Senator Urges Action After Explosive '60 Minutes' Opioid Report
WASHINGTON (CBS NEWS) -- Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, is calling for action to combat the U.S. opioid epidemic in response to a joint investigation by "60 Minutes" and The Washington Post that said Congress helped disarm the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In the report, former DEA attorney Jonathan Novak criticized Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pennsylvania) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) for introducing the Controlled Substances Act and its regulations. He said the law, unanimously passed by Congress and signed by President Obama, weakened the agency's ability to stop companies from distributing large quantities of opioids to suspect outlets, fueling abuse of the addictive drugs.
Manchin on Monday said he sent a letter to the White House demanding that Marino's nomination be removed from consideration as the Trump administration's "drug czar," or leader of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
