This Police Department Just Challenged Big Pharma and Won

police big pharma

By Heather Callaghan

Ready for a positive police story? Where will it lead – you decide.

Yesterday, I reported at Natural Blaze that a Gloucester, Massachusetts police department fed up with Big Pharma posted the top 5 CEO salaries and emails online. Their Facebook status erupted with cheers in the comments and many shares. The department bemoaned the city’s drug problem and took aim at Big Pharma’s role in creating addiction through prescription opioid painkillers.

The Big Pharma salaries were as follows:

5. Eli Lilly – John Lechleiter $14.48 million jlechleiter@lilly.com 317-276-2000

4. Abbott Labs – Miles D. White $17.7 million miles.d.white@abbott.com 847-937-6100

3. Merck – Kenneth C. Frazier $25 million + cool private jet. ken.frazier@merck.com 908-423-1000

2. Johnson & Johnson – Alex Gorsky $20.38 million ceo@jnj.com 732-524-0400

1. Pfizer – Ian Read $23.3 million ian.read@pfizer.com 212-573-2323


The department urged people to politely press the CEOs about their companies’ roles in the statistic that 80% of drug addiction starts with “gateway” legal painkillers. Indeed, the FDA just approved opiate use for children even though states where medical marijuana is legal have seen a 25% drop in painkiller deaths. And, a major review last year found that pharmaceutical painkillers cause more deaths than cocaine and heroin combined.

The department’s urging worked.

Someone from Pfizer called to meet with them and people following the page are awaiting the results.

Drawing more cheers, the Chief wrote:

This is not because of us, this is because of YOU.
Addiction is a disease.
No way we are arresting someone who comes in for help.
No way are we judging anyone.

Pssst….Pfizer called (honestly)…we are meeting with them. When you continue to make your calls, thank them because…

Posted by Gloucester Police Department (Official) on Friday, September 18, 2015

Previously, Gloucester drew national attention with their Angel initiative that would help – not harm or imprison – people seeking help with addiction.

Angel Program illustration from The Guardian newspaper…wow

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/10/massachusetts-police-chief-war-on-drug-addiction

Posted by Gloucester Police Department (Official) on Friday, July 10, 2015

Ana Kasparian reports:

There is a growing body of evidence that proves criminalizing addicts does very little to combat drug addiction, and rehabilitation is much more effective than throwing a non-violent person in prison.

However, the best part about the department’s strategy is their clear understanding of why opiate addiction has become such an epidemic in the U.S. As I mentioned in an earlier piece, the uptick in heroin addictions is the direct consequence of pharmaceutical companies pushing painkillers like OxyContin for years, which are also known as opioids. In fact, prescription painkillers accounted for 16,000 deaths, or nearly four out of every ten fatal drug overdoses in America in 2012 alone.

Overall, heroin use has jumped 63% from 2002 to 2013, and the CDC makes clear that those who are addicted to prescription painkillers are 40% more likely to get addicted to heroin in the future.

Regardless of where the conversation with drug companies like Pfizer takes them and regardless of the results of their rehabilitation program – this bit of news has restored some faith and positivity among its supporters.

Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. She is the co-founder of NaturalBlaze.com and writes for ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.

Recent posts by Heather Callaghan


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9 Comments on "This Police Department Just Challenged Big Pharma and Won"

  1. I hope these pharma gangsters are put in the spotlight from now on – making money from death and destruction .

  2. They didn’t call back because they’re interested in helping the addiction problem. The addiction problem is very profitable for them (these are capitalists, remember). They called because this is a PR nightmare, and PR problems take away from profits. Recall the recent Repugnican debates where supposedly knowledgeable people who want to “govern” us talked about marijuana (which is a medical miracle plant) as a “gateway” drug. THESE PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM. BTW, the profitable prison industry HATES articles like these, addressing the real solutions to addiction, which will lead to a diminished ‘inventory’ for their bottom line.

    • For the global elite, control is always more important that profits. What should we expect from TPTB who, long ago, got the Chinese hooked on opium, are behind CIA drug running, used CIA resources to create the psychedelic drug culture of the 60s, had Blackwater types guarding the booming poppy fields in Afghanistan, and are the same banksters laundering untold billions in illegal drugs every year? They want to keep society off balance and in a stupor.

  3. Kudos to the Gloucester police for opening the drug abuse can of worms.

    There’s also the overuse of antidepressants and other psychiatric meds. Mercola cited an eye-popping statistic not long ago: the US is roughly 5% percent of the world’s population and consumes over 50% of the prescription meds produced globally.

    Core problems are dumbing down and the engineering of a highly stressed out and dysfunctional society alienated from the natural world and its own humanity – that’s why most people seek out substances to cope and numb out.

  4. This is great news. Big pharma has grown into a giant that is crushing the villagers. We need to break them up, take back our health care, and protect ourselves.

  5. Although I agree with this 100% and yes, INDEED Big Pharma is cranking out drugs faster than ANY “Cartel” can- I wonder if this Police Department will get in trouble in Obama’s world for WHISTLEBLOWING? We will go directly to jail or have to run for our lives like Snowden. Hasn’t anyone noticed- these huge drug companies make “safe” drugs according to the criminals at the FDA and 2-3 months later you see all sorts of Lawyers asking if this drug or that drug has harmed you, changed you or even KILLED a family member? Wanna know how that works? You made 1 billion let’s say on the latest miracle drug. You KNOW it going to hurt a percentage of people so you set 100 million aside for law-suits. You still made 90 million on your poison. Meanwhile- people are to this day- being locked up for a plant. Peanuts kill more people than cannabis- WTF?

  6. This has to do with “Legal” drugs. Let’s get the “ILLEGAL” drugs off the street. To do that we must stop the CIA from bringing them into the country. The CIA is in the illegal drug business (this is the REAL reason we are in Afghanistan) to fund their black-ops division. Has been this way for decades. All the War on Drugs did was make billionaires of the drug runners and slam innocent victims into prison. The War on Drugs was never meant to end the illegal drug trade. They knew billions could be made (like Prohibition) by making them illegal.

  7. And the common thread of mass murders being committed by people of anti-depressants. Ring any bells?

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