The OxyContin Letters

The OxyContin Letters


When things go wrong, don’t walk away.
That will only make it harder.

-Robin Lane and the Chartbusters

I recently wrote about how the makers of OxyContin agreed to a wimpy $600 million settlement with the federal government. Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, were selling an addictive drug. The top executives knew it was addictive, and the company sold almost $10 billion of the stuff.

Their lawyer, presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani, negotiated a plea that kept people at Purdue from going to jail.
Giuliani cut a deal that street pushers would drool over. The fine is a small percentage of their sales, and the drug is still on the market.

In the language of the street pusher, the people at Purdue coped a plea, paid a fine and went back on the street.

In the wake of the OxyContin executives’ admission to committing a CRIME, Congressmen Hal Rogers of Kentucky and Frank Wolff of Virginia made a reasonable request.

They want OxyContin to be prescribed only for severe pain, not moderate pain as it is now.

Rogers said that one of the advantages of the change would be that it would cut the number of drugs being diverted to the black market.

Rogers and Wolff asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to look into the matter.

Amazingly, Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, the same company that just let Giuliani cop a plea on their behalf, are fighting Rogers and Wolff.

Instead of thanking God for Rudy’s great connections and the laptop tendencies of the prosecution, the people at Purdue want the FDA to ignore the congressmen.

Here is something I can’t ignore. After I wrote my column, I started hearing from people all over the world.

A reader in Texas wrote the following:

My sister was very much addicted to Oxycontin that she was obtaining legally from her doctor. She was living with my 72-year-old mother as she was unable to hold a job. Her boyfriend was also addicted to various drugs. One night she refused to give him more of her Oxycontin, and he left to later return and cut the throats of my mother and sister.

The OxyContin problem is not confined to the United States. A reader in Canada wrote:

My son was addicted to Oxycontin for about 3 years. He is 22 months clean now but only because he is on the methadone maintenance program. We live in a small town and have to travel 2 hours each way weekly for him to be urine tested and to see the doctor. He was hooked so hard core, it is amazing he is still alive. He is clean right now, but he is a totally different person, often filled with anger. In our town of 6,500 people the drug of choice among our kids is Oxycontin!

Not everyone liked my column. A financial consultant in New York City called me a jerk but didn’t specify why. Either he likes OxyContin or likes Giuliani. Maybe both.

An Arizona reader told me his doctor had prescribed OxyContin for his back pain but that he was careful to explain that the drug could be addictive. Thus, the man used OxyContin without incident.

After reading horror story after horror story, I can’t imagine a scenario where I would willingly take OxyContin. I can understand doing so if you and your doctor weigh the risks and the benefits.

For moderate pain there has to be a better solution than OxyContin. Even if the government just limited the supply, it would be a big step forward.

It takes a lot of gall to keep fighting after your company and its top executives have agreed to a $634.5 million fine—not to mention the fact that everyone who was charged was well-connected enough to avoid serving jail time.

Purdue apparently has that kind of gall.

The people at Purdue admitted to willfully doing something that harmed people. They ought to do more than pay a fine; they ought to show leadership and clean up some of the mess they started.

Instead, they want the FDA’s blessing to keep on selling OxyContin to people with moderate pain.

The people at Purdue need to realize that when things go wrong, you don’t walk away.

That will only make it harder.

Don McNay is the Chairman of the Board for McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Ky. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His newspaper column is syndicated in over 200 newspapers.

Al Smith Retiring from Comment on Kentucky

Al Smith Retiring from Comment on Kentucky Saturday, 26 May 2007 Al Smith announced last week that he is ending his 33 year run as host and producer of Comment on Kentucky on November 16. Al is one of the greatest people I have ever known. He is a man I dearly love and who I want to be when I grow up. His impact on Kentucky and the nation is incalculable. Comment on Kentucky is a great concept developed by Al and Len Press, the visionary founder of Kentucky Educational Television. I grew up in Northern Kentucky and KET was my only television news source about the state I lived in. Like many Kentuckians, my television news came from out of state (Cincinnati in my case) and KET was an important part of my learning process. Being on Comment on Kentucky for the first time (1984) was a great thrill for me. I've been on frequently and never get tired of it. Len Press Thus, I will get that same thrill next Friday (June 1) when Al has me as a guest on the show. Comment on Kentucky informs but also educates. The show brings up issues and ideas that stir debate and gets people talking. Comment on Kentucky viewers learn "the story behind the story." Although the show has a number of "regulars," Al will often host journalists from different regions and allows viewers to get a true statewide perspective. It will be impossible to truly replace Al. His leaving is similar to when Walter Cronkite retired. My advice to his successor is to keep to Al's vision as closely as possible. Al is not just my role model, he is someone who has advised me in all aspects of my life, including my health. Although the weight loss and fitness regime I started two months ago will be ongoing, there have been some noticeable results. When I appear on June 1, it will be the lowest weight Comment on Kentucky viewers have ever seen me at. I don't have a suit that fits me and hope my tailor will be cooperate by Friday. Otherwise, I may be on the show in an extremely baggy suit or in running shorts. I'll ask Al for advice on the best option. Don

Rudolph Giuliani and the OxyContin people Sunday, 20 May 2007 Well, now if I were the President of this land You know, I’d declare total war on the pusher man. God damn the pusher. -Steppenwolf Rudolph Giuliani wants to be President of the United States. He claims to be tough on criminals. In some cases, he is—unless the criminals hire him to be their lawyer. The people who make OxyContin did something horrible: they sold a drug they knew was addictive and acted like it wasn’t. I thought the makers of OxyContin got off easy when they agreed to a $600 million fine. Three of their top executives paid an additional $34 million. No jail time. It was an wimpy settlement with a company that sold over $9 billion dollars of OxyContin. The reason for the government’s light tough was found in the Washington Post. Rudolph Giuliani was a lawyer for the company that makes OxyContin. The Post said that Giuliani personally met with government lawyers more than half a dozen times. Read more...

Kentucky Education Co

Peter Lynch's Fidelity Investments Fined $400,000 for Misleading Troops.

Peter Lynch's Fidelity Investments Fined $400,000 for Misleading Troops.

There's gonna be Hell,
When you hear mother freedom start ringing her bell.
It's gonna feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you...
Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue."

-Toby Keith

In August, 2004, I wrote a column entitled "Save Our Soldiers from Peter Lynch".

It followed up on an award-winning New York Times series written by Diana Henriques. I wrote several columns about Mr. Lynch and Fidelity Investment, the company where he serves as vice chairman.

Fidelity was peddling an archaic style of mutual fund to military people called contractual mutual funds.

A contractual mutual fund is a terrible deal. Congress outlawed it last year. If Lynch and Fidelity had truly thought that contractual funds were great, they would have made Lynch's famous Magellan Fund contractual. They did not.

Military people have often been prey for questionable financial operators such as payday lenders. The reason is thatsoldiers are often young and financially inexperienced but still make decent money.

I'll be willing to bet that Peter Lynch does not have his money in a contractual fund nor do his Hollywood pals like Lily Tomlin. Fidelity only pushed the stuff on military people.

In 2004, I asked people to stand up for our soldiers and write to everyone they could about the problem. Many groups that support the military did the same.

Finally, The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), a group with real clout, listened.

The NASD reached a settlement with Fidelity Investments Institutional Services. Fidelity agreed to pay $400,000 to settle a complaint accusing them of producing misleading sales materials for the Fidelity Destiny I and Fidelity Destiny II contractual mutual funds.

Fidelity will not admit any wrongdoing, but the sales literature that they gave to soldiers fail to mention the 50% sales charge that soldiers were to pay on the funds.

A pretty big OOPS. A fund doesn't look so good when you take 50% off the top.

Fidelity sold a lot of product to soldiers through First Command Financial Services, a company whichpaid $12 million to settle regulatory charges stating it mislead soldiers about the fees and performance of the contractual plans First Command was peddling.

Even though $400,000 is chump change to a guy like Peter Lynch and a billion-dollar company like Fidelity, the settlement is a black mark on their record.

I have offered a challenge several times to Peter Lynch: if he is unable to prove that a soldier could make a good return with a Fidelity contractual fund, he should go to Iraq and take the place of the soldier owning the fund.

Lynch is still in Boston, and soldiers with his contractual funds are still in Iraq. Since Congress banned sales of the funds, future sales are no longer a concern. Current contractual funds, however, remain in place. The NASD will use the $400,000 to help military people make informed financial decisions.

People ask why I single out Mr. Lynch. At the time when contractual funds were being peddled to soldiers, Lynch was using his "Mr. Clean" image to do television commercials for Fidelity with his Hollywood chums Lily Tomlin and Don Rickles.

Lynch and Fidelity can't have it both ways: they can't use the stellar returns that Lynch achieved (many years ago) with his Magellan fund to attract high-end customers while selling garbage to soldiers.

It is like a fundamentalist church with a strip club and casino in the basement.

I'm hoping that the fine cost Lynch and Fidelity a lot more than the $400,000 that they forked over.

Even if manyAmericans have opposed the Iraq war, they have universally supported the people who have fought and died in it. Military people do their job with more honor and courage than I will ever have.

It's why I get angry when financial companies take advantage of them.

The $400,000 settlement has gotten little notice in the media, but I hope that changes.

When Americans find out that Peter Lynch and his Fidelity Company were not playing straight with soldiers, I hope there will be hell. I hope Americans make the leaders at Fidelity feel like the whole world is raining down on them.

Brought to you courtesy, of the Red, White and Blue.

Don McNay is the author of the Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read other things that he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His award-winning column is syndicated to over 200 newspapers.

My Quest against Peter Lynch and Fidelity:


August 2004: Save Our Soldiers from Peter Lynch

August 2004: Sending a Message to Peter Lynch

August 2004: Detailed Information about Fidelity & Contractual Mutual Funds

January 2005: Stop Scamming Brave Soldiers

January 2006: Wall Street Bookies

October 2006: Payday Loans, Soldiers & Donations to Congressmen


Recent News about the settlement between Fidelity and the NASD

Fidelity Fined for Misleading Troops

Motley Fool: A Dishonorable Discharge for Systematic Investment Plans

Rudolph Giuliani and the OxyContin people

Rudolph Giuliani and the OxyContin people

Well, now if I were the President of this land

You know, I’d declare total war on the pusher man.

God damn the pusher.

Steppenwolf

Rudolph Giuliani wants to be President of the United States. He claims to be tough on criminals.

In some cases, he is—unless the criminals hire him to be their lawyer.

The people who make OxyContin did something horrible: they sold a drug they knew was addictive and acted like it wasn’t.

I thought the makers of OxyContin got off easy when they agreed to a $600 million fine. Three of their top executives paid an additional $34 million. No jail time.

It was an wimpy settlement with a company that sold over $9 billion dollars of OxyContin.

The reason for the government’s light tough was found in the Washington Post. Rudolph Giuliani was a lawyer for the company that makes OxyContin.

>The Post said that Giuliani personally met with government lawyers more than half a dozen times.

>The story gets more outrageous if you read the “The Blotter” blog by Brian Ross of ABC News. Ross said that Giuliani and his team have advised OxyContin’s makers for the past five years.

According to Ross, Giuliani personally met with the head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) when the DEA’s drug diversion office began a criminal investigation into the company.

No wonder the OxyContin people got a sweetheart deal: Giuliani is not a guy government bureaucrats want to mess with.

Imagine yourself as a government official and Rudolph Giuliani walks in to negotiate with you. There is a very good chance Giuliani could be soon be President of the United States.

That means you are sitting across the table from a guy who might be your boss.

If a frontrunner for President of the United States wants a good deal, you are going to think hard before you say no.

The OxyContin makers may not have strong morals, but they do have brains. They hired one of the best lawyers money could buy.

The irony is that the old Rudolph Giuliani would have loved to have gone after the OxyContin makers. Rudy got his start as a federal prosecutor and liked to go after white-collar types.

Here was the perfect situation for the old Rudy. You had a company that knew their drug would make people addicts. The company officers devised a plan to market OxyContin to as many people as possible.

The old Rudy would have shut down the company and thrown all the officers in jail.

The new Rudy cut his clients a sweet deal: no one will spend a day in jail. The federal government considered the crime to be a misdemeanor like noodling. Prosecutors are beating their chest about a $600 million fine that is only about 6% of OxyContin total sales.

$600 million is just a cost of doing business. It won’t even hurt the company’s stock price.

$130 million was set aside for the claims of victims. That sounds incredibly low. Everyone who went to the doctor for a bad back and came out a drug addict has a claim. There are thousands of people addicted to OxyContin, and hundreds died.

When you see round ups of street dealers, many are addicts trying to feed their addiction. Many of those addictions wouldn’t have happened if Giuliani’s clients had not been greedy, reckless and stupid.

A better punishment would be to make the company execs take their own product for a couple months and then kick the habit in a county jail cell.

It would give them an idea of what really happened.

The Steppenwolf song “The Pusher” is a graphic depiction of someone addicted. The character wants the President of the United States to declare war on pushers. That doesn’t just mean rounding up junkies and street dealers: it means doing something about big pharmaceutical companies too.

Giuliani is not the President to make that happen.

When the OxyContin people go to meet their maker, I hope that the response they get is, “God damn the pusher.” It would make up for the government letting them off the hook.

Don McNay is the author of the Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service.

Unbridled Typos

Unbridled Typos

“When I think back on all the c___ I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.”

-Paul Simon

I learned how to type in high school. I had the worst penmanship in my school, and the principal personally signed me up for a typing class. He said it would change my life.

He was right. I became a wiz in the days of manual typewriters. When computers came along, I was set.

I could never have gone into journalism without my ability to type quickly. Typing is the only mechanical skill that I have. I can’t fix machinery, but I can always find a job typing.

Although I have grown to appreciate my typing skills, Barbara Erwin doesn’t share in that same affinity.

When certain items on her resume were found to be false, she dismissed them as “typos.”

Ms. Erwin may need a remedial course in typing.

She also might need a course in semantics. In my high school grammar classes, we used different words than Ms. Erwin for incorrect information.

One popular definition was “a lie.” Other definitions were “a falsehood” or “a misrepresentation.”

“Typo” never made the list.

Erwin’s resume said that she was named Superintendent of the Year by the Texas Association of School Administrators.

There is a slight problem: the Texas Association of School Administrators does not give out a Superintendent of the Year award.

Ms. Erwin’s “typo” made her appear as though she had won an award that didn’t exist.

Now that she is coming to Kentucky, I wonder if Erwin can teach Kentuckians how to win awards that either they didn’t earn or that never existed in the first place.

I would like to be a named a Nobel Prize winner. It doesn’t have to be from the Nobel Prize committee. If the National Association of Tractor Drivers wants to give me their Nobel Prize for Literature, I would be glad to accept.

If there is no Association of Tractor Drivers (I didn’t check) or they don’t give out Nobel Prizes, I still want to be able to list the prize on my vita.

Listing myself as a Nobel Prize winner would boost my resume, and I want Ms. Erwin to show me how it is done.

If Ms. Erwin can teach me how to pad my resume and blow it off as a “typo,” she might be worth the money Kentucky is paying her.

Being a Nobel Prize-winning author will help me make a lot of money

Just like Erwin’s fake Superintendent of the Year award helped her get a $220,000-per-year job.

I am distraught that Kentucky would hire an education commissioner whose knowledge of typing and semantics are so weak. For $220,000 a year, they ought to be able to get a better candidate.

When a government entity makes a bad hiring decision, I don’t get angry at the person being hired; I get angry at the people doing the hiring. In this case the hiring was done by the Kentucky Board of Education, whose members were all appointed by Governor Ernie Fletcher.

The Kentucky Board of Education didn’t care that Ms. Erwin had falsehoods on her resume or that she couldn’t type.

I’m not sure which is worse. We don’t want someone spreading false information to be in charge of education.

We also don’t want someone who doesn’t know how to type: typing is an essential skill in the technological world.

I haven’t been to China or India, but I bet their education commissioners know how to type. If we are going to compete, we need an education commissioner who is a competent communicator in addition to their other skills.

Despite my bragging about speed and skills, I often make typing and grammar mistakes. In the days of manual typewriters, I applied for a job with a misspelling in my cover letter.

The human resources director sent it back and said that I would not be considered because of the mistake.

That company had a pass/fail grading system for their hires. It looks like the Kentucky School Board grades on the curve.

When our children become adults and compete in the world economy, they will find that the world does not give “gentleman” or “gentlewoman” A’s They will have to be well-educated in order to survive.

I’m worried that Ms. Erwin does not have the skill set needed to help Kentucky compete in a world economy.

Admittedly, she does have one thing going for her.

She seems to have experience in writing creative fiction.

Don McNay is the author of the Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher. His column is award-winning but has not been awarded the Nobel Prize by any organization of any kind. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. He is on the Board of Directors for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Tax Dollars for Flunkies

Tax Dollars for Flunkies

“And if you give me weed, whites and wine, and you show me a sign, then I’ll be willing, to be moving.”

-Lowell George (Linda Ronstadt)

Political candidates don’t need weed, whites and wine to get moving, but apparently they need an entourage.

To run for office means you never are lonely. Almost every modern candidate has a “posse” larger than a heavyweight boxer.

Republicans and Democrats disagree on many issues but seem to be unanimous on one point: none are in favor of dropping their posse.

Most flunkies are a combination of hubris and insecurity. Many are insufferable, self-important and afraid to leave the candidate’s side. Thus, they make it impossible for “real” people (people who don’t spend every waking second thinking about politics) to get near those supposedly running to serve them.

It’s not good for candidates and not good for the people that they will govern.

As bad as the “posse” gets on the campaign trail, it gets worse when a candidate wins and puts all of the coat holders on the government payroll.

On my list of ways the government wastes money, taxpayer-paid flunkies are at the top.

They don’t produce any beneficial services and often take the place of someone who can.

I’ve been an occasional campaign flunky, and in small doses, it can be fun. In 1988, I helped arrange for Al Gore to practice with the University of Kentucky basketball team. I drove his car, fetched his Diet Cokes and arranged for him to have gym clothes.

I didn’t buy the gym clothes myself. I had my campaign assistant (a flunky to the flunky) do that. But I handed Al the clothes and made sure they fit.

They did.

It was an important job, and I took it seriously. Probably too seriously.

Self-importance is a defining characteristic of campaign flunkies. Many view themselves as latter-day St. Peters guarding the pearly gates--even if they are a flunky for an assistant water works commissioner.

I don’t mind if the coat holders are volunteers and not paid staff. If someone wants to spend their free time buying a candidate’s underwear, I don’t see any harm in it.

I get annoyed, however, when a candidate wastes campaign donations on a large paid staff. I get out-and-out angry when that staff winds up on the government payroll.

I’ve watched “debates” this year for candidates running for president. No candidate has ever mentioned cutting back on their entourage or perks.

Even the wacky guy from Alaska didn’t touch the issue. I KNOW he doesn’t have an entourage.

Cutting back on perks used to be a hot topic.

In the 1970’s, California Governor Jerry Brown made national news by living in an apartment instead of the California Governor’s mansion.

Brown was incredibly popular at the time. His approval rate broke records, and he won every presidential primary that he entered in 1976. He got in late and was up against Jimmy Carter, who also preached austerity. Carter carried his own luggage and stayed at supporters’ houses to save money.

Frugality was an issue then. It is forgotten now.

As candidates fly to campaign fundraisers in corporate jets that they borrowed from their “friends,” I wonder how many meet an average person in an average day.

I’m sure that their entourages can ward off encounters with any real people--except for the occasional photo ops with bellhops in their hotel suites.

I’d like some assurance that public officials pick their advisors because of their capacity to serve the public, not because of their ability fetch Diet Coke.

I’m not sure what kind of person would really want to be a professional coat holder. Anyone willing to do it for a career would have to have a distorted view of the world.

I don’t want that distorted view in the West Wing.

I understand that presidents and presidential candidates need to have tight security around them. I’m not so sure that people running for governor or city counsel do.

Having an entourage seems to almost be a pre-requisite for running for office these days.

I’m going to vote for the first person to break the trend.

Don McNay is Chairman of the Board for McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Ky., where we don’t spend clients’ money on flunkies. His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com and read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. He is on the Board of Directors for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Former Fat Guy for President

Former Fat Guy for President

"Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.”

-Fleetwood Mac

“Don’t Stop” was the theme song of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton when he ran for president. Now another Arkansas Governor is running for president, Republican Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee and Clinton have different ideologies, but thinking about tomorrow is their common message.

President Clinton, Governor Huckabee and myself have all fought obesity. Clinton solved his weight problem after emergency bypass heart surgery.

Not a great strategy.

Huckabee did it by losing 100 pounds in a medically-supervised weight loss program. He kept it off and has since become a national model for how to battle obesity.

I’m starting a medically-supervised plan this week. I need to lose as much as Governor Huckabee did.

I lost 90 pounds in 1989 but did not keep it off. After recently reading Huckabee’s book, Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork, I saw where I screwed up.

When I lost the weight, I thought I was cured. I thought I would never be fat again.

I was wrong.

I quit going to the support group and fell back into old eating patterns. I gained about a pound a week.

If you gain a pound a week for two years, you gain 104 pounds.

And that’s exactly what happened to me.

Huckabee made a subtle but important point: obesity is treatable, not curable. Like people addicted to alcohol or drugs, food addicts need to always be in a stage of recovery.

I don’t think everyone gets that. Unlike alcohol or drugs, food is not something you swear off completely.

The key is to replace bad habits with good habits. Driving to fast food restaurants has to be replaced with healthy eating and exercise.

Huckabee’s personal wake-up call was a diagnosis of diabetes. He did not set out to lose any specific poundage goal; he just wanted to get his blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar to back normal levels.

His motivation was to add years to his life.

I know I can lose weight but have the habit of hitting a goal and gaining the weight back. Huckabee made me realize that battling obesity is a journey that has no end.

The alternative is an early grave.

Insurance companies offer something called “rated-age” annuities.

To get people to understand them, I explain that these annuities ratings are the mirror opposite of life insurance. People have to pay more for their life insurance if they smoke, skydive or do things that reduce how long they might live.

Rated-age annuities work the other way. Insurance companies invest a lump sum and send a person money for the rest of their lives. They will give an unhealthy person more each month than a healthy one. They don’t plan on the unhealthy person being around as long.

I recently gathered my medical records and applied to several companies for a rated-age annuity.

The consensus was that I would die at age 68. Unless I end my obesity, I will die about 9 years sooner than other men my age.

That was a serious wake-up call. The insurance company actuaries and medical underwriters have billions of dollars riding on their research, and they are usually accurate.

The only way I can prove them wrong is to lose weight and change my lifestyle.

I went back to the medically-supervised program that helped me lose 90 pounds.

This time I am going to get it off and keep it off.

My ace in the hole is Don’s Get-Fit Guys group.

I started the Fit Guys group three years ago and encouraged men in Richmond to join me. We first called it Don’s Fat Guys but changed the name to suit our goal. Three years later we are going strong. We don’t push a particular diet or plan, but everyone in the group has lost weight on their own by focusing on healthy habits.

We will fight to keep those habits for the rest of our lives.

My politics are probably closer to Clinton, but Huckabee seems like my kind of guy. He is a recovering fat guy and likes rock and roll. He can’t be all bad.

Having battled and treated his obesity, he will not stop thinking about tomorrow.

Don McNay is Chairman of McNay Settlement Group in Richmond Kentucky where we want everyone to think about tomorrow. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service.

Don’s Get Fit Guys meet every Tuesday at 5 p.m. at 122 North Second Street in Richmond, Ky.