Homeless in Arizona

And if you ask me JP Holyoak, Demetri Downing, Andrew Myers and Kathy Inman are just as bad as the folks at Insys Therapeutics. They all seem to be in it ONLY for the money as Frank Zappa said.

Source

Montini: Feds bust former execs from drug firm that bankrolled anti-marijuana campaign

EJ Montini , The Republic | azcentral.com 10:23 a.m. MST December 14, 2016

Remember how prosecutors in Arizona took big money from the drug company Insys Therapeutics to defeat the initiative that would have legalized small amounts of marijuana?

Well, prosecutors in Massachusetts busted former executives of that same company on charges of racketeering, with allegations of bribery and kickbacks to doctors for pushing the highly addictive opioid pain drug fentanyl.

Can you say – hypocrisy?

Back in August, Insys made a $500,000 donation to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, the group working against Proposition 205. The two most visible spokespersons for the anti-Prop. 205 group were Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.

They used all the scare tactics and innuendo available to them, along with all that drug company cash, to convince Arizonans to vote against the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

Meantime, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently that deaths from overdoses of illicit opioids rose dramatically last year.

This is a much more dangerous and deadly situation. This doesn't happen with marijuana.

The opioid epidemic in the United States has grown to frightening proportions, something acknowledged by police, prosecutors and the medical establishment.

Now federal prosecutors have brought racketeering charges against former executives of Insys Therapeutics, from whom our prosecutors took all that cash.

And for what? To defeat Prop. 205? War on pot is over. War on opioids rages on

Legal marijuana is coming. The war against cannabis has been a disaster and I’d guess that ours is the last generation who will foolishly continue to wage it.

The real war – the one against opioids – rages on. And is worth fighting.

Carmen M. Ortiz, the United States attorney in Massachusetts said in a statement concerning the arrests of the former Insys executives, “Patient safety is paramount, and prescriptions for these highly addictive drugs, especially fentanyl, which is among the most potent and addictive opioids, should be prescribed without the influence of corporate money. I hope that today’s charges send a clear message that we will continue to attack the opioid epidemic from all angles, whether it is corporate greed or street-level dealing.”

In addition to what prosecutors (in Massachusetts – not here) call “corporate greed or street-level dealing” Insys also has been working on pharmaceutical version of the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis known as THC.

Think that might have something to do with all that campaign cash against legalizing marijuana? If the proposition passed, consumers would have paid taxes that Arizona sorely needs. Now that it failed, perhaps consumers will pay Insys.

During the campaign, J.P. Holyoak, chairman of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Arizona said of the opposition to Prop. 205, "They're knowingly accepting money from one of the worst actors in the business. This is a company engaged in illegal marketing schemes, that is intentionally hooking people on opioids."

Funny, that didn’t show up in the anti-Prop. 205 ads.

I take it back. Not funny.