Topic: Painkillers

The hosts discuss the Netflix series "Painkiller" and the previous show "Dopesick," characterizing them as efforts to whitewash the broader pharmaceutical industry by focusing all blame on the Sackler family. They argue that while the Sacklers were responsible for the opioid crisis, other major companies like Johnson & Johnson have paid significantly larger fines for similar malfeasance that receives less media dramatization.

As they approach their 600th episode, the hosts begin discussing Zohydro, a powerful new painkiller approved by the FDA. They note the media coverage of the drug's potency and the public health concerns surrounding its release.

Representative Jared Polis continued his questioning of Michelle Leonhart, pointing out that the DEA's top priority is prescription drug abuse, which implies those drugs are a greater threat than marijuana. Leonhart struggled to reconcile the agency's priorities with its classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance. Polis argued that Colorado's medical marijuana regime has successfully helped combat prescription drug addiction.