Bridge Michigan: “What separates Rogers from other policymakers at the time… was his close ties to pain foundations that were bankrolled by drug companies trying to increase sales of pain pills like Oxycontin.”

LANSING — It’s been twelve days of silence from Mike Rogers since Bridge Michigan’s bombshell report on Rogers’ toxic record as “one of Congress’ leading advocates for increased access to pain care” and his “close ties to pain foundations that were bankrolled by drug companies trying to increase sales of pain pills like Oxycontin.” 

Rogers refuses to answer for his “decade of advocacy” to “boost opioid prescriptions” despite taking “hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same drug companies that now are paying billions of dollars in national opioid settlements for their roles in causing the epidemic.”

Rogers’ “support of the drug industry was notable enough that he is referenced in at least one book about the opioid crisis,” and reporters have pointed out how “it’s hard to deny that Congressman Rogers was definitely involved… in the opioid crisis.” 

Michiganders deserve to hear from Rogers about his work “contribut[ing] to the crisis” “as the nation tumbled into a crushing epidemic it is still battling today.”

Here are five key questions that Rogers refuses to answer:

• Did you refuse to identify big drug companies as responsible for the opioid crisis, including ones now paying Michigan millions of dollars in settlements for their role in the epidemic, because you received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from those same companies?

• How do you claim not to have known about your close ties to Big Pharma and the drug companies fueling the crisis when you were identified as one of the “principal beneficiaries of pharma’s largesse?”
• How do you deny that the lack of regulation by Congress is part of what fueled the opioid crisis when you were introducing bills to fuel the crisis pushed forward by groups bankrolled by Big Pharma?
• How do you deny any responsibility when experts say you directly “contributed to the crisis” and could have done more to temper the opioid epidemic?
• Do you regret your self-professed work as a “champion” for opioid manufacturers and distributors for drugs that have killed tens of thousands of Michiganders?