Fentanyl Maker Donates Big to Campaign Opposing Pot Legalisation
Pro-legalisation campaign says 'we are truly shocked.' - By Steven Nelson 08.09.2016 U.S.News
An embattled pharmaceutical company that
sells the powerful painkiller fentanyl has
donated $500,000 toward defeating a ballot
initiative that would make recreational use of
marijuana legal under Arizona law.
It's hard to imagine a more sinister donor than
Insys Therapeutics Inc. in the eyes of pot
legalisation proponents, who long have
claimed drug companies want to keep
cannabis illegal to corner the market for
drugs, some addictive and dangerous, that
relieve pain and other symptoms.
Insys currently markets just one product,
according to an August filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission: a
sublingual fentanyl spray it calls Subsys.
Two former company employees pleaded not
guilty last month to federal charges related to
an alleged kickback scheme to get doctors to
prescribe Subsys.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed
a lawsuit late last month against the company
alleging Insys hawked the drug to doctors for
off-label prescribing, saying the company's
"desire for increased profits led it to disregard
patients' health and push addictive opioids for
non-FDA approved purposes."
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid significantly
more potent than heroin that can cause
overdoses, especially when it's used to cut the
supply of illegally sourced drugs.
The musician Prince died from an accidental
fentanyl overdose in April.
Insys made its large contribution to the anti-
legalisation campaign group Arizonans for
Responsible Drug Policy on Aug. 31,
according to information posted online by the
Arizona secretary of state's office.
Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy
campaign manager Adam Deguire tells U.S.
News that legalisation foes will not return the
donation.
In a statement he expressed gratitude and
stressed that Insys is based in Arizona, unlike
the Marijuana Policy Project, which has
contributed substantially toward passing the
initiative.
A voicemail requesting comment from Insys
was not immediately returned.
Advocates for the marijuana legalisation
initiative Proposition 205, which is up 10
percentage points in a poll released
Wednesday by the Arizona Republic,
condemned the donation.
J.P. Holyoak, chairman of the initiative-
backing Campaign to Regulate Marijuana
Like Alcohol, said in a statement that
"we are truly shocked by our opponents'
decision to keep a donation from what appears
to be one of the more unscrupulous members
of Big Pharma."
Holyoak said: "Our opponents have made a
conscious decision to associate with this
company.
They are now funding their campaign with
profits from the sale of opioids – and maybe
even the improper sale of opioids.
We hope that every Arizonan understands that
Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy is
now a complete misnomer.
Their entire campaign is tainted by this
money. Any time an ad airs against Prop. 205,
the voters should know that it was paid for by
highly suspect Big Pharma actors."
From 2011 through at least last year, Insys
also sold a second product: a generic
equivalent to Marinol, a synthetic version of