Tucker Slams Oxycontin-Dealing Sackler Family: 'Nobody Is Ever Punished' For 'Real Crimes'

Tucker on Sacklers & Opioid Crisis

"They're still rich, none of them have gone to prison. Nor have many other executives who profited off the destruction of entire American communities. U may have noticed a theme here in this country, nobody is ever punished for the real crimes" pic.twitter.com/Iy93QBsfHE

— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) January 16, 2020

"America, as you know, has been drowning in a tsunami of opioid pills," Carlson said on Wednesday's program of Tucker Carlson Tonight. "According to data from the DEA, from 2006 through 2014, a total of 100 billion doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped to pharmacies across the country, and from there into households."

Carlson lamented the "770,000" opioid deaths, which he said was more than all American wars combined, and the fact that almost none of the people responsible for providing the American public with the drugs have been held accountable for their actions.

"Nobody, almost nobody has been punished for it. The Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, made $13 billion selling painkillers. They are still rich. None of them have gone to prison. Nor have many other who executives who profited off of the destruction of American communities."

[...] "Nobody is ever punished for the real crimes, the ones that really hurt people," Carlson said. "The invasion of Iraq. The sub-prime mortgage disaster. The plundering of this nation by the Chinese government. In Washington, all of those are minor. They're forgivable if you know and pay off the right people, which they invariably do. If only the Sackler family had fibbed about some emails that didn't matter, or had a phone call with a Russian ambassador, maybe Washington would finally care."

Newly disclosed federal drug data shows that more than 100 billion doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped nationwide from 2006 through 2014 - 24 billion more doses of the highly addictive pain pills than previously known to the public.

[...] The new data further confirms the states that were flooded with the most opioids per person: West Virginia with 66.8 pills per person per year, Kentucky with 63.6, South Carolina with 60.9 and Tennessee with 59. West Virginia also had the highest prescription opioid death rate during the nine-year period.