer. 1379 00:59:36,709 --> 00:59:40,250 "We track every penny. I'm held accountable. 1380 00:59:40,333 --> 00:59:42,959 "If we come to an agreement that you're gonna speak 1381 00:59:43,041 --> 00:59:46,250 "and we're gonna pay you honorarium to speak, 1382 00:59:46,333 --> 00:59:50,250 "you must clearly understand that you will be expected 1383 00:59:50,333 --> 00:59:53,291 "to write double of what we paid you 1384 00:59:53,375 --> 00:59:54,750 "back in prescriptions. 1385 00:59:54,834 --> 00:59:56,083 "And if it's not there, 1386 00:59:56,166 --> 00:59:58,417 "we're gonna reduce your programs quickly, 1387 00:59:58,500 --> 00:59:59,959 "and then we're just gonna basically-- 1388 01:00:00,041 --> 01:00:02,000 you're gonna disappear off the map." 1389 01:00:02,083 --> 01:00:03,417 [chuckles] Right? 1390 01:00:03,500 --> 01:00:04,875 The whole thig is disgusting. 1391 01:00:04,959 --> 01:00:07,542 - Kapoor, he had, like, a-- - A spreadsheet. 1392 01:00:07,625 --> 01:00:09,125 Excel spreadsheet. 1393 01:00:09,208 --> 01:00:11,125 In pharmaceuticals, it's a "no-no." 1394 01:00:11,208 --> 01:00:13,208 It's a forbidden. You don't do it. 1395 01:00:13,291 --> 01:00:15,000 For obvious reasons, right? 1396 01:00:15,083 --> 01:00:18,166 You start connecting the dots, and things don't look so good. 1397 01:00:18,250 --> 01:00:20,291 - It was the smoking gun. 1398 01:00:20,375 --> 01:00:21,959 They could look at a list of prescribers, 1399 01:00:22,041 --> 01:00:23,917 and they could say, "Here's what we've paid this person, 1400 01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:25,291 and here's their scripts." 1401 01:00:25,375 --> 01:00:26,792 And they could do the simple math to see, 1402 01:00:26,875 --> 01:00:28,083 "Are we making money or not?" 1403 01:00:28,166 --> 01:00:30,458 - That was a devastating piece of evidence 1404 01:00:30,542 --> 01:00:32,667 because it showed the true intent. 1405 01:00:32,750 --> 01:00:35,250 ♪ ♪ 1406 01:00:35,333 --> 01:00:38,709 - There was a doctor in Illinois named Paul Madison. 1407 01:00:38,792 --> 01:00:40,083 He was associated with a doctor 1408 01:00:40,166 --> 01:00:41,959 called in the media "Dr. Million Pills." 1409 01:00:42,041 --> 01:00:43,458 He had a practice with him. 1410 01:00:43,542 --> 01:00:45,875 There's one email describing Madison's office 1411 01:00:45,959 --> 01:00:47,709 as a "shady pill mill." 1412 01:00:47,792 --> 01:00:49,166 And what do they do? 1413 01:00:49,250 --> 01:00:52,375 Sunrise Lee, she goes in, and she flirts with him, 1414 01:00:52,458 --> 01:00:55,667 and she is seen giving him a lap dance. 1415 01:00:55,750 --> 01:00:58,834 - Never happened, okay? It just--it never happened. 1416 01:00:58,917 --> 01:01:01,667 It's not even allowed to happen at a dance club. 1417 01:01:01,750 --> 01:01:03,166 You would get booted out. 1418 01:01:03,250 --> 01:01:05,208 - They sign him up as a speaker, 1419 01:01:05,291 --> 01:01:07,125 and they start bribing him. 1420 01:01:07,208 --> 01:01:10,166 And that happened all around the United States. 1421 01:01:10,250 --> 01:01:11,625 And another doctor they worked with 1422 01:01:11,709 --> 01:01:13,333 was Gavin Awerbuch in Michigan, 1423 01:01:13,417 --> 01:01:15,291 who ultimately became the number-one prescriber 1424 01:01:15,375 --> 01:01:17,208 of substances in the United States at one point, 1425 01:01:17,291 --> 01:01:21,667 was paid for three different speaker programs a week. 1426 01:01:21,750 --> 01:01:24,166 A doctor suddenly isn't a doctor anymore at all. 1427 01:01:24,250 --> 01:01:26,125 They're working for Insys Therapeutics. 1428 01:01:26,208 --> 01:01:27,250 They're working for themselves. 1429 01:01:27,333 --> 01:01:28,375 They're working for money, 1430 01:01:28,458 --> 01:01:30,542 and the patient has no knowledge of it. 1431 01:01:30,625 --> 01:01:33,166 It is truly frightening. 1432 01:01:33,250 --> 01:01:36,166 [peaceful music] 1433 01:01:36,250 --> 01:01:39,166 [birds singing] 1434 01:01:39,250 --> 01:01:46,250 ♪ ♪ 1435 01:02:01,625 --> 01:02:03,333 - This is a Gallup poll. 1436 01:02:03,417 --> 01:02:05,208 America's ratings of honesty 1437 01:02:05,291 --> 01:02:08,250 and ethical standards in professions. 1438 01:02:08,333 --> 01:02:10,917 Does anybody know what the number-one profession is 1439 01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:12,417 in honesty and integrity? 1440 01:02:12,500 --> 01:02:14,458 Anyone, yell it out. 1441 01:02:14,542 --> 01:02:16,875 - Nursing. - Who said that? 1442 01:02:16,959 --> 01:02:19,709 Who said nursing? You did. 1443 01:02:19,792 --> 01:02:21,083 Think about that. 1444 01:02:21,166 --> 01:02:24,917 Nurses, medical doctors, and pharmacists 1445 01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:26,917 are one, two, and three. 1446 01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:28,917 You trust them. Everybody trusts them. 1447 01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:31,041 Why? Because you go there to get better. 1448 01:02:31,125 --> 01:02:33,583 You go there to get better. 1449 01:02:33,667 --> 01:02:35,959 Okay, that's important 1450 01:02:36,041 --> 01:02:40,542 because people trust their medical professionals, 1451 01:02:40,625 --> 01:02:43,417 so they'll do what they're told to do. 1452 01:02:43,500 --> 01:02:46,542 Okay? What's the bottom five? 1453 01:02:48,166 --> 01:02:51,250 - [shouts indistinctly] - [chuckles] Bingo! 1454 01:02:51,333 --> 01:02:53,375 Members of Congress are last. 1455 01:02:53,458 --> 01:02:56,166 [energetic orchestral music] 1456 01:02:56,250 --> 01:02:58,125 But this--ahead of 'em are stockbrokers, 1457 01:02:58,208 --> 01:03:00,458 advertising practitioners, telemarketers, 1458 01:03:00,542 --> 01:03:02,291 and car salespeople. 1459 01:03:02,375 --> 01:03:04,166 The bottom five. 1460 01:03:04,250 --> 01:03:08,625 ♪ ♪ 1461 01:03:08,709 --> 01:03:13,750 - More can and must be done to treat this growing epidemic, 1462 01:03:13,834 --> 01:03:17,000 and that is why we have all worked together 1463 01:03:17,083 --> 01:03:22,125 on HR 4709, the Ensuring Patient Access 1464 01:03:22,208 --> 01:03:25,291 and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2014. 1465 01:03:25,375 --> 01:03:28,125 - What is The Ensuring Patient Access 1466 01:03:28,208 --> 01:03:30,291 and Effective Drug Enforcement Act? 1467 01:03:30,375 --> 01:03:32,667 - Sounds great, doesn't it? [chuckles] 1468 01:03:32,750 --> 01:03:36,125 I mean, what could be wrong with that? 1469 01:03:36,208 --> 01:03:37,959 You know, you get-- 1470 01:03:38,041 --> 01:03:39,875 patients get access to their medications, 1471 01:03:39,959 --> 01:03:42,875 and there's effective law enforcement. 1472 01:03:42,959 --> 01:03:45,166 So why would anybody be opposed to that? 1473 01:03:45,250 --> 01:03:47,834 This is one of these kind of non sequiturs. 1474 01:03:47,917 --> 01:03:51,000 It's like one of the most bizarre names for a bill 1475 01:03:51,083 --> 01:03:53,667 that does everything the opposite. 1476 01:03:53,750 --> 01:03:57,333 narrator: Instead of passing a law to protect patients, 1477 01:03:57,417 --> 01:04:00,166 members of Congress worked hard to pass a bill 1478 01:04:00,250 --> 01:04:03,709 that would undercut the DEA's power to stop companies 1479 01:04:03,792 --> 01:04:07,250 from recklessly flooding the country with narcotics. 1480 01:04:07,333 --> 01:04:08,792 To understand why, 1481 01:04:08,875 --> 01:04:10,875 it helps to look at how Cardinal had retained 1482 01:04:10,959 --> 01:04:14,542 a former DEA official who was perfectly positioned 1483 01:04:14,625 --> 01:04:18,208 to persuade Congress to do the wrong thing. 1484 01:04:18,291 --> 01:04:19,709 - The chair recognizes Mr. Barber. 1485 01:04:19,792 --> 01:04:21,125 Five minutes for an opening statement. 1486 01:04:21,208 --> 01:04:22,375 - Good morning, Mr. Chairman. 1487 01:04:22,458 --> 01:04:24,375 For the last 3 1/2 years as the director 1488 01:04:24,458 --> 01:04:26,959 of the DEA compliance and litigation practice 1489 01:04:27,041 --> 01:04:28,041 at Quarels & Brady, 1490 01:04:28,125 --> 01:04:31,542 I have dealt with registrants on a daily basis, 1491 01:04:31,625 --> 01:04:35,000 but prior to that, I was the Associate Chief Counsel at DEA. 1492 01:04:35,083 --> 01:04:37,041 I worked at the agency for 12 years-- 1493 01:04:37,125 --> 01:04:39,792 - Linden Barber left the DEA 1494 01:04:39,875 --> 01:04:42,000 and formed his own practice 1495 01:04:42,083 --> 01:04:44,291 within a law firm here in town, 1496 01:04:44,375 --> 01:04:46,583 representing the very same companies 1497 01:04:46,667 --> 01:04:48,375 that he used to go after. 1498 01:04:48,458 --> 01:04:52,208 So around and around and around it goes. 1499 01:04:52,291 --> 01:04:55,750 - He brought with him the knowledge 1500 01:04:55,834 --> 01:04:59,917 of where the DEA enforcement regime is weakest, 1501 01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:02,417 and he started to advise his clients to that effect. 1502 01:05:02,500 --> 01:05:04,250 - If you have a DEA compliance issue 1503 01:05:04,333 --> 01:05:06,417 or you're facing a government investigation, 1504 01:05:06,500 --> 01:05:07,959 I'd be happy to hear from you. 1505 01:05:08,041 --> 01:05:11,750 [dramatic music] 1506 01:05:11,834 --> 01:05:15,250 - According to email traffic that we received, 1507 01:05:15,333 --> 01:05:18,208 there was an email between a couple of people 1508 01:05:18,291 --> 01:05:19,792 at the Department of Justice, 1509 01:05:19,875 --> 01:05:23,959 and one person said Linden Barber wrote this bill. 1510 01:05:25,500 --> 01:05:27,583 narrator: The bill completely changed the conditions 1511 01:05:27,667 --> 01:05:30,750 under which the DEA could issue a suspension order. 1512 01:05:30,834 --> 01:05:34,417 It redefined the term "imminent danger" 1513 01:05:34,500 --> 01:05:38,500 as a "substantial likelihood of an immediate threat." 1514 01:05:38,583 --> 01:05:41,500 ♪ ♪ 1515 01:05:41,583 --> 01:05:43,458 - In law, language is everything. 1516 01:05:43,542 --> 01:05:46,834 So it would be impossible for the DEA to show 1517 01:05:46,917 --> 01:05:51,834 that a drug distributor based in Ohio or Connecticut 1518 01:05:51,917 --> 01:05:53,667 or Upstate New York 1519 01:05:53,750 --> 01:05:56,250 posed an immediate threat of deaths 1520 01:05:56,333 --> 01:05:59,208 by sending drugs downstream to a community 1521 01:05:59,291 --> 01:06:00,625 in West Virginia. 1522 01:06:00,709 --> 01:06:02,792 It's just impossible. 1523 01:06:02,875 --> 01:06:04,875 You could show before it was imminent, 1524 01:06:04,959 --> 01:06:07,125 but you can't show now that it's immediate. 1525 01:06:07,208 --> 01:06:08,792 - So, if they passed the legislation, 1526 01:06:08,875 --> 01:06:11,083 there would be no more immediate shutdown 1527 01:06:11,166 --> 01:06:12,625 of narcotics distribution. 1528 01:06:12,709 --> 01:06:14,458 It could happen after a hearing, 1529 01:06:14,542 --> 01:06:16,125 but it couldn't happen... 1530 01:06:16,208 --> 01:06:17,250 [snaps fingers] like that. 1531 01:06:17,333 --> 01:06:18,667 - The Ensuring Patient Access 1532 01:06:18,750 --> 01:06:20,333 and Effective Drug Enforcement Act 1533 01:06:20,417 --> 01:06:24,208 provides much-needed clarity in the Controlled Substances Act. 1534 01:06:24,291 --> 01:06:26,834 And DEA's authority to issue immediate suspensions 1535 01:06:26,917 --> 01:06:29,333 will be protected from judicial curtailment 1536 01:06:29,417 --> 01:06:33,000 because there will be a clear legal standard. 1537 01:06:33,083 --> 01:06:34,291 - So, when Linden left 1538 01:06:34,375 --> 01:06:37,166 and then all these people that I loved 1539 01:06:37,250 --> 01:06:40,000 and loved working with, you know, begin leaving, 1540 01:06:40,083 --> 01:06:41,625 and they're leaving to go work 1541 01:06:41,709 --> 01:06:43,667 for who they claimed were the bad guys. 1542 01:06:43,750 --> 01:06:47,041 And they take that same righteous anger that they had 1543 01:06:47,125 --> 01:06:49,125 working for DEA, 1544 01:06:49,208 --> 01:06:51,333 and now they're using that righteous anger 1545 01:06:51,417 --> 01:06:52,333 on the other side. 1546 01:06:52,417 --> 01:06:54,208 I don't know how you do that. 1547 01:06:54,291 --> 01:06:56,500 - You know, if you go and work for the drug company, 1548 01:06:56,583 --> 01:06:57,834 that's you. 1549 01:06:57,917 --> 01:06:59,709 I mean, that-- if you want to-- 1550 01:06:59,792 --> 01:07:02,875 I never criticize a man for how he's making his money. 1551 01:07:02,959 --> 01:07:06,542 - As a former counsel who appeared in federal courts, 1552 01:07:06,625 --> 01:07:08,375 assisted U.S. Attorney's office 1553 01:07:08,458 --> 01:07:11,375 in defending the suspension power of the agency, 1554 01:07:11,458 --> 01:07:14,500 having a clear legal standard is always best. 1555 01:07:14,583 --> 01:07:15,667 There are federal statutes 1556 01:07:15,750 --> 01:07:17,750 that were passed around the same time as the CSA 1557 01:07:17,834 --> 01:07:20,333 that contained a definition of imminent danger... 1558 01:07:20,417 --> 01:07:23,208 - I had a conversation with a key staff member 1559 01:07:23,291 --> 01:07:25,166 of the Energy & Commerce Committee, 1560 01:07:25,250 --> 01:07:29,208 who said, "We actually had somebody come up here 1561 01:07:29,291 --> 01:07:32,208 "and testify who used to work for the DEA. 1562 01:07:32,291 --> 01:07:34,125 "He was, like, a top lawyer for the DEA 1563 01:07:34,208 --> 01:07:36,709 "who said that the law needed to be clarified, 1564 01:07:36,792 --> 01:07:38,750 and it was really important." 1565 01:07:38,834 --> 01:07:41,834 And I said, "Who was that lawyer?" 1566 01:07:41,917 --> 01:07:45,208 And the staffer said, "It was Linden Barber." 1567 01:07:45,291 --> 01:07:48,250 And I said, "Do you know who Linden Barber is? 1568 01:07:48,333 --> 01:07:49,417 Do you know who he works for?" 1569 01:07:49,500 --> 01:07:51,875 He's like, "No. Who does he work for?" 1570 01:07:51,959 --> 01:07:55,083 I said, "He represents all of these companies." 1571 01:07:55,166 --> 01:07:57,125 [tense music] 1572 01:07:57,208 --> 01:07:59,625 It was kind of a stunning moment. 1573 01:07:59,709 --> 01:08:01,583 You don't really want to see 1574 01:08:01,667 --> 01:08:03,959 how the sausage is made on Capitol Hill. 1575 01:08:04,041 --> 01:08:09,250 ♪ ♪ 1576 01:08:09,333 --> 01:08:12,917 - Our bill seeks to facilitate greater collaboration 1577 01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:15,667 between industry stakeholders and regulators 1578 01:08:15,750 --> 01:08:20,083 in our nation's effort to combat prescription drug abuse. 1579 01:08:20,166 --> 01:08:23,291 - Distributors and pharmacists are finding 1580 01:08:23,375 --> 01:08:27,291 that he unnecessary adversarial regulatory environment 1581 01:08:27,375 --> 01:08:32,083 created by the DEA is putting effective enforcement outcomes 1582 01:08:32,166 --> 01:08:33,625 in jeopardy. 1583 01:08:33,709 --> 01:08:35,333 - The company's lobbyists 1584 01:08:35,417 --> 01:08:37,792 basically came up with a strategy-- 1585 01:08:37,875 --> 01:08:42,125 "How can we stop the DEA from picking on us 1586 01:08:42,208 --> 01:08:44,917 and bothering us and hurting us?" 1587 01:08:45,000 --> 01:08:49,166 They zeroed in on this congressman, Tom Marino, 1588 01:08:49,250 --> 01:08:53,417 and also Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee. 1589 01:08:53,500 --> 01:08:54,583 You know, it's interesting, 1590 01:08:54,667 --> 01:08:56,291 'cause Tom Marino and Marsha Blackburn's districts 1591 01:08:56,375 --> 01:08:58,458 were both really hard hit by opioids. 1592 01:08:58,542 --> 01:09:01,125 - To every family member 1593 01:09:01,208 --> 01:09:04,333 who has lost a loved one to an overdose-- 1594 01:09:04,417 --> 01:09:07,166 - The drug industry got them on board 1595 01:09:07,250 --> 01:09:09,834 to champion their cause. 1596 01:09:09,917 --> 01:09:13,166 - McKesson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, 1597 01:09:13,250 --> 01:09:16,291 Purdue Pharma, CVS, all these companies 1598 01:09:16,375 --> 01:09:19,000 were lobbying heavily in support of this bill. 1599 01:09:19,083 --> 01:09:23,208 And most were paying Tom Marino, Marsha Blackburn, 1600 01:09:23,291 --> 01:09:26,709 Orrin Hatch, and a host of other members of Congress 1601 01:09:26,792 --> 01:09:30,333 a lot of money to get this bill passed. 1602 01:09:30,417 --> 01:09:32,125 - They're getting campaign money, 1603 01:09:32,208 --> 01:09:35,500 and industry lobbyists are writing the questions 1604 01:09:35,583 --> 01:09:38,500 for them to ask the DEA officials. 1605 01:09:38,583 --> 01:09:40,208 ♪ ♪ 1606 01:09:40,291 --> 01:09:42,417 - The chair recognizes Ms. Blackburn for five minutes. 1607 01:09:42,500 --> 01:09:44,834 - Thank you so much. 1608 01:09:44,917 --> 01:09:47,792 Mr. Rannazzisi--Am I saying your name correctly? 1609 01:09:47,875 --> 01:09:49,667 - Yes, ma'am. - I'm close enough, huh? 1610 01:09:49,750 --> 01:09:51,375 - Perfect. - Okay. 1611 01:09:51,458 --> 01:09:56,041 - You know, we all are concerned about patients 1612 01:09:56,125 --> 01:09:58,875 that are in pain that need medication. 1613 01:09:58,959 --> 01:10:02,250 - Numerous seniors in my district are complaining. 1614 01:10:02,333 --> 01:10:04,166 They call my office on a regular basis 1615 01:10:04,250 --> 01:10:06,500 'cause they can't get their pain medications. 1616 01:10:06,583 --> 01:10:07,625 - It's critical that patients 1617 01:10:07,709 --> 01:10:09,500 who desperately need these medicines have access 1618 01:10:09,583 --> 01:10:10,709 without undue delay. 1619 01:10:10,792 --> 01:10:12,166 - I mean, what are we doing to make sure 1620 01:10:12,250 --> 01:10:13,166 that these folks are heard from 1621 01:10:13,250 --> 01:10:14,959 and that the drugs are available? 1622 01:10:15,041 --> 01:10:18,166 - We do not want patients to go without their medication, 1623 01:10:18,250 --> 01:10:20,333 true pain patients that need their medication. 1624 01:10:20,417 --> 01:10:21,500 We don't want that. 1625 01:10:21,583 --> 01:10:22,500 But there is no-- 1626 01:10:22,583 --> 01:10:23,875 - Tell me what you're doing about it. 1627 01:10:23,959 --> 01:10:25,208 - Sometimes it seems that 1628 01:10:25,291 --> 01:10:28,208 all the DEA cares about is the number of enforcement actions 1629 01:10:28,291 --> 01:10:30,166 and not real solutions to stop the abuse. 1630 01:10:30,250 --> 01:10:33,041 - That's not correct. - Provide us some data. 1631 01:10:33,125 --> 01:10:35,417 - If you would go on our website and look at the cases 1632 01:10:35,500 --> 01:10:38,750 that are posted on our website, both on the case-- 1633 01:10:38,834 --> 01:10:39,917 - It would've been great 1634 01:10:40,000 --> 01:10:41,583 had you been prepared to provide that for us. 1635 01:10:41,667 --> 01:10:44,792 - Articulate what the efforts are that the DEA is engaged in. 1636 01:10:44,875 --> 01:10:47,625 - Besides the on-site investigations that we do, 1637 01:10:47,709 --> 01:10:50,291 the cyclical investigations to determine compliance 1638 01:10:50,375 --> 01:10:54,208 and to assist them in complying... 1639 01:10:54,291 --> 01:10:55,542 you know, besides the fact 1640 01:10:55,625 --> 01:10:57,750 that they call in and request assistance-- 1641 01:10:57,834 --> 01:10:59,250 - Okay, well let me move on... - Questions? 1642 01:10:59,333 --> 01:11:01,417 - Then if it's laborious. 1643 01:11:01,500 --> 01:11:04,250 - I think you were ticking off--it's not laborious. 1644 01:11:04,333 --> 01:11:06,250 You asked me to tick off what I do. 1645 01:11:06,333 --> 01:11:10,625 And 16,651 people in 2010 died 1646 01:11:10,709 --> 01:11:13,125 of opiate overdose, okay? 1647 01:11:13,208 --> 01:11:15,959 Opiate-associated overdose. This is not a game. 1648 01:11:16,041 --> 01:11:17,041 We're not playing a game. 1649 01:11:17,125 --> 01:11:19,208 - Nobody is saying it is a game, sir. 1650 01:11:19,291 --> 01:11:21,291 - Well, yeah, kind of you did, 1651 01:11:21,375 --> 01:11:23,917 because you're questioning why we're doing this. 1652 01:11:24,000 --> 01:11:27,250 And all you had to do is go back and look at the cases 1653 01:11:27,333 --> 01:11:30,792 that we did in '11, '12, '13, 1654 01:11:30,875 --> 01:11:32,458 all these different cases. 1655 01:11:32,542 --> 01:11:33,792 Go through the documents, 1656 01:11:33,875 --> 01:11:36,125 and you could see what they were doing. 1657 01:11:36,208 --> 01:11:39,000 But for some reason, Representative Blackburn 1658 01:11:39,083 --> 01:11:42,625 decided that she didn't want the supply chain touched. 1659 01:11:42,709 --> 01:11:45,917 - And I guess it's kind of a Monday attitude sort of day. 1660 01:11:46,000 --> 01:11:48,000 So let me move on, okay? 1661 01:11:48,083 --> 01:11:51,166 I thought maybe you were doing a little bit to help. 1662 01:11:51,250 --> 01:11:52,542 ♪ ♪ 1663 01:11:52,625 --> 01:11:56,667 - Then Representative Blackburn and Tom Marino 1664 01:11:56,750 --> 01:11:58,709 were investigating me for attempting 1665 01:11:58,792 --> 01:12:01,000 to intimidate Congress. 1666 01:12:01,083 --> 01:12:05,000 - Joe Rannazzisi, a senior DEA official, 1667 01:12:05,083 --> 01:12:09,500 has publicly accused we sponsors of the bill 1668 01:12:09,583 --> 01:12:14,458 of "supporting criminals." 1669 01:12:14,542 --> 01:12:17,291 This offends me immensely. 1670 01:12:17,375 --> 01:12:19,166 ♪ ♪ 1671 01:12:19,250 --> 01:12:22,667 - What happened was we had a telephone call, 1672 01:12:22,750 --> 01:12:24,709 and we started arguing. 1673 01:12:24,792 --> 01:12:28,125 And I said, "If you pass this bill, 1674 01:12:28,208 --> 01:12:31,625 "it's going to stop us from doing our jobs, 1675 01:12:31,709 --> 01:12:34,250 "our ability to stop the hemorrhaging. 1676 01:12:34,333 --> 01:12:38,208 "And with all these people dying, well, you know, 1677 01:12:38,291 --> 01:12:40,375 "if this bill passes, that blood's on your hands. 1678 01:12:40,458 --> 01:12:42,417 It's not on mine." 1679 01:12:42,500 --> 01:12:43,750 ♪ ♪ 1680 01:12:43,834 --> 01:12:45,250 They filed a complaint 1681 01:12:45,333 --> 01:12:47,709 with the Office of the Inspector General. 1682 01:12:47,792 --> 01:12:50,750 Ultimately, that was the end of my career. 1683 01:12:50,834 --> 01:12:51,750 It was a management change. 1684 01:12:51,834 --> 01:12:53,083 A new guy came in, 1685 01:12:53,166 --> 01:12:55,875 replaced me with a guy who had no pharmaceutical experience, 1686 01:12:55,959 --> 01:13:00,250 and in 2015, after I retired, they replaced my whole staff. 1687 01:13:00,333 --> 01:13:03,375 Now, this is important 'cause this is the perfect storm 1688 01:13:03,458 --> 01:13:05,333 for bad policy and legislation-- 1689 01:13:05,417 --> 01:13:07,709 regulatory pressure on powerful industry, 1690 01:13:07,792 --> 01:13:09,542 money, lobbying, and Congress. 1691 01:13:09,625 --> 01:13:11,125 And that's exactly what happened. 1692 01:13:11,208 --> 01:13:12,500 - Without objection, 1693 01:13:12,583 --> 01:13:15,333 the bill was read a third time and passed. 1694 01:13:15,417 --> 01:13:17,959 - They all passed it without even a vote. 1695 01:13:18,041 --> 01:13:20,083 It was just unanimous consent, 1696 01:13:20,166 --> 01:13:22,959 which just means that it will pass, 1697 01:13:23,041 --> 01:13:24,750 but if one member of Congress stands up 1698 01:13:24,834 --> 01:13:27,041 and says, "I'm against this," 1699 01:13:27,125 --> 01:13:28,875 the bill stops dead in its tracks, 1700 01:13:28,959 --> 01:13:29,917 and they have to vote on it. 1701 01:13:30,000 --> 01:13:34,208 Not one member of Congress stood up and said, 1702 01:13:34,291 --> 01:13:36,208 "I object to this bill." 1703 01:13:36,291 --> 01:13:37,542 - This is bipartisan. 1704 01:13:37,625 --> 01:13:39,250 The Democrats and the Republicans 1705 01:13:39,333 --> 01:13:41,792 saw the importance in this and got together. 1706 01:13:41,875 --> 01:13:44,792 - People don't like to hear this, but... 1707 01:13:44,875 --> 01:13:48,542 nobody really realized what the language change meant. 1708 01:13:48,625 --> 01:13:50,583 - I don't think that they read it. 1709 01:13:50,667 --> 01:13:52,792 I think the vast majority of bills that get passed 1710 01:13:52,875 --> 01:13:54,125 on Capitol Hill-- 1711 01:13:54,208 --> 01:13:56,917 legislators do not read those bills. 1712 01:13:57,041 --> 01:13:58,792 And they had no excuse for this one, 1713 01:13:58,875 --> 01:14:01,291 because it was, like, three pages. 1714 01:14:01,375 --> 01:14:05,291 And the key paragraph is on the first page. 1715 01:14:05,375 --> 01:14:07,792 They were just asleep at the switch, 1716 01:14:07,875 --> 01:14:09,917 and they gutted the DEA's ability 1717 01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:12,959 to go after these companies. 1718 01:14:13,041 --> 01:14:16,625 People were dying by the tens of thousands, 1719 01:14:16,709 --> 01:14:18,792 and their own representatives 1720 01:14:18,875 --> 01:14:20,834 are basically selling 'em down the river. 1721 01:14:20,917 --> 01:14:23,458 It's one of the most outrageous things I've ever seen 1722 01:14:23,542 --> 01:14:26,458 in the 35 years I've been doing this. 1723 01:14:26,542 --> 01:14:30,417 - Was there any controversy or any pause by President Obama 1724 01:14:30,500 --> 01:14:33,834 when the law went to his desk for signature? 1725 01:14:33,917 --> 01:14:35,291 - None. 1726 01:14:35,375 --> 01:14:38,792 It just sailed right through his office. 1727 01:14:38,875 --> 01:14:42,333 And it's--to this day, it's, like, the big mystery. 1728 01:14:42,417 --> 01:14:44,542 I mean, nobody would talk to us. 1729 01:14:44,625 --> 01:14:47,208 The head of the DEA wouldn't talk to us. 1730 01:14:47,291 --> 01:14:49,166 The head of the Office of Management and Budget, 1731 01:14:49,250 --> 01:14:51,125 which signs off on every piece of legislation, 1732 01:14:51,208 --> 01:14:52,333 wouldn't talk to us. 1733 01:14:52,417 --> 01:14:54,458 The top lawyer for the White House 1734 01:14:54,542 --> 01:14:55,667 wouldn't talk to us. 1735 01:14:55,750 --> 01:14:58,208 The president wouldn't talk to us. 1736 01:14:58,291 --> 01:15:00,208 It's incredibly unusual. 1737 01:15:00,291 --> 01:15:02,208 - Mr. President-elect... 1738 01:15:02,291 --> 01:15:04,458 narrator: The incoming Trump administration pledged 1739 01:15:04,542 --> 01:15:07,333 to do better than Obama, but when it came time 1740 01:15:07,417 --> 01:15:09,792 for Trump to announce his drug czar, 1741 01:15:09,875 --> 01:15:12,625 he named Tom Marino, the man who spearheaded 1742 01:15:12,709 --> 01:15:15,000 the law to protect the opioid companies. 1743 01:15:15,083 --> 01:15:17,333 [cheers and applause] 1744 01:15:17,417 --> 01:15:19,500 Following the passage of the Marino bill, 1745 01:15:19,583 --> 01:15:23,542 opioid prescriptions soared in some parts of the country. 1746 01:15:23,625 --> 01:15:25,917 Yet in many states, there were also countercurrents 1747 01:15:26,000 --> 01:15:29,375 that swirled in unpredictable ways. 1748 01:15:29,458 --> 01:15:31,250 As far back as 2012, 1749 01:15:31,333 --> 01:15:34,875 a building resistance to opioids was colliding 1750 01:15:34,959 --> 01:15:38,041 with a growing dependence on them. 1751 01:15:38,125 --> 01:15:39,333 - You have millions of people 1752 01:15:39,417 --> 01:15:40,875 who start using these drugs 1753 01:15:40,959 --> 01:15:42,542 and become dependent. 1754 01:15:42,625 --> 01:15:43,875 And then... 1755 01:15:43,959 --> 01:15:45,041 a series of things happen 1756 01:15:45,125 --> 01:15:48,709 that are good things that should've happened earlier. 1757 01:15:48,792 --> 01:15:52,041 States start tightening up regulations, 1758 01:15:52,125 --> 01:15:54,208 pill mills shut down, 1759 01:15:54,291 --> 01:15:56,291 doctors get a little more careful 1760 01:15:56,375 --> 01:15:58,291 about writing prescriptions. 1761 01:15:58,375 --> 01:16:00,875 These changes are good to one way of thinking, 1762 01:16:00,959 --> 01:16:03,542 in the sense that they make it harder 1763 01:16:03,625 --> 01:16:07,417 to buy and abuse pharmaceutical opioids. 1764 01:16:07,500 --> 01:16:10,041 But what that does is it drives all these people 1765 01:16:10,125 --> 01:16:13,458 who are already addicted on to the black market. 1766 01:16:13,542 --> 01:16:15,417 [insects chirping] 1767 01:16:15,500 --> 01:16:17,250 narrator: The illegal trafficking of narcotics 1768 01:16:17,333 --> 01:16:19,750 increased due to growing demand. 1769 01:16:19,834 --> 01:16:22,125 International drug cartels catered to those 1770 01:16:22,208 --> 01:16:25,083 who had become addicted to prescription pills. 1771 01:16:25,166 --> 01:16:27,291 As their need for narcotics increased 1772 01:16:27,375 --> 01:16:28,709 and doctors were more reluctant 1773 01:16:28,792 --> 01:16:30,792 to prescribe rising doses, 1774 01:16:30,875 --> 01:16:32,750 users turned to heroin 1775 01:16:32,834 --> 01:16:36,083 and a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful-- 1776 01:16:36,166 --> 01:16:37,375 fentanyl. 1777 01:16:37,458 --> 01:16:40,375 [tense music] 1778 01:16:40,458 --> 01:16:43,917 ♪ ♪ 1779 01:16:44,041 --> 01:16:46,125 - Fentanyl has been around, 1780 01:16:46,208 --> 01:16:47,959 you know, decades and decades 1781 01:16:48,041 --> 01:16:51,375 and still today has an extremely important use 1782 01:16:51,458 --> 01:16:55,125 medically within the medical community. 1783 01:16:55,208 --> 01:16:57,291 For the illicit side, 1784 01:16:57,375 --> 01:17:00,750 when OxyContin and these things kind of came into the market 1785 01:17:00,834 --> 01:17:05,333 in the 1990s and then people becoming physically addicted 1786 01:17:05,417 --> 01:17:07,333 to it unknowingly, 1787 01:17:07,417 --> 01:17:08,959 if we look at enforcement 1788 01:17:09,041 --> 01:17:11,625 against the pharmaceutical industry that took place 1789 01:17:11,709 --> 01:17:14,959 and against doctors and how things are being prescribed, 1790 01:17:15,041 --> 01:17:18,000 the people who utilized those drugs, 1791 01:17:18,083 --> 01:17:20,834 they now were kind of cut off in their supply. 1792 01:17:20,917 --> 01:17:25,625 And cartels and the illicit side of the markets 1793 01:17:25,709 --> 01:17:27,792 went to fill the void. 1794 01:17:27,875 --> 01:17:34,792 ♪ ♪ 1795 01:17:34,875 --> 01:17:38,500 This is the busiest port of entry in the United States. 1796 01:17:38,583 --> 01:17:40,291 So we're talking about thousands and thousands 1797 01:17:40,375 --> 01:17:44,166 and thousands of people that come through every day. 1798 01:17:44,250 --> 01:17:45,625 The San Ysidro port, 1799 01:17:45,709 --> 01:17:49,291 the first time fentanyl was really intercepted here 1800 01:17:49,375 --> 01:17:53,166 in bulk quantity was in 2014. 1801 01:17:53,250 --> 01:17:54,333 And since then, 1802 01:17:54,417 --> 01:17:57,250 it has just kind of grown out exponentially. 1803 01:17:57,333 --> 01:18:00,709 It's just part of almost daily intercept loads here. 1804 01:18:03,375 --> 01:18:08,250 I can tell you that there is Chinese-produced fentanyl 1805 01:18:08,333 --> 01:18:11,875 that has entered the United States through the port, 1806 01:18:11,959 --> 01:18:15,583 but there is also illicitly made fentanyl 1807 01:18:15,667 --> 01:18:19,542 from other locations that have come through the port. 1808 01:18:19,625 --> 01:18:22,583 [soft dramatic music] 1809 01:18:22,667 --> 01:18:29,041 ♪ ♪ 1810 01:18:29,125 --> 01:18:31,500 narrator: Since 2015, 1811 01:18:31,583 --> 01:18:35,208 fentanyl overdoses have been rising dramatically. 1812 01:18:35,291 --> 01:18:38,583 Rates have soared by 2,000% in San Diego, 1813 01:18:38,667 --> 01:18:40,208 where a federal task force 1814 01:18:40,291 --> 01:18:42,375 is seeking to prosecute dealers 1815 01:18:42,458 --> 01:18:44,166 for the deaths of their buyers. 1816 01:18:44,250 --> 01:18:46,000 ♪ ♪ 1817 01:18:46,083 --> 01:18:48,583 One case involved a 24-year-old college student 1818 01:18:48,667 --> 01:18:50,583 named Sarah Fuzzell. 1819 01:18:50,667 --> 01:18:53,709 Her parents called her their angel on Earth. 1820 01:18:53,792 --> 01:18:56,250 After getting hooked on prescription painkillers, 1821 01:18:56,333 --> 01:18:58,417 she battled addiction for five years 1822 01:18:58,500 --> 01:19:01,875 until the pandemic shut down her support network. 1823 01:19:01,959 --> 01:19:03,583 After dropping out of school, 1824 01:19:03,667 --> 01:19:06,125 she died of a fentanyl overdose. 1825 01:19:06,208 --> 01:19:07,792 ♪ ♪ 1826 01:19:07,875 --> 01:19:10,750 - The father of the girl who had passed away 1827 01:19:10,834 --> 01:19:12,917 had been reaching out, and he said that 1828 01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:14,875 when he received her property back, 1829 01:19:14,959 --> 01:19:16,917 her cell phone, when it turned on 1830 01:19:17,000 --> 01:19:17,917 and was powered up, 1831 01:19:18,000 --> 01:19:19,542 that the person that they believe 1832 01:19:19,625 --> 01:19:21,417 had sold the drugs to their daughter 1833 01:19:21,500 --> 01:19:24,083 was still communicating through the phone. 1834 01:19:24,166 --> 01:19:25,542 ♪ ♪ 1835 01:19:25,625 --> 01:19:28,083 They gave us the phone so we could utilize it 1836 01:19:28,166 --> 01:19:30,792 for investigative value. 1837 01:19:32,667 --> 01:19:34,291 - You almost have to manufacture the energy 1838 01:19:34,375 --> 01:19:36,250 to even want to reach out 1839 01:19:36,333 --> 01:19:38,291 to, like, law enforcement-- you guys-- 1840 01:19:38,375 --> 01:19:39,458 because, you know, 1841 01:19:39,542 --> 01:19:41,834 the ultimate goal of wishing Sarah wasn't dead, 1842 01:19:41,917 --> 01:19:44,250 that's not a possibility to change that. 1843 01:19:44,333 --> 01:19:46,542 So, you know, there's probably some families 1844 01:19:46,625 --> 01:19:48,625 that just kind of quietly go away 1845 01:19:48,709 --> 01:19:51,667 just because there's so much hurt. 1846 01:19:51,750 --> 01:19:54,625 But we're wide open to doing anything that we can do 1847 01:19:54,709 --> 01:19:56,500 that will help. - Yeah. 1848 01:19:56,583 --> 01:19:59,834 So let me just give you kind of a quick rundown... 1849 01:19:59,917 --> 01:20:00,792 - Okay. 1850 01:20:00,875 --> 01:20:02,750 - Of kind of what took place. 1851 01:20:02,834 --> 01:20:05,583 [suspenseful music] 1852 01:20:05,667 --> 01:20:11,250 ♪ ♪ 1853 01:20:11,333 --> 01:20:14,667 We spent well over 40-straight man-hours... 1854 01:20:14,750 --> 01:20:17,000 ♪ ♪ 1855 01:20:17,083 --> 01:20:21,333 Between about 15 to 30 people at one time 1856 01:20:21,417 --> 01:20:22,792 getting this to go down. 1857 01:20:22,875 --> 01:20:24,291 ♪ ♪ 1858 01:20:24,375 --> 01:20:25,458 - Basically what we're doing 1859 01:20:25,542 --> 01:20:28,792 is we're targeting a suspected fentanyl distributor 1860 01:20:28,875 --> 01:20:30,542 who we believe is responsible 1861 01:20:30,625 --> 01:20:34,000 for a recent overdose drug death. 1862 01:20:34,083 --> 01:20:35,959 And, essentially, what we're doing 1863 01:20:36,041 --> 01:20:38,959 is we're trying to lure the distributor out 1864 01:20:39,041 --> 01:20:40,625 to this particular parking lot, 1865 01:20:40,709 --> 01:20:43,375 and then we're gonna place that person under arrest. 1866 01:20:43,458 --> 01:20:50,458 ♪ ♪ 1867 01:20:54,959 --> 01:20:56,792 [radio chirps] 1868 01:21:00,291 --> 01:21:02,542 So... - Oh, sweet. 1869 01:21:02,625 --> 01:21:04,291 [radio chirps] 1870 01:21:08,917 --> 01:21:15,917 ♪ ♪ 1871 01:21:28,458 --> 01:21:30,125 [radio chirps] 1872 01:21:34,667 --> 01:21:41,667 ♪ ♪ 1873 01:22:10,166 --> 01:22:12,041 - Yeah, Wasser to all code five units. 1874 01:22:12,125 --> 01:22:14,208 Try to set something up for tomorrow. 1875 01:22:14,291 --> 01:22:16,542 I think we've been pushy enough for the day, 1876 01:22:16,625 --> 01:22:18,083 and I think it's just best 1877 01:22:18,166 --> 01:22:21,625 that we back off for the moment, break. 1878 01:22:21,709 --> 01:22:23,125 - We had a hard time. 1879 01:22:23,208 --> 01:22:24,625 We set up for it. 1880 01:22:24,709 --> 01:22:26,667 We spent the entire day waiting, 1881 01:22:26,750 --> 01:22:29,500 and we never were able to make that contact. 1882 01:22:29,583 --> 01:22:30,959 - Okay. 1883 01:22:31,041 --> 01:22:32,291 We really appreciate 1884 01:22:32,375 --> 01:22:34,583 what you and your task force and all are doing, you know? 1885 01:22:34,667 --> 01:22:36,500 It's making a difference. 1886 01:22:36,583 --> 01:22:39,625 ♪ ♪ 1887 01:22:39,709 --> 01:22:40,792 - Every day 1888 01:22:40,875 --> 01:22:43,125 it is a continuous game of cat and mouse, 1889 01:22:43,208 --> 01:22:46,166 where, you know, the impact of the death 1890 01:22:46,250 --> 01:22:51,583 is one piece of this entire puzzle. 1891 01:22:51,667 --> 01:22:54,458 You have people who are nefariously producing it, 1892 01:22:54,542 --> 01:22:56,291 people who are buying, procuring chemicals, 1893 01:22:56,375 --> 01:22:57,834 moving that stuff around the world, 1894 01:22:57,917 --> 01:23:01,291 looking for people to perfect a new recipe 1895 01:23:01,375 --> 01:23:04,542 or way to market it in a faster way. 1896 01:23:04,625 --> 01:23:06,709 ♪ ♪ 1897 01:23:06,792 --> 01:23:09,709 narrator: To figure out the puzzle of the opioid crisis, 1898 01:23:09,792 --> 01:23:12,000 you have to look for ill-fitting pieces 1899 01:23:12,083 --> 01:23:14,417 all over the country. 1900 01:23:14,500 --> 01:23:15,959 In Lubbock, Texas, 1901 01:23:16,041 --> 01:23:18,000 the DEA opened an investigation 1902 01:23:18,083 --> 01:23:21,000 into a possible drug cartel operation 1903 01:23:21,083 --> 01:23:23,667 when the medical examiner reported a sudden rise 1904 01:23:23,750 --> 01:23:26,291 in deaths from fentanyl overdoses. 1905 01:23:26,375 --> 01:23:29,333 But something surprised the agents. 1906 01:23:29,417 --> 01:23:30,834 The likely kingpin turned out 1907 01:23:30,917 --> 01:23:33,208 not to be a professional criminal. 1908 01:23:33,291 --> 01:23:34,542 Instead, 1909 01:23:34,625 --> 01:23:37,500 all evidence seemed to lead to a local computer repair man 1910 01:23:37,583 --> 01:23:39,166 named Caleb Lanier. 1911 01:23:39,250 --> 01:23:41,750 ♪ ♪ 1912 01:24:04,125 --> 01:24:07,542 ♪ ♪ 1913 01:24:07,625 --> 01:24:09,208 - I guess there's a couple times in my life 1914 01:24:09,291 --> 01:24:12,542 where I could've walked away, but it's so hard. 1915 01:24:12,625 --> 01:24:14,709 When the doctors start prescribing these drugs, 1916 01:24:14,792 --> 01:24:16,208 get you addicted to them, 1917 01:24:16,291 --> 01:24:18,667 it numbs you, and it's dangerous 1918 01:24:18,750 --> 01:24:22,083 because somebody that's depressed and has anxiety 1919 01:24:22,166 --> 01:24:24,083 and now doesn't feel the fears and doesn't-- 1920 01:24:24,166 --> 01:24:26,041 they're going to do things like I did. 1921 01:24:26,125 --> 01:24:27,125 They are. 1922 01:24:27,208 --> 01:24:33,583 ♪ ♪ 1923 01:24:33,667 --> 01:24:36,250 I grew up in a little town called Clovis, New Mexico. 1924 01:24:36,333 --> 01:24:38,917 It's on the border of Texas and New Mexico. 1925 01:24:39,000 --> 01:24:41,750 About 40,000 people at the time. 1926 01:24:41,834 --> 01:24:43,625 Pretty normal family. 1927 01:24:43,709 --> 01:24:45,333 My parents did everything they could 1928 01:24:45,417 --> 01:24:47,583 to help me the best they could. 1929 01:24:47,667 --> 01:24:49,250 Three sisters that are all older than me, 1930 01:24:49,333 --> 01:24:51,542 so definitely got picked on a little bit from them, 1931 01:24:51,625 --> 01:24:52,583 but I knew they all loved me 1932 01:24:52,667 --> 01:24:54,250 and I had support, so, you know, 1933 01:24:54,333 --> 01:24:56,625 it wasn't a matter of me not having loved ones around me 1934 01:24:56,709 --> 01:24:58,750 or growing up in a rough neighborhood 1935 01:24:58,834 --> 01:25:02,208 or anything like that that led to the path that I'm at now. 1936 01:25:02,291 --> 01:25:07,959 ♪ ♪ 1937 01:25:08,041 --> 01:25:10,959 Now, I got ran over by a pickup truck in 2001. 1938 01:25:11,041 --> 01:25:14,625 Ran across my right leg, across my chest, 1939 01:25:14,709 --> 01:25:16,458 and up off my left shoulder. 1940 01:25:16,542 --> 01:25:17,500 Needless to say, from that point on, 1941 01:25:17,583 --> 01:25:19,458 I've dealt with pain my entire life-- 1942 01:25:19,542 --> 01:25:21,375 physical pain, emotional pain as well. 1943 01:25:21,458 --> 01:25:24,250 It's hard to even talk about it. 1944 01:25:24,333 --> 01:25:26,458 I started taking very heavy opiates. 1945 01:25:26,542 --> 01:25:27,625 I was being prescribed 1946 01:25:27,709 --> 01:25:30,458 40 milligrams of OxyContin with 2 milligrams Xanax 1947 01:25:30,542 --> 01:25:31,750 from day one, 1948 01:25:31,834 --> 01:25:33,792 and that's huge amounts of opiates and Xanax together, 1949 01:25:33,875 --> 01:25:36,792 which is not supposed to be prescribed to begin with. 1950 01:25:36,875 --> 01:25:38,667 I became addicted pretty quickly. 1951 01:25:38,750 --> 01:25:41,000 ♪ ♪ 1952 01:25:41,083 --> 01:25:44,083 - He would go to a doctor in Portales, New Mexico. 1953 01:25:44,166 --> 01:25:46,291 I went with him a couple of times. 1954 01:25:46,375 --> 01:25:49,000 He would say, "Oh, I researched this medication, 1955 01:25:49,083 --> 01:25:50,000 and I'd like to try it." 1956 01:25:50,083 --> 01:25:52,500 And she said, "Okay, Caleb." 1957 01:25:52,583 --> 01:25:54,500 The first time, I didn't think anything of it. 1958 01:25:54,583 --> 01:25:56,875 And then after a couple of times 1959 01:25:56,959 --> 01:25:58,709 and him switching up medications 1960 01:25:58,792 --> 01:26:01,333 and her not even looking into it, 1961 01:26:01,417 --> 01:26:03,417 just prescribing him whatever he wanted, 1962 01:26:03,500 --> 01:26:05,291 I said, "Wow, I don't think 1963 01:26:05,375 --> 01:26:07,500 that she should be prescribing you whatever you want." 1964 01:26:07,583 --> 01:26:09,500 And he said, "Oh, no, she's my family doctor. 1965 01:26:09,583 --> 01:26:11,667 She trusts me. She knows I do the research." 1966 01:26:11,750 --> 01:26:14,125 And that was probably my first inkling 1967 01:26:14,208 --> 01:26:16,125 that, you know, something was wrong. 1968 01:26:16,208 --> 01:26:18,667 ♪ ♪ 1969 01:26:18,750 --> 01:26:19,834 - Pain has an issue 1970 01:26:19,917 --> 01:26:22,000 of causing people to become depressed. 1971 01:26:22,083 --> 01:26:23,959 I mean, it's just-- it's part of it, you know? 1972 01:26:24,041 --> 01:26:25,333 When you deal with it every day-- 1973 01:26:25,417 --> 01:26:26,834 I explain it like a roller coaster, 1974 01:26:26,917 --> 01:26:28,166 and you're on that roller coaster, 1975 01:26:28,250 --> 01:26:29,709 and you're getting nauseous, and you're about to vomit, 1976 01:26:29,792 --> 01:26:31,667 and every time the roller coaster comes around, 1977 01:26:31,750 --> 01:26:34,166 you're looking at the guy that has that stop switch. 1978 01:26:34,250 --> 01:26:36,417 And you're like, "Stop this thing. I want off." 1979 01:26:36,500 --> 01:26:40,083 But there's no stopping. It's the rest of your life. 1980 01:26:40,166 --> 01:26:41,375 It wears on you. 1981 01:26:41,458 --> 01:26:42,875 You look at the things that you used to be able to do, 1982 01:26:42,959 --> 01:26:44,417 the things you want to do with your family, 1983 01:26:44,500 --> 01:26:46,208 the things you want to do with your friends, 1984 01:26:46,291 --> 01:26:47,834 and you can't do them. 1985 01:26:47,917 --> 01:26:50,750 [riders screaming] 1986 01:26:50,834 --> 01:26:52,375 I got where I was using so much 1987 01:26:52,458 --> 01:26:55,041 that I would go through my entire prescription 1988 01:26:55,125 --> 01:26:58,583 within the first four days of the month. 1989 01:26:58,667 --> 01:27:00,333 You're so tired of this roller coaster, 1990 01:27:00,417 --> 01:27:03,417 you'd rather just put a needle in your arm 1991 01:27:03,500 --> 01:27:06,041 and make the pain go away. 1992 01:27:06,125 --> 01:27:09,458 I started using heroin at that point. 1993 01:27:09,542 --> 01:27:11,625 Heroin worked for a short period of time, 1994 01:27:11,709 --> 01:27:13,208 but it was too expensive. 1995 01:27:13,291 --> 01:27:15,709 I had also been on fentanyl, 1996 01:27:15,792 --> 01:27:20,750 and that led to me finding it on the Internet. 1997 01:27:20,834 --> 01:27:23,625 [keys clacking] 1998 01:27:23,709 --> 01:27:26,709 [mechanical whirring] 1999 01:27:33,333 --> 01:27:34,709 - The first thing that we saw-- 2000 01:27:34,792 --> 01:27:36,417 there was a shipment of fentanyl 2001 01:27:36,500 --> 01:27:38,208 that was destined to Lubbock, Texas, 2002 01:27:38,291 --> 01:27:40,583 that was seized by Customs and Border Protection 2003 01:27:40,667 --> 01:27:43,417 in November of 2015. 2004 01:27:43,500 --> 01:27:45,709 We started talking to Lubbock Police Department, 2005 01:27:45,792 --> 01:27:47,458 the sheriff's office, narcotics units, 2006 01:27:47,542 --> 01:27:49,625 and we discovered that they were also seeing an uptick 2007 01:27:49,709 --> 01:27:50,625 in fentanyl. 2008 01:27:50,709 --> 01:27:53,792 They were buying it in street-level sales. 2009 01:27:53,875 --> 01:27:57,667 And then we had several people that walked into our door 2010 01:27:57,750 --> 01:28:01,291 that were fentanyl users that had gone to drug rehab. 2011 01:28:01,375 --> 01:28:05,041 We took the intelligence from those individuals, 2012 01:28:05,125 --> 01:28:08,875 and we started extensive surveillance on Caleb Lanier. 2013 01:28:08,959 --> 01:28:10,500 And we discovered that, yes, 2014 01:28:10,583 --> 01:28:13,291 this is the person that's using the dark web, 2015 01:28:13,375 --> 01:28:15,500 reaching out to labs in China directly. 2016 01:28:15,583 --> 01:28:17,333 - [computerized voice] Hello, everyone. 2017 01:28:17,417 --> 01:28:20,208 We are the vendor of research chemical products. 2018 01:28:20,291 --> 01:28:23,834 Include 2-FDCK, etizolam... 2019 01:28:23,917 --> 01:28:26,417 ♪ ♪ 2020 01:28:26,500 --> 01:28:28,834 - He had a wood shed behind his house 2021 01:28:28,917 --> 01:28:32,208 that he used as a modified chemistry lab. 2022 01:28:32,291 --> 01:28:34,041 He was experimenting extensively 2023 01:28:34,125 --> 01:28:37,166 with different variants of fentanyl-- 2024 01:28:37,250 --> 01:28:39,041 furanyl fentanyl, acrylofentanyl. 2025 01:28:39,125 --> 01:28:40,834 And he was tweaking them 2026 01:28:40,917 --> 01:28:42,333 and he was using them on himself 2027 01:28:42,417 --> 01:28:45,375 to try to figure out which provided the best high, 2028 01:28:45,458 --> 01:28:47,000 which lasted the longest, 2029 01:28:47,083 --> 01:28:49,667 and he figured out a way that he could maximize his profits 2030 01:28:49,750 --> 01:28:51,667 while he was also treating himself. 2031 01:28:51,750 --> 01:28:54,250 [soft dramatic music] 2032 01:28:54,333 --> 01:28:55,792 - I thought I was a good father. 2033 01:28:55,875 --> 01:28:57,041 I thought I was a good husband, 2034 01:28:57,125 --> 01:29:01,834 but it look back at it sober and realize it's insane. 2035 01:29:01,917 --> 01:29:03,333 Most heroin addicts might shoot up 2036 01:29:03,417 --> 01:29:04,667 two, three times a day. 2037 01:29:04,750 --> 01:29:06,166 I was shooting 20 times a day. 2038 01:29:06,250 --> 01:29:08,333 There was times I was so high, right, 2039 01:29:08,417 --> 01:29:11,542 that I would fall asleep while I'm counting $100 bills. 2040 01:29:11,625 --> 01:29:13,166 I would have to get my children 2041 01:29:13,250 --> 01:29:14,625 to help me count the money. 2042 01:29:14,709 --> 01:29:18,041 ♪ ♪ 2043 01:29:18,125 --> 01:29:22,375 - Lanier, he was a victim of the opioid epidemic, 2044 01:29:22,458 --> 01:29:25,417 but then he starting selling, distributing, 2045 01:29:25,500 --> 01:29:28,542 and he realized the profitability in it. 2046 01:29:28,625 --> 01:29:32,041 He could import 200 grams of fentanyl from China 2047 01:29:32,125 --> 01:29:34,500 for around $3,500, 2048 01:29:34,583 --> 01:29:38,875 and he was making over $300,000 in profit. 2049 01:29:38,959 --> 01:29:41,709 He started developing ways to launder his money. 2050 01:29:41,792 --> 01:29:43,667 He had a new business 2051 01:29:43,750 --> 01:29:46,917 that had a lot of cash deposits that weren't normal. 2052 01:29:47,000 --> 01:29:48,709 He started recruiting other people 2053 01:29:48,792 --> 01:29:50,542 to sell fentanyl in the street, 2054 01:29:50,625 --> 01:29:54,041 to gather money to take back to Lanier. 2055 01:29:54,125 --> 01:29:56,709 He became the leader of a drug-trafficking organization. 2056 01:29:56,792 --> 01:29:58,250 [siren wailing] 2057 01:29:58,333 --> 01:30:00,750 The fentanyl that they were bringing in the community 2058 01:30:00,834 --> 01:30:02,583 attracted a whole new branch of people 2059 01:30:02,667 --> 01:30:05,291 that normally wouldn't even be associated with opioids. 2060 01:30:05,375 --> 01:30:08,083 We had people from all walks of life 2061 01:30:08,166 --> 01:30:09,375 overdosing on fentanyl, 2062 01:30:09,458 --> 01:30:11,750 and we knew that if we didn't get 2063 01:30:11,834 --> 01:30:13,083 a handle on it really quick, 2064 01:30:13,166 --> 01:30:15,542 it was gonna be a bigger and bigger problem. 2065 01:30:15,625 --> 01:30:19,375 ♪ ♪ 2066 01:30:19,458 --> 01:30:20,750 - When you look at this problem, 2067 01:30:20,834 --> 01:30:22,834 it can look, from a distance, 2068 01:30:22,917 --> 01:30:25,583 forbiddingly complex, but, actually, 2069 01:30:25,667 --> 01:30:29,458 there's a mechanism that should be pretty easy to understand. 2070 01:30:29,542 --> 01:30:31,917 So what Purdue would say today-- 2071 01:30:32,000 --> 01:30:33,750 what a lot of these pharmaceutical companies 2072 01:30:33,834 --> 01:30:35,917 say today is... 2073 01:30:36,000 --> 01:30:38,250 "Don't blame us for the opioid crisis. 2074 01:30:38,333 --> 01:30:40,583 "These people today, they're dying from heroin. 2075 01:30:40,667 --> 01:30:42,458 They're dying from fentanyl." 2076 01:30:42,542 --> 01:30:44,667 As though the roots of this thing, 2077 01:30:44,750 --> 01:30:46,667 it was some foreign invasion, 2078 01:30:46,750 --> 01:30:50,417 when the truth is that the pharmaceutical companies 2079 01:30:50,500 --> 01:30:53,125 got very good at getting people on to opioids 2080 01:30:53,208 --> 01:30:55,625 but not at getting them off. 2081 01:30:55,709 --> 01:30:58,125 - ♪ I love titration, yeah, that's not a problem ♪ 2082 01:30:58,208 --> 01:31:01,041 ♪ And I got new patients, and I got a lot of 'em ♪ 2083 01:31:10,250 --> 01:31:12,792 - Titration, it's actually the responsible thing to do, 2084 01:31:12,875 --> 01:31:14,458 but not in this regard. 2085 01:31:14,542 --> 01:31:17,417 But, typically, what you're supposed to do is start low... 2086 01:31:17,500 --> 01:31:18,750 and titrate slow. 2087 01:31:18,834 --> 01:31:21,333 - You're supposed to titrate up to the appropriate level. 2088 01:31:21,417 --> 01:31:22,333 Now, this is something 2089 01:31:22,417 --> 01:31:23,834 that happens in medicine all the time, 2090 01:31:23,917 --> 01:31:25,667 and it's totally normal, right? 2091 01:31:25,750 --> 01:31:28,000 Start the low dose, play it conservative. 2092 01:31:28,083 --> 01:31:31,083 - It's simply about balancing the side effects with efficacy. 2093 01:31:40,917 --> 01:31:43,083 But at Insys, was the higher, the better. 2094 01:31:43,166 --> 01:31:45,375 It was called the effective dose campaign. 2095 01:31:45,458 --> 01:31:48,709 It was a campaign that was created by Dr. John Kapoor. 2096 01:31:51,417 --> 01:31:52,667 - What Kapoor said unequivocally 2097 01:31:52,750 --> 01:31:55,166 and what is in black and white in emails 2098 01:31:55,250 --> 01:31:56,834 is they knew that if you got 2099 01:31:56,917 --> 01:31:58,333 to a 400-microgram dose or higher, 2100 01:31:58,417 --> 01:32:00,333 they would stay on the drug longer, 2101 01:32:00,417 --> 01:32:02,542 and so they'd make more money. 2102 01:32:02,625 --> 01:32:04,000 - ♪ I love titration, yeah, that's not a problem ♪ 2103 01:32:04,083 --> 01:32:06,834 ♪ And I got new patients and I got a lot of 'em ♪ 2104 01:32:06,917 --> 01:32:08,250 - In the context of this video, 2105 01:32:08,333 --> 01:32:11,041 it's like titrate means, like, goose up the dosage, 2106 01:32:11,125 --> 01:32:12,250 and then we're gonna make more money. 2107 01:32:12,333 --> 01:32:15,542 Is that the idea? - [inhales deeply] 2108 01:32:15,625 --> 01:32:16,500 Yes. 2109 01:32:16,583 --> 01:32:17,667 - They spent a lot of time and energy 2110 01:32:17,750 --> 01:32:20,041 trying to convince sales reps to do this, 2111 01:32:20,125 --> 01:32:22,542 and some of the more absurd aspects of the case 2112 01:32:22,625 --> 01:32:23,875 with this bottle, 2113 01:32:23,959 --> 01:32:26,542 of a 1,600-microgram dose of Subsys 2114 01:32:26,625 --> 01:32:28,583 dancing around to a rap 2115 01:32:28,667 --> 01:32:30,667 written over a popular A$AP Rocky song, 2116 01:32:30,750 --> 01:32:32,083 trying to convince the sales force, 2117 01:32:32,166 --> 01:32:34,375 "Go tell your doctor titration's not a problem." 2118 01:32:34,458 --> 01:32:35,542 [slowing down] - ♪ I love titration ♪ 2119 01:32:35,625 --> 01:32:36,875 ♪ Yeah, it's not a problem ♪ 2120 01:32:36,959 --> 01:32:39,542 - That video was the worst possible move 2121 01:32:39,625 --> 01:32:40,792 we could've ever made. 2122 01:32:40,875 --> 01:32:44,542 We asked the sales force to put together a short video, 2123 01:32:44,625 --> 01:32:47,917 and then we would provide the award to the best video. 2124 01:32:48,000 --> 01:32:49,250 - All right, dude! 2125 01:32:49,333 --> 01:32:50,917 Dude, we killed it last year. - We demolished it last year. 2126 01:32:51,000 --> 01:32:52,250 Reps are gonna be gunning for us. 2127 01:32:52,333 --> 01:32:53,417 - Absolutely. 2128 01:32:53,500 --> 01:32:56,709 - So these two really sharp, good-looking guys, 2129 01:32:56,792 --> 01:32:58,834 you know, who look like models, supermodels... 2130 01:33:01,166 --> 01:33:02,709 Obviously, they went all-out. 2131 01:33:06,000 --> 01:33:08,166 And they're phenomenal salespeople, by the way. 2132 01:33:15,625 --> 01:33:18,125 When that video first came through email, 2133 01:33:18,208 --> 01:33:20,917 I'm watching this video, and I'm engaged. 2134 01:33:21,000 --> 01:33:22,417 I was enthusiastic 2135 01:33:22,500 --> 01:33:25,000 and actually was a little bit emotional. 2136 01:33:27,709 --> 01:33:29,291 I said, "I can't believe the effort they put in. 2137 01:33:29,375 --> 01:33:30,333 I'm touched." 2138 01:33:30,417 --> 01:33:32,333 - ♪ Okay, I got it, and just... ♪ 2139 01:33:46,417 --> 01:33:48,083 ♪ Yes, Lord ♪ 2140 01:33:48,166 --> 01:33:49,250 - The person in the costume 2141 01:33:49,333 --> 01:33:52,458 dancing and singing and rapping, that's not me. 2142 01:33:52,542 --> 01:33:54,000 People who know me, they know I can't dance. 2143 01:33:54,083 --> 01:33:55,250 They know I can't rap. 2144 01:33:55,333 --> 01:33:56,458 Yeah, I'm a 5'8" Jewish guy. 2145 01:33:56,542 --> 01:33:58,250 I mean, it's just not happening. 2146 01:34:05,875 --> 01:34:07,333 Months later, they go, 2147 01:34:07,417 --> 01:34:09,166 "You got to put this costume on, 2148 01:34:09,250 --> 01:34:10,875 "and we're gonna reveal it at the end 2149 01:34:10,959 --> 01:34:13,291 that you're the guy in the costume." 2150 01:34:13,375 --> 01:34:15,041 [sighs] 2151 01:34:15,125 --> 01:34:16,333 Whoo! 2152 01:34:16,417 --> 01:34:18,625 Nine takes later, an hour and a half later, 2153 01:34:18,709 --> 01:34:20,000 this frickin' thing is done. 2154 01:34:20,083 --> 01:34:23,041 ♪ I love titration, yeah, that's not a problem ♪ 2155 01:34:23,125 --> 01:34:25,166 - Just in terms of shedding light 2156 01:34:25,250 --> 01:34:27,000 on the corporate culture, right? 2157 01:34:27,083 --> 01:34:28,542 John Kapoor is in the room 2158 01:34:28,625 --> 01:34:31,667 while this video is being played. 2159 01:34:31,750 --> 01:34:33,667 This is two years after they've received a subpoena 2160 01:34:33,750 --> 01:34:36,542 from the government looking into their practices. 2161 01:34:36,625 --> 01:34:38,333 - As all this was happening, 2162 01:34:38,417 --> 01:34:41,333 you took a pretty confident approach, 2163 01:34:41,417 --> 01:34:43,375 in terms of-- you gave a speech 2164 01:34:43,458 --> 01:34:45,041 at, like, a rep conference or something like that, 2165 01:34:45,125 --> 01:34:47,166 and one of the things you said up at the top was, 2166 01:34:47,250 --> 01:34:48,834 "Oh, any spies here?" - Mm-hmm. 2167 01:34:48,917 --> 01:34:50,542 - You referred to the investigation. 2168 01:34:50,625 --> 01:34:52,041 - Mm-hmm. 2169 01:34:52,125 --> 01:34:53,250 - You must've had an idea 2170 01:34:53,333 --> 01:34:54,875 that there was something worth investigating. 2171 01:34:54,959 --> 01:34:57,041 But why were you so confident that nothing was gonna happen? 2172 01:34:57,125 --> 01:35:00,500 - I wasn't confident. I was scared as heck. 2173 01:35:00,583 --> 01:35:02,750 I talked to my dad every night, 2174 01:35:02,834 --> 01:35:05,166 and I'm like, "How do I get out of this freakin' place?" 2175 01:35:05,250 --> 01:35:06,875 He's like, "Just leave." 2176 01:35:06,959 --> 01:35:08,041 And I'm like, "But they did this, 2177 01:35:08,125 --> 01:35:09,375 "and they did that, and they have this, 2178 01:35:09,458 --> 01:35:11,208 "and they told me to do this, and no matter what I do, 2179 01:35:11,291 --> 01:35:12,417 "I'm gonna be in trouble, 2180 01:35:12,500 --> 01:35:13,917 and they promised me all this money," 2181 01:35:14,000 --> 01:35:16,500 and all these stupid things. 2182 01:35:16,583 --> 01:35:17,834 [groans] 2183 01:35:17,917 --> 01:35:19,750 I mean, from the moment I woke up in the morning, 2184 01:35:19,834 --> 01:35:21,917 my heart would be just pounding through my chest, you know? 2185 01:35:22,000 --> 01:35:24,041 And the whole drive to the office, 2186 01:35:24,125 --> 01:35:27,417 just pounding, pounding, pounding. 2187 01:35:27,500 --> 01:35:29,250 This is in Chandler, Arizona. 2188 01:35:29,333 --> 01:35:31,083 We moved, like, two or three times. 2189 01:35:31,166 --> 01:35:33,917 This was the final office that I was a part of. 2190 01:35:34,000 --> 01:35:35,917 You know, my kids were in a new school. 2191 01:35:36,000 --> 01:35:37,125 We're in a new place. 2192 01:35:37,208 --> 01:35:38,750 My wife's trying to get adjusted. 2193 01:35:38,834 --> 01:35:40,583 I forced 'em to make this move. 2194 01:35:40,667 --> 01:35:43,542 And the numbers come in while I'm driving to work, 2195 01:35:43,625 --> 01:35:44,542 always. 2196 01:35:44,625 --> 01:35:46,375 Literally, you're just holding your phone. 2197 01:35:46,458 --> 01:35:47,542 Boom. There it shows up. 2198 01:35:47,625 --> 01:35:49,583 213, 330, whatever. 2199 01:35:49,667 --> 01:35:51,750 "Alec, what plan of action do you have in place? 2200 01:35:51,834 --> 01:35:53,583 "Alec, do you have a flight booked? 2201 01:35:53,667 --> 01:35:54,709 "Where are you staying? 2202 01:35:54,792 --> 01:35:57,583 "Why is your flight not booked? Are you a moron? 2203 01:35:57,667 --> 01:35:58,583 "I don't understand. 2204 01:35:58,667 --> 01:36:01,709 The guy's down 18% from last week." 2205 01:36:01,792 --> 01:36:04,083 "Dr. Kapoor, can I speak?" 2206 01:36:04,166 --> 01:36:05,375 "No! 2207 01:36:05,458 --> 01:36:07,750 "Alec, you're VP of sales. Where are the prescriptions? 2208 01:36:07,834 --> 01:36:08,750 "They're not there? 2209 01:36:08,834 --> 01:36:10,250 "Pack your bags, grab your kids, 2210 01:36:10,333 --> 01:36:13,750 grab your wife, catch a bus home." 2211 01:36:13,834 --> 01:36:17,041 - People were getting fired left and right. 2212 01:36:17,125 --> 01:36:18,792 I don't know if it's different for anybody else, 2213 01:36:18,875 --> 01:36:19,959 but for me, 2214 01:36:20,041 --> 01:36:23,625 because I entered in knowing, if I don't produce, 2215 01:36:23,709 --> 01:36:26,917 that I'm dispensable at any point regardless 2216 01:36:27,000 --> 01:36:30,166 because I'm the one that didn't have the degree. 2217 01:36:30,250 --> 01:36:33,792 But the culture, definitely... 2218 01:36:33,875 --> 01:36:35,750 it wasn't an equal culture. 2219 01:36:35,834 --> 01:36:40,250 I heard about other relationships with girls 2220 01:36:40,333 --> 01:36:43,125 and executives, 2221 01:36:43,208 --> 01:36:47,959 and once they had expired... [chuckles] 2222 01:36:48,041 --> 01:36:51,291 then you're dispensable, right? 2223 01:36:51,375 --> 01:36:54,041 [downbeat music] 2224 01:36:54,125 --> 01:36:56,041 A lot of pressure. 2225 01:36:56,125 --> 01:36:57,542 A lot of pressure. 2226 01:36:57,625 --> 01:37:00,792 "Do this or this." 2227 01:37:00,875 --> 01:37:04,542 The relationship with Alec didn't help. 2228 01:37:04,625 --> 01:37:07,166 It was very volatile. 2229 01:37:07,250 --> 01:37:11,166 What's very weird is Alec was saying things like, 2230 01:37:11,250 --> 01:37:13,500 "I'm out of time. I'm out of time." 2231 01:37:13,583 --> 01:37:16,875 And I was pressuring him to tell me what is going on, 2232 01:37:16,959 --> 01:37:21,208 and he pulled out a gun out of his glovebox, 2233 01:37:21,291 --> 01:37:25,166 and he was like, "You see? I'm carrying this gun." 2234 01:37:25,250 --> 01:37:27,208 He's like, "You don't know. I'm carrying this. 2235 01:37:27,291 --> 01:37:30,000 I got to protect myself." 2236 01:37:30,083 --> 01:37:33,166 - He had obviously been treated poorly 2237 01:37:33,250 --> 01:37:35,500 by the company. 2238 01:37:35,583 --> 01:37:38,834 I think that he became aware 2239 01:37:38,917 --> 01:37:42,917 that he was gonna be the scapegoat in the case, 2240 01:37:43,000 --> 01:37:47,542 that the other defendants were going to blame Burlakoff. 2241 01:37:47,625 --> 01:37:50,875 - The company told me nothing, ever. 2242 01:37:50,959 --> 01:37:52,709 I asked a million times, 2243 01:37:52,792 --> 01:37:53,875 "What happened with this doctor? 2244 01:37:53,959 --> 01:37:55,542 "Why did this doctor get arrested? What-- 2245 01:37:55,625 --> 01:37:57,375 "I heard a patient passed away. What--" 2246 01:37:57,458 --> 01:38:00,709 "Ne--Alex, stay in your lane. What's your lane? Sales." 2247 01:38:00,792 --> 01:38:04,542 I think a lot of people who have been in legal situations 2248 01:38:04,625 --> 01:38:07,875 would understand what I'm talking about. 2249 01:38:07,959 --> 01:38:09,500 It's just no way to live, 2250 01:38:09,583 --> 01:38:12,041 wondering when the other shoe is gonna drop. 2251 01:38:12,125 --> 01:38:14,709 [suspenseful music] 2252 01:38:14,792 --> 01:38:17,750 ♪ ♪ 2253 01:38:17,834 --> 01:38:19,583 - He reached out again. 2254 01:38:19,667 --> 01:38:21,041 We were actually able to 2255 01:38:21,125 --> 01:38:23,792 get him telling us a location. 2256 01:38:23,875 --> 01:38:26,667 - We're gonna try to bounce him from 6th over to 4th, 2257 01:38:26,750 --> 01:38:29,417 kind of that roundabout over by Horton Plaza. 2258 01:38:29,500 --> 01:38:31,291 What's the last you've told him? 2259 01:38:31,375 --> 01:38:33,917 - I said I'm coming. - Oh, okay. 2260 01:38:34,000 --> 01:38:36,417 - So we wound up in downtown San Diego. 2261 01:38:36,500 --> 01:38:38,291 We set him in on a vehicle. 2262 01:38:38,375 --> 01:38:39,583 - 10-4 the ID. 2263 01:38:39,667 --> 01:38:42,750 So, basically, he's saying he spent his money on this, 2264 01:38:42,834 --> 01:38:45,959 that he needs her to be there before 1:30. 2265 01:38:46,041 --> 01:38:47,917 ♪ ♪ 2266 01:38:48,000 --> 01:38:51,709 He last relayed his location at 12:48 at 6th and Broadway 2267 01:38:51,792 --> 01:38:55,291 and says that he has no car. 2268 01:38:55,375 --> 01:38:58,250 All right, updated-- he's saying he's on his way. 2269 01:38:58,333 --> 01:39:02,333 I asked him where he was, and that was his response. 2270 01:39:02,417 --> 01:39:04,625 ♪ ♪ 2271 01:39:04,709 --> 01:39:06,625 Also said, "Just let me know where you parked 2272 01:39:06,709 --> 01:39:08,166 so I can come find you." 2273 01:39:08,250 --> 01:39:09,959 And then, "Oh, on my way." 2274 01:39:10,041 --> 01:39:11,667 - [exhales sharply] 2275 01:39:28,208 --> 01:39:31,375 - It's torture. [chuckles softly] 2276 01:39:31,458 --> 01:39:33,291 Just wait. The wait's always torture. 2277 01:39:33,375 --> 01:39:35,917 You think you'd get used to it, but it's just-- 2278 01:39:49,917 --> 01:39:51,333 - All right, James, start moving in. 2279 01:39:51,417 --> 01:39:53,709 - Now. - Now. 2280 01:39:53,792 --> 01:39:56,959 - Lights. [engine revving] 2281 01:40:01,417 --> 01:40:02,834 [tires skidding] 2282 01:40:02,917 --> 01:40:05,875 [tense music] 2283 01:40:05,959 --> 01:40:07,834 ♪ ♪ 2284 01:40:07,917 --> 01:40:09,500 - San Diego Police! Let me see your hands! 2285 01:40:09,583 --> 01:40:10,959 Get on the ground! - Do it now! 2286 01:40:11,041 --> 01:40:13,000 - Drop to the ground right now! Don't move! 2287 01:40:13,083 --> 01:40:14,500 Put your hands behind your back! 2288 01:40:14,583 --> 01:40:16,041 Do not move! - Don't move. 2289 01:40:16,125 --> 01:40:19,041 - [barking] 2290 01:40:19,125 --> 01:40:20,500 - Say about 5:30 in the morning, 2291 01:40:20,583 --> 01:40:21,917 I was sleeping on the couch, and I woke up, 2292 01:40:22,041 --> 01:40:23,750 and went and said good morning to my wife. 2293 01:40:23,834 --> 01:40:26,041 [thump] And I heard 'em hit the door. 2294 01:40:26,125 --> 01:40:27,875 [wood splinters] Saying, "DEA." 2295 01:40:27,959 --> 01:40:30,041 They looked like they were fixing to kill somebody. 2296 01:40:30,125 --> 01:40:32,875 And I panicked and put my hands in the air, 2297 01:40:32,959 --> 01:40:36,375 and I watch as they come in with HAZMAT suits. 2298 01:40:36,458 --> 01:40:38,750 ♪ ♪ 2299 01:40:38,834 --> 01:40:40,750 - Everyone was very, very stressed, 2300 01:40:40,834 --> 01:40:43,208 and it wasn't the people, it was fentanyl. 2301 01:40:43,291 --> 01:40:45,375 It's 50 times more potent than what you would see 2302 01:40:45,458 --> 01:40:47,709 in normal heroin coming in from Mexico. 2303 01:40:47,792 --> 01:40:50,542 We had no idea how spread it would be throughout the house, 2304 01:40:50,625 --> 01:40:53,709 what efforts we would have to take to clean it up 2305 01:40:53,792 --> 01:40:55,375 and dismantle their labs. 2306 01:40:55,458 --> 01:40:57,917 We just had no idea. 2307 01:40:58,000 --> 01:40:59,041 During the search warrant, 2308 01:40:59,125 --> 01:41:01,291 we found several analogues of fentanyl 2309 01:41:01,375 --> 01:41:04,458 that DEA had never seen in the U.S. before. 2310 01:41:04,542 --> 01:41:07,917 - I had about 300 grams of pure acrylic fentanyl. 2311 01:41:08,000 --> 01:41:10,208 Sells for about $300 a gram, 2312 01:41:10,291 --> 01:41:13,083 so a lot of money's worth. 2313 01:41:13,166 --> 01:41:14,417 - When we hit 'em, 2314 01:41:14,500 --> 01:41:17,041 they were kind of at the peak of their organization. 2315 01:41:17,125 --> 01:41:18,458 They were probably selling 2316 01:41:18,542 --> 01:41:23,250 $25,000 to $30,000 a week in fentanyl. 2317 01:41:23,333 --> 01:41:25,333 - I don't know how he managed to do that. 2318 01:41:25,417 --> 01:41:28,417 I never even saw a package get delivered here. 2319 01:41:28,500 --> 01:41:29,583 He never left the couch, 2320 01:41:29,667 --> 01:41:32,583 and we didn't have people coming and going either. 2321 01:41:32,667 --> 01:41:37,000 So whatever he was doing, he was really quiet about it. 2322 01:41:37,083 --> 01:41:38,709 I'd never expected the raid. 2323 01:41:38,792 --> 01:41:41,875 When I saw those officers piling up on my porch 2324 01:41:41,959 --> 01:41:43,083 through my bedroom window, 2325 01:41:43,166 --> 01:41:44,583 I thought it was, like, a home invasion. 2326 01:41:44,667 --> 01:41:46,125 I was trying to call 911 from my phone. 2327 01:41:46,208 --> 01:41:49,834 I didn't know that they were police officers. 2328 01:41:49,917 --> 01:41:50,959 - I can still to this day 2329 01:41:51,041 --> 01:41:54,083 hear my wife and my children screaming. 2330 01:41:54,166 --> 01:41:57,333 [dry grass rustling in breeze] 2331 01:41:57,417 --> 01:41:58,583 Looking back at 'em, 2332 01:41:58,667 --> 01:42:02,458 and I said, "Please move me so they can't see me." 2333 01:42:02,542 --> 01:42:04,417 Fear? I didn't have that. 2334 01:42:04,500 --> 01:42:07,750 It was shame, but it wasn't fear. 2335 01:42:07,834 --> 01:42:11,000 If anything, I was relieved. Just take me to jail. 2336 01:42:11,083 --> 01:42:12,917 I was either gonna die from withdrawals, 2337 01:42:13,000 --> 01:42:14,333 or I was getting off of drugs, 2338 01:42:14,417 --> 01:42:16,959 and I didn't care which one it was. 2339 01:42:17,041 --> 01:42:19,083 - You have the right to remain silent. 2340 01:42:19,166 --> 01:42:22,583 You can refuse to answer questions at any time. 2341 01:42:22,667 --> 01:42:24,166 Anything you say... 2342 01:42:24,250 --> 01:42:30,917 ♪ ♪ 2343 01:42:32,583 --> 01:42:34,291 - We found fentanyl on him. 2344 01:42:34,375 --> 01:42:36,875 We went back to the hotel room that they stayed in, 2345 01:42:36,959 --> 01:42:39,667 and we were able to find more drugs there. 2346 01:42:39,750 --> 01:42:45,208 He's an addict himself, so he fuels his use by sales. 2347 01:42:45,291 --> 01:42:46,333 - Wow. 2348 01:42:46,417 --> 01:42:48,500 And, you know, at the end of the day, 2349 01:42:48,583 --> 01:42:50,542 everybody's a victim in this thing. 2350 01:42:50,625 --> 01:42:53,083 You know, other than the people that manufacture it 2351 01:42:53,166 --> 01:42:56,500 and, you know, make the big money from it. 2352 01:42:56,583 --> 01:42:57,875 You know, once you get past that, 2353 01:42:57,959 --> 01:43:00,041 once you get into the people that use, 2354 01:43:00,125 --> 01:43:02,208 whether they're dealers or customers 2355 01:43:02,291 --> 01:43:03,500 or whatever they might be, 2356 01:43:03,583 --> 01:43:05,500 everybody becomes a victim. 2357 01:43:05,583 --> 01:43:09,542 So I don't know if it's worse to die and finally be at peace 2358 01:43:09,625 --> 01:43:12,166 and not have to fight these urges every day. 2359 01:43:12,250 --> 01:43:13,542 I don't know if that's the worst 2360 01:43:13,625 --> 01:43:16,166 or if it's these people that live 2361 01:43:16,250 --> 01:43:18,333 that every day now have to be tortured 2362 01:43:18,417 --> 01:43:20,750 with this need to go out and find this stuff. 2363 01:43:20,834 --> 01:43:23,709 You know, it's just wrong. 2364 01:43:23,792 --> 01:43:26,750 I just don't understand how the pharmaceutical companies 2365 01:43:26,834 --> 01:43:28,542 get away with this stuff. 2366 01:43:28,625 --> 01:43:34,875 ♪ ♪ 2367 01:43:34,959 --> 01:43:36,709 You did a great job staying in touch. 2368 01:43:36,792 --> 01:43:38,125 We appreciate you. - You're welcome. 2369 01:43:38,208 --> 01:43:39,709 Have a good evening. 2370 01:43:39,792 --> 01:43:41,709 - You too. Bye-bye. 2371 01:43:41,792 --> 01:43:44,333 [line beeps] 2372 01:43:53,000 --> 01:43:55,917 [soft dramatic music] 2373 01:43:56,000 --> 01:44:00,458 ♪ ♪ 2374 01:44:00,542 --> 01:44:01,917 - I'd been working on the case 2375 01:44:02,000 --> 01:44:03,917 over the course of several years. 2376 01:44:04,000 --> 01:44:06,792 And suddenly, Alec Burlakoff left me a message, 2377 01:44:06,875 --> 01:44:10,250 and the message says, "I fired my lawyer, 2378 01:44:10,333 --> 01:44:12,083 and I want to come in, and I want to talk to you." 2379 01:44:12,166 --> 01:44:15,583 This is highly unusual. This has never happened, right? 2380 01:44:15,667 --> 01:44:18,041 You know, white-collar folks are always well-represented, 2381 01:44:18,125 --> 01:44:19,959 and the last think you want to do is go in and talk 2382 01:44:20,041 --> 01:44:22,792 to the federal government without a lawyer. 2383 01:44:22,875 --> 01:44:26,625 - I decided to fly from Arizona to Boston, 2384 01:44:26,709 --> 01:44:29,583 and I met with Mr. Yeager, 2385 01:44:29,667 --> 01:44:32,166 and there were a couple other people in the room. 2386 01:44:32,250 --> 01:44:34,792 And I basically proceeded to speak with them 2387 01:44:34,875 --> 01:44:36,625 for about four, five hours 2388 01:44:36,709 --> 01:44:40,125 and basically lied to them. 2389 01:44:40,208 --> 01:44:43,291 What I did was, is I told a lot of truths. 2390 01:44:43,375 --> 01:44:46,041 I just left myself out of it. 2391 01:44:46,125 --> 01:44:48,959 You can say it was based on a true story, 2392 01:44:49,041 --> 01:44:51,125 just left the names out, you know? 2393 01:44:51,208 --> 01:44:52,625 - And we just let him talk, you know? 2394 01:44:52,709 --> 01:44:53,834 We had evidence against him. 2395 01:44:53,917 --> 01:44:56,125 We knew that we were gonna prosecute him at some point. 2396 01:44:56,208 --> 01:45:00,083 We had, very early on, texts and emails 2397 01:45:00,166 --> 01:45:02,125 telling people to go bribe doctors, 2398 01:45:02,208 --> 01:45:05,125 that he personally was asking doctors to write prescriptions 2399 01:45:05,208 --> 01:45:08,667 in exchange for money paid by Insys. 2400 01:45:08,750 --> 01:45:10,625 So, when the conversation was over, I told him 2401 01:45:10,709 --> 01:45:13,333 I thought he just spent the last four hours lying to us, 2402 01:45:13,417 --> 01:45:15,333 it was nice meeting him, and he'd be hearing from us. 2403 01:45:15,417 --> 01:45:17,959 - I mean, I just felt-- my whole world, 2404 01:45:18,041 --> 01:45:20,291 I knew it was basically crashing in, 2405 01:45:20,375 --> 01:45:22,959 and it was gonna happen really slowly, 2406 01:45:23,041 --> 01:45:25,291 and it was gonna be very painful. 2407 01:45:25,375 --> 01:45:28,166 - You know, several months later... 2408 01:45:28,250 --> 01:45:30,125 he was charged and indicted. 2409 01:45:30,208 --> 01:45:31,667 ♪ ♪ 2410 01:45:31,750 --> 01:45:36,000 narrator: In October 2017, Burlakoff, Kapoor, 2411 01:45:36,083 --> 01:45:37,542 Sunrise Lee, and four others 2412 01:45:37,625 --> 01:45:40,500 were charged with leading a nationwide conspiracy 2413 01:45:40,583 --> 01:45:43,000 to profit by using fraud and bribes 2414 01:45:43,083 --> 01:45:46,166 to cause the illegal distribution of fentanyl. 2415 01:45:46,250 --> 01:45:48,959 In addition to bribing doctors, the charges included 2416 01:45:49,041 --> 01:45:51,542 defrauding insurance providers. 2417 01:45:58,291 --> 01:46:00,917 - Thank you, sir. [camera shutters clicking] 2418 01:46:01,000 --> 01:46:07,375 ♪ ♪ 2419 01:46:07,458 --> 01:46:09,166 - Any comment? - No. 2420 01:46:09,250 --> 01:46:11,875 narrator: The evidence against Alec Burlakoff 2421 01:46:11,959 --> 01:46:13,208 was so overwhelming, 2422 01:46:13,291 --> 01:46:14,500 his attorney asked him 2423 01:46:14,583 --> 01:46:16,583 to consider cooperating with the prosecution 2424 01:46:16,667 --> 01:46:18,250 in exchange for a deal. 2425 01:46:18,333 --> 01:46:19,709 ♪ ♪ 2426 01:46:19,792 --> 01:46:21,834 - I looked at him, tears started to come to my eyes, 2427 01:46:21,917 --> 01:46:25,041 and I said, "Yes, I will do it. I will plead guilty." 2428 01:46:25,125 --> 01:46:30,667 Because there is no way under any circumstance 2429 01:46:30,750 --> 01:46:33,417 that I would ever sit on the same side 2430 01:46:33,500 --> 01:46:37,709 or at the same table as John Kapoor, ever. 2431 01:46:37,792 --> 01:46:40,959 We all chose him to be our mentor, 2432 01:46:41,041 --> 01:46:43,542 and he was supposed to take us to the promised land 2433 01:46:43,625 --> 01:46:45,291 if we followed him loyally. 2434 01:46:45,375 --> 01:46:47,125 And look where he took us. 2435 01:46:47,208 --> 01:46:49,583 ♪ ♪ 2436 01:46:49,667 --> 01:46:51,417 narrator: From the bench, the presiding judge 2437 01:46:51,500 --> 01:46:54,125 called the crimes of Insys "an offense of greed" 2438 01:46:54,208 --> 01:46:57,417 for bribing doctors to prescribe an addictive drug 2439 01:46:57,500 --> 01:47:00,208 without regard for the best interests of their patients 2440 01:47:00,291 --> 01:47:04,917 and sentenced Alec Burlakoff to 26 months in prison. 2441 01:47:05,000 --> 01:47:06,375 Sunrise Lee wasn't able 2442 01:47:06,458 --> 01:47:08,250 to make a deal with prosecutors, 2443 01:47:08,333 --> 01:47:10,750 likely because she couldn't offer them an inside look 2444 01:47:10,834 --> 01:47:13,458 at decisions made in the executive suite. 2445 01:47:13,542 --> 01:47:16,417 She was sentenced to a year in prison. 2446 01:47:16,500 --> 01:47:18,250 - They painted this picture of me 2447 01:47:18,333 --> 01:47:21,792 you know, as a dancer, being uneducated, 2448 01:47:21,875 --> 01:47:24,458 and... [inhales deeply] 2449 01:47:24,542 --> 01:47:28,458 and just the stereotype of it all. 2450 01:47:28,542 --> 01:47:31,125 It stole a lot from me. 2451 01:47:31,208 --> 01:47:34,709 Everything that I've worked hard my entire life for. 2452 01:47:36,709 --> 01:47:39,125 [voice breaking] It's the first time ever in my life 2453 01:47:39,208 --> 01:47:41,875 where I haven't been able to persevere. 2454 01:47:46,000 --> 01:47:47,959 ♪ ♪ 2455 01:47:48,041 --> 01:47:49,458 [sniffles] 2456 01:47:49,542 --> 01:47:54,375 ♪ ♪ 2457 01:47:54,458 --> 01:47:57,750 narrator: John Kapoor was sentenced to 5 1/2 years. 2458 01:47:57,834 --> 01:48:00,834 In the courtroom, he had listened without expression 2459 01:48:00,917 --> 01:48:04,542 to the mother of a woman who had overdosed on Subsys. 2460 01:48:04,625 --> 01:48:07,000 "The actions of John Kapoor and his conspirators," 2461 01:48:07,083 --> 01:48:10,667 she said, "had been a sentence of hell for our family." 2462 01:48:10,750 --> 01:48:14,667 ♪ ♪ 2463 01:48:14,750 --> 01:48:18,500 - All the decisions that these people are making at Insys 2464 01:48:18,583 --> 01:48:19,625 and, for that matter, 2465 01:48:19,709 --> 01:48:21,667 every other opioid company in the United States, 2466 01:48:21,750 --> 01:48:25,375 are made in the context of what is very clearly an epidemic. 2467 01:48:25,458 --> 01:48:26,834 You know, in 2012, 2468 01:48:26,917 --> 01:48:31,542 the first year of this criminal conspiracy for Insys, 2469 01:48:31,625 --> 01:48:34,458 I think there were something like 230 million, 240 million 2470 01:48:34,542 --> 01:48:36,500 prescriptions for opioids in the United States. 2471 01:48:36,583 --> 01:48:38,333 That's more than one prescription 2472 01:48:38,417 --> 01:48:39,875 for every adult American. 2473 01:48:39,959 --> 01:48:41,667 ♪ ♪ 2474 01:48:41,750 --> 01:48:44,250 - When we were doing our reporting, 2475 01:48:44,333 --> 01:48:47,542 "The Washington Post" sued to get this confidential 2476 01:48:47,625 --> 01:48:49,875 Drug Enforcement Administration database 2477 01:48:49,959 --> 01:48:52,375 that tracked all these prescription pills, 2478 01:48:52,458 --> 01:48:57,375 from the manufacturer to the distributor to the pharmacy. 2479 01:48:57,458 --> 01:48:59,583 It was a virtual road map, 2480 01:48:59,667 --> 01:49:04,208 a blueprint that would show us, give us so many insights 2481 01:49:04,291 --> 01:49:06,417 into understanding the opioid epidemic. 2482 01:49:06,500 --> 01:49:10,375 - Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine 2483 01:49:10,458 --> 01:49:13,083 we were talking about the kinds of numbers that came out. 2484 01:49:13,166 --> 01:49:15,291 ♪ ♪ 2485 01:49:15,375 --> 01:49:17,542 - We got nine years of data 2486 01:49:17,625 --> 01:49:20,750 and between 2006 and 2014, 2487 01:49:20,834 --> 01:49:24,583 100 billion pills had been sent out 2488 01:49:24,667 --> 01:49:27,959 to communities all across this country. 2489 01:49:28,041 --> 01:49:30,417 narrator: The opioid companies knew every pharmacy 2490 01:49:30,500 --> 01:49:34,250 in every small town where every pill was going. 2491 01:49:34,333 --> 01:49:35,625 From Maine to Mexico, 2492 01:49:35,709 --> 01:49:39,250 they could track the very abuse they were manufacturing. 2493 01:49:39,333 --> 01:49:42,709 The database ranked cities by pills per person. 2494 01:49:42,792 --> 01:49:45,333 In some places, close to one a day 2495 01:49:45,417 --> 01:49:48,709 for every man, woman, and child. 2496 01:49:48,792 --> 01:49:50,291 Did the companies really think 2497 01:49:50,375 --> 01:49:53,125 that all those pills were for back pain? 2498 01:49:53,208 --> 01:49:54,667 ♪ ♪ 2499 01:49:54,750 --> 01:49:57,583 - This is something that affects everybody. 2500 01:49:57,667 --> 01:49:59,375 It doesn't matter your color, 2501 01:49:59,458 --> 01:50:02,458 your nationality, your gender, 2502 01:50:02,542 --> 01:50:06,125 whether you're economically privileged... 2503 01:50:06,208 --> 01:50:07,500 or poor. 2504 01:50:07,583 --> 01:50:09,333 It doesn't matter. 2505 01:50:09,417 --> 01:50:11,333 As long as the opioid sales go up, 2506 01:50:11,417 --> 01:50:13,125 and opioid deaths will go up 2507 01:50:13,208 --> 01:50:15,625 and opioid treatment admissions are gonna go up. 2508 01:50:15,709 --> 01:50:17,333 That's where we are now. 2509 01:50:17,417 --> 01:50:19,500 And that's where we continue to be. 2510 01:50:19,583 --> 01:50:20,750 Okay, that said... 2511 01:50:20,834 --> 01:50:23,041 narrator: After Rannazzisi was forced out of the DEA, 2512 01:50:23,125 --> 01:50:24,667 he took his message on the road 2513 01:50:24,750 --> 01:50:26,583 to those who would listen 2514 01:50:26,667 --> 01:50:29,125 and he began to be a witness for towns and counties 2515 01:50:29,208 --> 01:50:32,458 trying to take action against the big drug companies. 2516 01:50:32,542 --> 01:50:35,792 One by one, they started suing the opioid manufacturers 2517 01:50:35,875 --> 01:50:38,458 and distributors for the damage done. 2518 01:50:38,542 --> 01:50:43,959 ♪ ♪ 2519 01:50:44,041 --> 01:50:47,000 With more than 2,500 lawsuits from all over the country, 2520 01:50:47,083 --> 01:50:48,834 a judge in Ohio convened 2521 01:50:48,917 --> 01:50:50,875 a multi-district litigation center 2522 01:50:50,959 --> 01:50:54,375 to consolidate the claims in one courtroom. 2523 01:50:54,458 --> 01:50:58,000 Late in 2019, reporters converged in Cleveland, 2524 01:50:58,083 --> 01:51:00,125 because in the first big case, 2525 01:51:00,208 --> 01:51:03,667 two counties in Ohio were resisting a legal settlement 2526 01:51:03,750 --> 01:51:05,500 with three major drug distributors 2527 01:51:05,583 --> 01:51:08,375 for their role in fueling the opioid crisis. 2528 01:51:08,458 --> 01:51:10,166 ♪ ♪ 2529 01:51:10,250 --> 01:51:12,458 It seemed that there might finally be a trial, 2530 01:51:12,542 --> 01:51:14,166 where the public would see evidence 2531 01:51:14,250 --> 01:51:18,041 of the corporate negligence that had cost so many lives. 2532 01:51:18,125 --> 01:51:19,875 Then at the last minute, 2533 01:51:19,959 --> 01:51:21,875 the companies took out their checkbooks 2534 01:51:21,959 --> 01:51:24,792 and paid to keep the evidence hidden. 2535 01:51:24,875 --> 01:51:27,583 - A settlement has been reached for our two counties 2536 01:51:27,667 --> 01:51:29,667 with the-- 2537 01:51:29,750 --> 01:51:33,166 the three big defendants. 2538 01:51:33,250 --> 01:51:37,375 The settlement does not bring things to an end. 2539 01:51:37,458 --> 01:51:38,625 It is, though, 2540 01:51:38,709 --> 01:51:41,041 a very good development for the people of our counties. 2541 01:51:41,125 --> 01:51:42,542 - What was the sticking point last night? 2542 01:51:42,625 --> 01:51:45,083 Why did it take till midnight, 1:00 a.m.? 2543 01:51:45,166 --> 01:51:46,417 - Money. 2544 01:51:46,500 --> 01:51:48,709 They wanted to pay less. I wanted them to play more. 2545 01:51:48,792 --> 01:51:50,375 [laughter] 2546 01:51:50,458 --> 01:51:52,709 - Is there an admission of wrongdoing on behalf-- 2547 01:51:52,792 --> 01:51:54,875 - No, but, you know, common sense tells me 2548 01:51:54,959 --> 01:51:58,667 when they paid over $323 million 2549 01:51:58,750 --> 01:52:00,041 to these two counties, 2550 01:52:00,125 --> 01:52:01,875 one might say that's a pretty good admission. 2551 01:52:01,959 --> 01:52:03,083 [indistinct chatter] 2552 01:52:03,166 --> 01:52:04,375 narrator: In cases like these, 2553 01:52:04,458 --> 01:52:06,250 lawyers like to represent that money paid 2554 01:52:06,333 --> 01:52:10,250 is some kind of justice, and in a sense, it is. 2555 01:52:10,333 --> 01:52:12,750 After all, the cost of addiction is high, 2556 01:52:12,834 --> 01:52:15,542 and the price of treatment centers and first responders 2557 01:52:15,625 --> 01:52:19,083 should be borne by the companies responsible. 2558 01:52:19,166 --> 01:52:21,250 But what of the lives lost? 2559 01:52:21,333 --> 01:52:24,375 How do you put a value on them? 2560 01:52:24,458 --> 01:52:28,041 ♪ ♪ 2561 01:52:28,125 --> 01:52:29,750 During the COVID pandemic, 2562 01:52:29,834 --> 01:52:33,208 opioid addiction and overdoses increased. 2563 01:52:33,291 --> 01:52:36,417 It was not surprising, then, that in the fall of 2020, 2564 01:52:36,500 --> 01:52:38,250 the families of those who had died 2565 01:52:38,333 --> 01:52:41,083 were stirred by rumors that the federal government 2566 01:52:41,166 --> 01:52:44,583 might bring new criminal charges against the Sacklers, 2567 01:52:44,667 --> 01:52:46,458 the family that had profited so much 2568 01:52:46,542 --> 01:52:49,083 during the opioid crisis and the company 2569 01:52:49,166 --> 01:52:51,917 that had started it all, Purdue Pharma. 2570 01:52:52,000 --> 01:52:53,834 ♪ ♪ 2571 01:52:53,917 --> 01:52:55,083 - This morning, 2572 01:52:55,166 --> 01:52:57,792 the Department of Justice is announcing a resolution 2573 01:52:57,875 --> 01:53:00,458 which will redress past wrongs 2574 01:53:00,542 --> 01:53:03,875 and will also provide extraordinary new resources 2575 01:53:03,959 --> 01:53:07,625 for the treatment and care of those affected by opioids-- 2576 01:53:07,709 --> 01:53:10,375 narrator: Late in 2020, the Trump administration rushed 2577 01:53:10,458 --> 01:53:13,291 to make an announcement for the presidential election. 2578 01:53:13,375 --> 01:53:16,458 - Pleading guilty to three felony counts... 2579 01:53:16,542 --> 01:53:20,959 narrator: The Sackler family would pay a $225 million fine. 2580 01:53:21,041 --> 01:53:24,291 Purdue Pharma would plead guilty to kickbacks and fraud 2581 01:53:24,375 --> 01:53:29,166 and promised to pay fines totaling more than $8 billion. 2582 01:53:29,250 --> 01:53:33,625 - That number immediately gets repeated in headlines 2583 01:53:33,709 --> 01:53:34,792 all across the country. 2584 01:53:34,875 --> 01:53:36,667 The news goes out on the wires. 2585 01:53:36,750 --> 01:53:40,667 You think, "My God. $8 billion. That's massive." 2586 01:53:40,750 --> 01:53:43,542 But Purdue is in bankruptcy 2587 01:53:43,625 --> 01:53:45,625 and only has about a billion dollars, 2588 01:53:45,709 --> 01:53:47,000 which a whole bunch of creditors 2589 01:53:47,083 --> 01:53:48,834 are already fighting over. 2590 01:53:48,917 --> 01:53:52,166 That money is never going to get paid by the company 2591 01:53:52,250 --> 01:53:53,125 or anybody else. 2592 01:53:53,208 --> 01:53:55,000 It's a number, in some ways, I think, 2593 01:53:55,083 --> 01:53:59,792 that's been kind of designed to make headlines. 2594 01:53:59,875 --> 01:54:01,500 ♪ ♪ 2595 01:54:01,583 --> 01:54:04,458 narrator: Behind the headlines was an intricate plot. 2596 01:54:04,542 --> 01:54:09,000 In 2019, Purdue had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, 2597 01:54:09,083 --> 01:54:10,959 which allowed it to continue to operate 2598 01:54:11,041 --> 01:54:14,208 while paying fines to those seeking damages. 2599 01:54:14,291 --> 01:54:16,417 That led to a cruel irony. 2600 01:54:16,500 --> 01:54:19,208 The only way the company could pay damages 2601 01:54:19,291 --> 01:54:24,083 was to increase its sales of drugs, including OxyContin. 2602 01:54:24,166 --> 01:54:26,875 To pay for the damage done by opioids, 2603 01:54:26,959 --> 01:54:29,875 Purdue Pharma would sell more opioids. 2604 01:54:29,959 --> 01:54:32,417 [soft ominous music] 2605 01:54:32,500 --> 01:54:34,875 ♪ ♪ 2606 01:54:34,959 --> 01:54:38,041 - Shame on Purdue! all: Shame on Purdue! 2607 01:54:38,125 --> 01:54:39,750 Dead from greed! 2608 01:54:39,834 --> 01:54:42,083 narrator: While the company was charged with crimes, 2609 01:54:42,166 --> 01:54:45,375 none of Purdue's executives or owners were indicted, 2610 01:54:45,458 --> 01:54:46,458 and the Sacklers 2611 01:54:46,542 --> 01:54:48,709 refused to take any personal responsibility. 2612 01:54:48,792 --> 01:54:50,875 - Sacklers lie! all: People die! 2613 01:54:50,959 --> 01:54:53,458 - Sacklers lie! all: People die! 2614 01:54:53,542 --> 01:54:56,291 narrator: That raised questions. 2615 01:54:56,375 --> 01:54:57,709 Starting in 2008, 2616 01:54:57,792 --> 01:55:00,792 just after Purdue pled guilty to a previous felony, 2617 01:55:00,875 --> 01:55:03,834 the Sacklers started taking more than $10 billion 2618 01:55:03,917 --> 01:55:05,083 out of the company 2619 01:55:05,166 --> 01:55:07,250 in complicated overseas transactions 2620 01:55:07,333 --> 01:55:11,917 and vaulted vast sums in their accounts. 2621 01:55:12,000 --> 01:55:16,250 - Of the $10 billion, roughly half went to taxes, 2622 01:55:16,333 --> 01:55:19,375 so that money, we do not have. 2623 01:55:19,458 --> 01:55:21,750 It was paid in taxes. 2624 01:55:21,834 --> 01:55:25,125 The family and the board acted legally and ethically. 2625 01:55:29,375 --> 01:55:34,250 - So I think that's not the right way to look at this. 2626 01:55:34,333 --> 01:55:37,542 The resolution here is very significant. 2627 01:55:37,625 --> 01:55:42,458 It involves, for the company, three felony guilty pleas. 2628 01:55:42,542 --> 01:55:44,917 For both the company and the shareholders, 2629 01:55:45,000 --> 01:55:47,500 it involves very sizable amounts of money. 2630 01:55:47,583 --> 01:55:51,959 ♪ ♪ 2631 01:55:52,041 --> 01:55:53,125 - If you talk to people 2632 01:55:53,208 --> 01:55:55,834 whose lives have been touched by this, 2633 01:55:55,917 --> 01:55:58,959 a lot of them will say, "It's not about the money. 2634 01:55:59,041 --> 01:56:01,208 "You could never generate enough money 2635 01:56:01,291 --> 01:56:05,625 "to make up for the human cost. 2636 01:56:05,709 --> 01:56:07,792 That can never happen." 2637 01:56:07,875 --> 01:56:10,625 What does matter to a lot of these people is truth. 2638 01:56:10,709 --> 01:56:13,667 [soft downbeat music] 2639 01:56:13,750 --> 01:56:20,333 ♪ ♪ 2640 01:56:20,417 --> 01:56:23,208 - And, finally, I'm gonna leave you with this. 2641 01:56:23,291 --> 01:56:28,500 We've talked about truths, talked about fiction, 2642 01:56:28,583 --> 01:56:30,750 and now we're gonna talk about reality. 2643 01:56:32,750 --> 01:56:34,000 Turn that up? 2644 01:56:34,083 --> 01:56:36,291 - I need an ambulance. My son's not breathing. 2645 01:56:36,375 --> 01:56:38,333 - What's the address? 10731? 2646 01:56:38,417 --> 01:56:40,166 - 31, yes. Hurry. 2647 01:56:40,250 --> 01:56:44,500 - He's blue? - He's...white. 2648 01:56:44,583 --> 01:56:45,834 - How old is he? 2649 01:56:45,917 --> 01:56:48,166 - Oh, God, he's dead! 2650 01:56:48,250 --> 01:56:50,417 - Ma'am, I need you to calm down. How old is he? 2651 01:56:50,500 --> 01:56:53,834 - [wailing] Oh, he's dead! - Ma'am? 2652 01:56:53,917 --> 01:56:55,792 Ma'am, I need you to calm down. 2653 01:56:55,875 --> 01:56:56,875 How old is he? 2654 01:56:56,959 --> 01:56:59,959 - [wailing and crying] 2655 01:57:02,750 --> 01:57:05,709 - Can you pick up on that? - [wailing and crying] 2656 01:57:05,792 --> 01:57:07,792 - Stop, please. - [wailing and crying] 2657 01:57:07,875 --> 01:57:11,834 - [impatiently] How old is he? - [wailing and crying] 2658 01:57:55,709 --> 01:57:57,250 - I know I could've fought my case more, 2659 01:57:57,333 --> 01:57:59,417 but I was done fighting. 2660 01:57:59,500 --> 01:58:02,083 I've been sentenced to 135 months in federal prison 2661 01:58:02,166 --> 01:58:05,417 for conspiracy to possess furanyl fentanyl 2662 01:58:05,500 --> 01:58:07,458 and fentanyl with intent to distribute. 2663 01:58:07,542 --> 01:58:09,625 I am currently in Federal Correction Institute 2664 01:58:09,709 --> 01:58:11,583 at Big Springs, Texas. 2665 01:58:11,667 --> 01:58:14,917 It's a low-security prison. 2666 01:58:15,000 --> 01:58:16,917 It could be worse. 2667 01:58:17,000 --> 01:58:18,583 I could be dead. [chuckles] 2668 01:58:18,667 --> 01:58:19,667 You know what I mean? 2669 01:58:19,750 --> 01:58:20,625 I'm close to home, 2670 01:58:20,709 --> 01:58:23,083 so my wife can come visit me. 2671 01:58:23,166 --> 01:58:26,250 I get to visit my kids every weekend. 2672 01:58:26,333 --> 01:58:27,917 This saved my life. 2673 01:58:28,000 --> 01:58:30,333 It gives me an opportunity for a second act. 2674 01:58:30,417 --> 01:58:32,458 I screwed up the first one. 2675 01:58:32,542 --> 01:58:34,000 I can't ever take it back, 2676 01:58:34,083 --> 01:58:35,333 but I get an act two 2677 01:58:35,417 --> 01:58:37,625 where maybe I can build upon the past 2678 01:58:37,709 --> 01:58:38,750 and use my past experiences 2679 01:58:38,834 --> 01:58:40,291 to make a better life 2680 01:58:40,375 --> 01:58:42,291 for my wife and my kids 2681 01:58:42,375 --> 01:58:43,792 and possibly other people 2682 01:58:43,875 --> 01:58:44,792 that would go down 2683 01:58:44,875 --> 01:58:46,500 the same stupid road I went down. 2684 01:58:46,583 --> 01:58:50,709 So yeah, I mean... 2685 01:58:50,792 --> 01:58:52,333 act two. 2686 01:59:14,458 --> 01:59:17,375 [bright tone]