COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — As Ohio's overdose epidemic has climbed toward a record high, an army of lobbyists representing makers of prescription painkillers and their allies poured more than $3.5 million into Ohio political coffers.
Pharmaceutical companies and allied groups belonging to the Pain Care Forum lobbying collective gave nearly $2.5 million to federal candidates from Ohio from 2006 through 2015, according to data analyzed by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity.
State-level giving of more than $1 million was directed at candidates of both parties, including governors, attorneys general, Ohio Supreme Court justices and legislative leaders, and committee chairs in power positions over Ohio health law. Republican Party committees received about $137,000, while Democratic ones got $41,000.
The investigation by AP and CPI found that the Pain Care Forum worked in Washington over the past decade to quietly derail efforts to curb U.S. consumption of pain-killing drugs, such as OxyContin, by promoting the vital role of prescription painkillers in Americans' lives. That went hand in hand with a 50-state strategy.
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Participating drug companies, associations and alliances also have other business before Ohio's Legislature, but a steady flow of contributions from companies employing an average of 37 Ohio lobbyists at the Statehouse has meant their interests remain well represented when pain care issues arise.
A huge chunk of the campaign cash identified through the analysis went to then-House Speaker John Boehner, of southwest Ohio, who received about $875,000 over the decade, according to the data. Among state candidates, Republican Gov. John Kasich topped the list, with about $46,000. Top state givers among forum members were Pfizer, Abbott Labs, Merck and Johnson & Johnson.
Kasich has championed a host of remedies to Ohio's opioid problem, beginning with creation of the Governor's Cabinet Opiate Action Team within days of his 2011 inauguration. He has worked with state leaders since then to extend access to treatments and increase availability of the overdose drug naloxone and launched an education campaign for schoolchildren called Start Talking.
A glimmer of good news: Painkiller prescriptions in Ohio have fallen from 11,261,528 in 2013 to 9,955,858 last year, according to the data.
Despite all that, accidental drug deaths continued to skyrocket. Ohio overdose deaths have gone up annually over the past decade, from 1,515 in 2006 to 2,744 in 2015, according to the analysis. That 81-percent increase is the 7th highest among U.S. states over the period, the analysis found.
When a new record was announced last month, Kasich said it made him "feel terrible." He stressed that the state is making progress.
After Kasich, the second highest recipient of Pain Care Forum contributions was state Sen. Dave Burke, a Marysville Republican and pharmacist.
Burke received about $32,000 from forum participants from 2006 to 2015, according to the data, which represent a minimum figure for contributions. Burke chairs the Senate Medicaid committee, services on the budget-writing Finance committee and helped champion Ohio's recently enacted medical marijuana law. Dozens of state lawmakers — including every House Speaker and Senate President and chairs of relevant committees — also received donations.
