Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4012 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: SEPTEMBER 2016 C all it an exercise in disaster capital- ism. If you’re un- familiar with the term, it refers to a system where the guys that crashed the American economy got to use taxpayer bailouts to pay themselves huge bo- nuses and buy more private planes to fly to their villas in Tuscany. It also explains the recent increase in the price of Naloxone, Narcan, or the other names the drug is sold under. Police officers equipped with the drug have saved thousands of lives in recent years. So naturally the com- panies that manufacture the drug are jacking up the price by factors of 20 or more. Say what you want about guys like Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical executive that got perp walked out of his luxury apartment build- ing, but they’re not stupid. They know that because people can no longer ig- nore the overdose public health crisis, they can es- sentially charge whatever they want. According to the CDC, overdose deaths now total 130 every day. The price of the generic drug that’s been so effec- tive in helping cops save lives was a little more than a dollar. The lowest available price is now nearly 20 times that and climbing fast. Kaleo, one company that manufactures the drug, in- creased the wholesale price of its auto-injector to $4500 this year for a package of two from $690 in 2014. “Corporations are people, my friend,” a politician famously said not too long ago. If that’s true, then the corporate persons might have a slight advantage in terms of hiring lobbyists and buying politicians. Justrecently,U.S.Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine.) and Claire McCaskill (D- Mo.) wrote to Kaleo, Ran- cho Cucamonga’s Ampha- star Pharmaceuticals and three other drug makers, asking why they spiked prices for Naloxone during a public health crisis. “At the same time this epidemic is killing tens of thousands of Americans a year,” said McCaskill. “We’re seeing the price of Naloxone go up by 1000% or more.” In 2014, more than 47,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, mostly from opioids like OxyContin and fentanyl. That means at least 50 percent more people died from ODs than were killed in highway accidents. For some, this may even seem like good news. Ad- ministering medication to addicts is not police work in the eyes of many. But if you’re about saving lives, this is bad and infuriating news. In a twisted kind of irony, the drug companies appear to be using the same tactic as heroin dealers to boost sales. The companies will give an agency a donation of Naloxone. The agencies and officers make a remarkable number of saves and everyone sits up and takes notice. Then the free samples run out. In Huntington, W. Va., where the overdose rate is sky-high, the city began distributing overdose re- versal drugs to members of the public in February after receiving 2,200 free pack- ages from a manufacturer. “I’m sure we have had dozens of overdose rever- sals,” said Michael Kilken- ny, the physician director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department. But the city couldn’t af- ford to buy the drug with the increase in prices. “We would not be able to purchase it,” Kilkenny told reporters with the Los Angeles Times. Drug dealers get aggressive When people need treatment, big pharma knows they can charge anything they want – and lawmakers are totally powerless If you want to know what evil looks like, it’s Martin Shkreli. Learn more about our online CJ degrees, workshops, and CEUs. Gainful employment information available at ColumbiaSouthern.edu/Disclosure. ColumbiaSouthern.edu/APB | 877.845.7635 FLEXIBLE. AFFORDABLE. ONLINE. Katrina Johnson CSU Graduate Criminal Justice Administration YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SUCCESSFUL Online Criminal Justice Degrees at Columbia Southern University are designed to enable students to develop rational decisions and informed responses to the daily challenges they face in law enforcement, courts and corrections operations. Degrees offered include: • A.S. Criminal Justice • B.S. Criminal Justice Administration • B.S. Criminal Justice Administration—Arson Investigation • M.S. Criminal Justice Administration