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Article snippet: A former employee of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said in a new interview on Sunday that efforts to stem the growing opioid epidemic in the U.S. were derailed by pressure from large pharmaceutical companies and Congress. Joe Rannazzisi told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that major distributors, including Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, allowed drugs to be obtained by rogue pharmacies and pain clinics, which then prescribed them to Americans “who had no legitimate need for those drugs.” As the opioid epidemic grew steadily worse, Rannazzisi, who at the time was the head of the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control, said he helped launch a crackdown on the companies, which included slapping heavy fines on them. But Rannazzisi said the drug industry used money and influence to pressure lawyers at the Department of Justice, which oversees the DEA, to go easy on the companies. The former DEA agent said superiors called him to have him explain his tactics. “And it infuriated me that I was over there, trying to explain what my motives were or why I was going after these corporations?” Rannazzisi said in the interview. Rannazzisi’s efforts were further complicated in 2013, when a new piece of legislation, written by former DEA employee Linden Barber and backed by the drug industry, began making its way through Congress. According to the “60 Minutes” report, the bill, introduced in the House by Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) and Rep. MORE (R-Tenn.), stripped the ... Link to the full article to read more