To the Editor:
I wholeheartedly agree with Erik Paulsen’s stance against opioids that he took in his recent Medium article. His facts and efforts in Congress are much appreciated. It is unfortunate however that he may be beholden to many of those same pharmaceutical special interests and PACs being sued that inadvertently assist in distributing some of these harmful opioids to Minnesotans.
This makes me more than uneasy. How can you claim to be fighting for the opioid crisis while simultaneously being propped up by their donations? Until Paulsen distances himself from the pharmaceutical companies that are being sued by the state of Minnesota, I’ll be taking everything he says with a grain of salt. He should show that he’s serious about fixing the opioid crisis at all levels, and that includes rejecting money from the purveyors of the problem. I would urge him to go still further. I like the idea of a separate corporate tax on opioids for the pharmaceutical companies. This would dissuade them from condoning overprescribing as they have in the past.
John Hetterick, Plymouth
Plymouth Sun-Current, August 21, 2018