Opioid Settlements: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

A lawsuit that bans any future victims from suing a company forever sounds like a pass for that company to do worse in the future.

Counselor here. A large portion of this settlement money has gone to prisons to install cameras, body scanners, etc. Also to police departments to help arrest more addicts and maybe 1 actual dealers each year. Local spending of these funds where I’m at are not helping anyone, let alone those who need it most.

Both of my parents were addicts, my father passed when I was 13 and my mother has been removed from my life due to the ongoing abuse she inflicted. The doctors that prescribed those pills could have opened their eyes and stepped in long before 5 kids became orphans and were adopted by their grandmother who works full time and makes next to nothing. She deserved to retire. We deserved a childhood.

I live in Vienna, WV. I fundraise here to support local charities. I know every person in that video, and I have been in that council chamber speaking before those very people. One of the people in this video is running for the mayor's job. I seriously cannot express how surreal this segment is, and I want to further add that you need to ask us about our new amphitheater that the mayor wants to place right next to a toxic waste site.

“Let’s just tell kids not to, it’s really bad” Because that’s worked with everything else lmao

I'm beyond proud that it's been over 64 months since the last time I shot up or even saw a drug like fentanyl. The last time was December 17, 2018, and so far it's been the last time I woke up on a bathroom floor with a needle still in my arm. The last couple years have been tough, but I've really turned to exercise to cope, and at least now I'm in the best shape of my life too. I was as bad of an opioid junkie as there's ever been. I lied, cheated, and stole from the people who cared about me the most. One of the main motivations for me to not relapse this time was my dad's death. I know he wouldn't want me to use, and I like to think that he would be proud of me now.

As a pharmacist I approve…the way your graphic artists made that pill split in a realistic fashion and not clean down the middle. That little unevenness at the end is a perfect representation of what it’s like to split a pill in half. 😂

John pulling out that cig from his cuff that smooth was just PURE SHOWMANSHIP 😂😂😂😂

When Florida introduced the lottery in the 1990’s to fund education, they reduced the funding being allotted to education by the exact amount of money the lottery raised. So while technically they never lied about the money going towards education, it did create a way for the politicians to move the money elsewhere. Nobody has yet to address that. So I understand how that can be frustrating

I’m a nurse who works at a non profit drug and alcohol detox and treatment facility we just applied for our grant and we are so happy you are covering this! This is going to be a battle to get these resources into the right institutions!

Oklahoma used the Big Tobacco settlement money for women's health care and it saved my life. For the first time in my life, I truly was receiving decent health care.

I'm Cameroonian, leaving in Cameroon. I'm not understanding English but every week I come to check you podcast. And I really appreciate the way you are talking

As an ICU nurse, I've had to waste unused fentanyl many times and I have never OD'd from being in the same room with it. Maybe nurses are just orders of magnitude tougher than cops 🤔.

I worked for city government department of health for almost two years. Unlike all other health and opioid-related grants and funds, it went to the City itself rather than our department. For 6-8 months we asked members of the opioid settlement group to have a seat at the table, because it was made up of the HR director, finance director, rep from the mayor's office, and a few others with no expertise in health or community outreach. Zero people with lived experience were contacted to be on the panel. Sitting at those meetings (eventually) and hearing all of the ideas that these unqualified people had for spending the money was absolutely ridiculous. I have no problem with people not having the answers, but at least have the humility to turn the reigns over to the people working in addiction and prevention spaces as the experts in this area.

There must be someone on the writing/production staff who is passionate about health policy issues, because between this episode, the Medicaid unwinding episode, and the State Medical Boards episode, this season is doing incredibly important work! Thank you for helping bring awareness to these issues.

The misuse of opioid settlement funds as you've explained is indeed troubling. It's crucial that these funds be channeled into supporting proven tools for addiction prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery, rather than squandering on unnecessary resources. It's time to prompt accountable and transparent practices from our local governments.

With them uploading their whole backlog recently, I almost thought this was an older episode. But then I noticed John's hair, and realized it's recent 😂

My brother in law died on Sunday, of a Fentanyl overdose from counterfeit Ritalin. He used to get Ritalin from the pharmacy but started buying it on the street when he lost his health insurance. His daughter, my niece, is less than a year old. It was Mother’s Day on Sunday. He wasn’t the first of my friends or my family. I hope to god that he’s the last, but I doubt it.

John Oliver is one of the best investigative journalists. The show is way more than comedy. So informative and well produced. Excellent show 👏🏽👏🏽

I have to admit, the graphic of a single wad of bills flopping down onto the floor was brilliant.