Health security

The opioid epidemic: Who is to blame?

The opioid crisis has so far been the most devastating public health crisis of the 21st century. In 2017 alone, more Americans died of drug overdoses than in the entire Vietnam War.

This Sunday on 60 Minutes, correspondent Bill Whitaker takes a fourth look in a series of reports produced by Ira Rosen and Sam Hornblower that ask: Who is responsible?

In October 2017, 60 Minutes teamed up with the Washington Post for a Peabody Award-winning report about how the Drug Enforcement Administration was hindered in its attempts to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable.

Whitaker spoke with Joe Rannazzisi, a former high-ranking DEA agent who became a whistleblower. Rannazzisi said his investigators at the DEA were aware that an inordinate number of prescription narcotics were being sent to pharmacies, and they began to bring cases against the pharmaceutical industry's powerful drug distributors.

But they hit a wall — in the form their own attorneys. Rannazzisi said the drug industry used its money and influence to pressure the DEA's top lawyers into taking a softer approach.