Veterans defended our freedoms. Pharmaceutical companies made them victims of opioid war

Pratt is President of the Ohio Council of Fraternal, Veterans & Service Organizations. 

It’s no longer a secret, the opioid epidemic which continues to touch the lives of loved ones across the country was more than just a matter of chance. The widespread addiction that heavily affected Ohioans was planned and executed by large pharmaceutical companies focused on one thing: profit.

However, it was more than just the big-name pharmaceutical companies - like Purdue Pharma who filed for bankruptcy in 2019 amid the thousands of lawsuits it faced for fueling the opioid epidemic.

Involved were the manufacturers, the distributors, and a more nuanced connection, McKinsey & Company, the hired consulting firm behind the aggressive sales strategy that hooked millions and devastated our communities.

Documents recently obtained by the Wall Street Journal reveal how these greedy companies targeted one group in particular: America’s veterans of war.

After decades at war, America’s veterans returned from distant battlefields with their minds and bodies broken.

Countless of these veterans relied on healthcare providers, including the VA, who prescribed dangerous and addictive opioid medication to heal the physical tolls of war.

As far back as 2003, government agencies, law enforcement and regulators knew the dangers of opioids and warned that the aggressive marketing tactics of opioid producers were leading to dangerous and often fatal results for American families.

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Against this backdrop, McKinsey & Company sought out lucrative contracts with the majority of opioid producing companies in America. So prolific was McKinsey’s work that at one point, nine out of every 10 opioid pills prescribed in the U.S. were manufactured by McKinsey clients.

To maximize profits, McKinsey recommended that opioid manufacturers target vulnerable populations: rural America, communities with high populations of working Americans likely to be injured at work, and even areas of the country where addiction rates and overdose were already high.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, McKinsey “advised opioid companies including Purdue Pharma LP and Endo International PLC on how to increase sales to the VA through both new and existing channels, the documents show. Meanwhile, McKinsey earned at least $117 million consulting for the VA, primarily on matters related to healthcare services for veterans, according to government records.”

There’s been a growing movement in America that isn’t defined by political parties or traditional conservative vs progressive alliances.

The movement is fueled by Americans in every city, every community and every walk of life increasingly growing tired of the soulless multinational corporations who put profit above all else. Unrelenting greed, the kind of which McKinsey & Company embodies, has real world consequences in communities and neighborhoods like ours here in Ohio where accidental overdose remains the leading cause of death.

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This greed is no longer just an abstract concept. We can see it in vivid detail when a company that works for the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs and is paid billions of taxpayer dollars each year turns around and exploits their position to enrich their pharmaceutical clients at the expense of our veteran population.

Thankfully, Americans are starting to fight back, and a few elected representatives are helping to lead the fight. But more must be done.

Ohio’s statewide elected officials should make it clear that McKinsey and any company like it that has be caught exploiting our veterans for profit can never earn another taxpayer dollar in the state of Ohio.

Merle Pratt is President of the Ohio Council of Fraternal, Veterans & Service Organizations. 

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How pharmaceutical companies target Veterans for opioid addiction