Mike Rogers
The past can come back to bite in campaigns.
Bridge Michigan reports that in September 2003, then-Republilcan Congressman Mike Rogers held a press conference to promote his bill, The National Pain Care Policy Act, that would boost opioid prescriptions to “extend accessibility (of pain medications) to more and more Americans suffering from chronic pain.”
Prescriptions soared during that decade, but so did addiction and deaths, as the nation tumbled into a crushing epidemic it is still battling today, Ron French of Bridge Michigan writes.
Fast forward to the former Congressman's current campaign in MIchigan for U.S. Senate in which Rogers has talked about the opioid crisis, and the newer synthetic-opioid fentanyl surge, saying his background in the FBI makes him a good pick to fight the drug war.
Bridge reports:
A Bridge Michigan investigation revealed that while in Congress from 2001-2015, Rogers was a leading advocate for greater access to pain medications, which are typically variations of opioids. He received 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.
Bridge asked him about that during a phone press conference earlier this week.
“I understand that question is couched in a way that makes it sound terrible,” Rogers said. “I just disagree with the premise of the question.”
Rogers than recounted how his brother had back pain and needed pain relief to make life manageable until he died at 60.
“What we were doing (in Congress) is making sure that true chronic pain sufferers had access to drugs that would at least give some relief and hopefully allow them to spend some time with their family,” Rogers said. “There are a whole bunch of chronic pain sufferers out there that were going to get whacked around because people weren't paying attention (to their pain).”
Rogers is running against Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin for the Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
