NBC News is reporting on a Federal attempt to stop the supply of opioids:
In a national first in the fight against the opioid crisis, a major drug distribution company, its former chief executive and another top executive have been criminally charged in New York.
Rochester Drug Co-Operative, one of the top 10 largest drug distributors in the United States, was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to violate narcotics laws, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and willfully failing to file suspicious order reports.
Laurence Doud III, the company’s former chief executive, and William Pietruszewski, the company’s former chief compliance officer, are individually charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Pietruszewski is also charged with willfully failing to file suspicious order reports with the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA.
Both Doud, 75, and Pietruszewski, 53, face life in prison. Doud will appear in court Tuesday, and Pietruszewski pleaded guilty last Friday, Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said.
There are two facets to consider.
First, the accused are facing life in prison, and yet they did violate the law in pursuit of profits. This illustrates the lure of money.
Second, diminishing the supply may artificially diminish the rate of addicts, but it does little to diminish demand, and that’s the real problem. So I have to question whether this sort of prosecution will have any sort of true impact on the opioid crisis, even if it’s followed by more.
