Opinion: Consulting Giant McKinsey Shares Accountability In Opioid Crisis

By Scott H Silverman, Times of San Diego

April 14, 2023

Now, more than ever, there are people in need as they struggle with the impacts of the pandemic. Since the pandemic, we have seen a rise in drug addiction and overdose deaths.

One of the biggest contributors to these addictions are opioids. Opioids continue to plague our community as they are rapidly addicting and have now morphed into the even more dangerous fentanyl with a spike in deaths.

As we continue to struggle with this increase in addiction, I believe we must encourage our elected officials and courts to investigate and seek to hold the companies that perpetuated this epidemic accountable, especially when they are revealed to have targeted some of our most vulnerable populations.

While many companies have been held responsible for their role in the opioid epidemic including Purdue Pharma, which was found criminally guilty and is bankrupt for its role in the crisis, a consulting company that advises some of the biggest companies in the world remains unaccountable.

McKinsey & Company admitted to earning millions of dollars by helping companies market opioid painkillers, and was also hired by the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the drug industry — including opioids. This conflict of interest is clearly wrong. As someone who witnesses the ravages of opioid addiction, I ask that our elected officials further investigate this issue.

Earlier this month the Wall Street Journal reported that McKinsey, a global consulting firm with more than 30,000 employees, did not disclose its conflicts of interest while working for the Department of Veterans Affairs. McKinsey did not disclose to the VA that it also worked for the leading opioid manufacturers in the country, the very same companies that McKinsey had developed “project turbocharge” for in order to increase opioid sales.

This hits home to me as someone who works with veterans and those with addictions at Confidential Recovery in San Diego. We should hold all of these companies accountable, especially those that advised and developed opioid sales strategies impacting veterans and at the same time consulted for the VA.

California has considerable political power in Washington. The current speaker of the house, like the former speaker before him, is a California representative. Veterans also wield considerable power in Sacramento and the nation’s capital.

So Californians should call on their elected representatives to use this power to conduct oversight and hold McKinsey to account. Our elected representatives should also re-examine the business relationships between the government and McKinsey.

Taxpayer dollars should not be used to enrich a private company that has profited from the suffering and misery of our fellow Californians.

Scott H. Silverman is CEO of Confidential Recovery, an addiction recovery center in San Diego.

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