Two Time Lines Meet During An Opioid Epidemic
Two Time Lines Meet During An Opioid Epidemic
Dopesick Timeline parsed with the history of Public-Private Corporate Corruption in Maine
In recent news, Kamilla Harris has been leading the Biden immigration policy, hobnobbing around behind a gridlocked Congress by working with private sector megacorporations, a notoriously bad idea that sounds rosy on paper.
As this is transpiring, so is the court case against Purdue Pharma for its role in the opioid epidemic.
The Hulu series Dopesick tells the story of how the opioid epidemic was given birth and nurtured by Purdue Pharma. The television drama does not have a conclusive ending, as the story continues to unfold with a new court ruling as recent as December 29 which leaves hanging, whether the Sackler Family can ever be directly sued by the victims of the opioid crisis, or if they will get off scot-free with their wealth intact.
Critics say federal regulators were often back on their heels, slow to curb escalating OxyContin sales that fed black markets for pain pills around the United States.
And all this while the government was spending huge amounts of money and resources on the war on drugs every year. Maine Public Radio News
Featured in the Hulu drama is Jay P. McCloskey, a United States Attorney in Maine who first sounded the public alarm in 2000. After leaving public service, McCloskey went immediately onto the payroll of Purdue Pharma & became one of its biggest defenders. It is said McCloskey was discussing a job with them even before he left public office
As depicted in the television drama, the reason why federal regulators were slow to act against Purdue Pharma is attributed to a public-private culture in which government officials take jobs in the private sector after leaving office.
The public-private career trajectory is also attributed to be the reason why bailout funds went to banks instead of homeowners in the housing crisis bailout of 2008, documented in In How Wall Street Created the New Divisive America, by Jan D Weir.
NPT ends by noting that “Hulu's Dopesick, meanwhile, has the freedom to make claims about the Sacklers that legal systems — which citizens usually rely on to assess culpability — have not had.”
Elle Magazine’s synopsis of the timelines in Dopesick
The new Hulu miniseries Dopesick takes on a Herculean task: Explore and explain the United States’ opioid crisis from the perspective of Purdue Pharma, the company that brought the addictive opioid OxyContin into the marketplace; the lawyers and government officials who investigated the company’s misleading branding of the drug; and the doctors and patients who bore the brunt of OxyContin’s devastating effects.
To do so, the series, adapted from the book of the same title by Beth Macy, presents four different timelines…..
A Timeline Of The Real-Life Events From Hulu’s Dopesick- Elle Magazine
My telling of the story, adds another timeline added to the context. This timeline describes how the Maine public-private government repeatedly fails to develop a drug rehabilitation center throughout the escalating growth of the opioid epidemic. After all, Maine is one of the states in the Hulu docudrama. So here I have interspersed the Elle timeline with this additional Maine politics timeline.
New Timeline
1997
FDA examiner Curtis Wright, who oversaw the approval of OxyContin, leaves the agency. The next year, he begins working at Purdue Pharma with a $400,000 salary.
EARLY 2000S
Incidents of overdose and drug-related deaths begin rising due to OxyContin. According to the FDA, “The number of people who admitted to using OxyContin for non-medical purposes increased dramatically from approximately 400,000 in 1999 to 1.9 million in 2002 and to 2.8 million in 2003.”
FEBRUARY 2000
The U.S. Attorney for Maine Jay McCloskey issues a letter to the state’s physicians warning about diversion and abuse of the drug. McCloskey said in a testimony for the Senate Judiciary Committee that he then organized a meeting with federal prosecutors, state and federal drug enforcement agents, local police chiefs, and Purdue Pharma executives in September 2000. This same year, OxyContin passes $1 billion in sales. A Timeline Of The Real-Life Events From Hulu’s Dopesick- Elle Magazine
1998
The Navy had initiated its plans to close most of its base in Cutler Maine.
2000
The Bangor Daily News reported that Senator Olympia Snowe supported by Maine's Congressional Delegation introduced federal legislation to transfer two hundred sixty acres of coastal real estate including 22 administration buildings, 61 units of base housing, and a variety of recreational facilities, garages, a concrete dam and a freshwater reservoir that the Navy no longer needed to a local reuse authority composed of the towns of Cutler, East Machias, Machias, and Machiasport. Cutler backers to meet with Navy secretary. Congressional delegation to join last pitch to save naval base jobs Bangor Daily News Nov 16 1999
A group of Washington County officials met in Washington, D. C. with Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and the four members of Maine’s congressional delegation to discuss plans for the Cutler Naval Base.
The standard base closure rules qualify economic development organizations “in one form or another” to present proposals for the use of the base. It is possible to obtain the property for no or very little cost. The main stipulation for that opportunity is that proceeds of sales or rental of property be used for economic development at the former installation. That never happened.
Maine's congressional delegations were Senator Olympia Snowe (R), Senator Susan Collins (R), and Representatives John Baldacci (D) and David Allen(D). The Washington County group included State Rep. Martha Bagley, Cutler First Selectman David Eldridge, and Machias Town Manager Scott Harriman and Elmer L. Harmon and Richard Richards of Local 2635 of the American Federation of Government Employees.
The delegate to Washington negotiated a special act of legislation H.R.4205 — Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, which authorized the conveyance of the Cutler Military Base to civilian use, changing the priority for instruments of conveyance.
General BRAC closure rules grant priority to local economic development conveyances (EDC). The language negotiated by the special delegation allowed for the property to be conveyed to “to the State of Maine, or a subdivision or agency thereof”, changing the priority of transfer conveyance from a local authority to state authority and from any type of organization to a government organization.
Cutler selectman, David Eldrige and Machias selectman, Kenneth Bucket Davis were the two incorporators of the Cutler Development Corporation.
The Cutler Development Corporation was created as an instrument of conveyance of property transferred as a gift.
In federal BRAC Closure Rules, a private non-profit organization does not qualify for a no consideration (cost-free) transfer unless it provides a vital public service.
Before the state could transfer the real estate on the base as a gift to the Cutler (non-profit) Development Corporation, it needed to create another corporation to receive the property at no cost from the Federal Government and for this purpose The Washington County Development Authority was formed as the first municipal corporation, serving as an instrumentality of the state to be created by the Maine Legislature.
shell com·pa·ny
an inactive company used as a vehicle for various financial maneuvers or kept dormant for future use in some other capacity. Definition by Google [4]
Public agencies and private nonprofit organizations
Public agencies and private non-profit organizations are eligible for one of several public benefit conveyance programs that make surplus properties available at up to a 100-percent discount of fair market value. Surplus military property may be conveyed to these public agencies and private non-profits to provide vital public services such as education, health care, homeless services, parks and recreation, law enforcement, prisons, self-help housing, and transportation.
HUD Guidelines for base closure gives priority to local organizations over the state: HUD is involved because The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act allows “excess,” “surplus,” “unutilized,” or “underutilized” federal property to be used as homeless shelters, and is applicable to BRAC properties. When the property was given to a private nonprofit development corporation, the consideration of providing housing for the homeless or another public benefit, other than “economic development”, was given away with it. The Cutler Development Corporation sold the real estate assets to private developers.
The Cutler Development Corporation did not develop the property. It was used as the object of no cost-no proceeds conveyance by the state so that the real estate could be sold while bypassing the federal requirements that proceeds of the sale must be invested in the base. Thereafter the base was deserted by the Maine Legislature.
FEBRUARY 2000
The U.S. Attorney for Maine Jay McCloskey issues a letter to the state’s physicians warning about diversion and abuse of the drug. McCloskey said in a testimony for the Senate Judiciary Committee that he then organized a meeting with federal prosecutors, state and federal drug enforcement agents, local police chiefs, and Purdue Pharma executives in September 2000. This same year, OxyContin passes $1 billion in sales. A Timeline Of The Real-Life Events From Hulu’s Dopesick- Elle Magazine
SPRING 2001
The DEA initiates an OxyContin National Action Plan, the first time in history that the agency “developed a plan to target a brand specific controlled substance with a focus on enforcement and regulatory investigations that targeted key points of diversion,” according to the Office of the Inspector General. A Timeline Of The Real-Life Events From Hulu’s Dopesick- Elle Magazine
2001
McCloskey ends his tenure as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine. McCloskey was one of the first federal prosecutors to bring attention to OxyContin abuse, according to Wired. After leaving government, McCloskey became a paid consultant for Purdue Pharma to work on reducing diversion and abuse, per his testimony. A Timeline Of The Real-Life Events From Hulu’s Dopesick- Elle Magazine
FEBRUARY 2002
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions holds a hearing examining the effects of OxyContin and “focusing on federal, state and local efforts to decrease abuse and misuse this product...” A Timeline Of The Real-Life Events From Hulu’s Dopesick- Elle Magazine
NOVEMBER 2002
The board of the Cutler Development Corporation rejects a proposal for a drug treatment facility.
A public petition protested locating a drug rehabilitation center in Cutler but there is also public support for the facility.
A public informational meeting sponsored by the Cutler Development Corporation attracts a large turnout.
Three different proposals for the base are presented. A vote is taken at the meeting.
Both the meeting and the vote are organized by the Cutler Corporation and it is the Cutler corporate board that makes the determination. The drug rehabilitation center was voted down in favor of private real estate development.
April 2003 - A Suit Filed
In April 2003, Greg Myers files a suit on his own behalf and that of Residents Against Drug Abuse against the Cutler Development Corp alleging that the group lacked legal authority to solicit proposals or make a decision on the future use of the former Cutler Navy base.
Myers’ suit maintains that the Washington County Development Authority – not the Cutler Development Corp. – is the legal entity charged with taking title to the base property from the Navy and transferring it to another user. Man files Cutler base suit; Legality of decision on future questioned Bangor Daily News Aril 1 2005 article by Mary Anne Clancy
As the legal entity, the Washington County Development Authority is governed by the BRAC Closure rules. The drug rehabilitation center serves the intent of federal rules and qualifies for a 100 percent discount of fair market value, falling under several of the categories listed. Private real estate development does not qualify unless it is developed for the homeless or self-help housing.
…....Eldridge said the Washington County Development Authority is merely a pass-through agency and that the intent of the congressional legislation that cleared the way for the Cutler Development Corp. was to allow the property to be passed along to a local entity Man files Cutler base suit; Legality of decision on future questioned Bandor Daily News Aril 1 2005 article by Mary Anne Clancy
The non-profit Cutler Development Corporation was not repealed.
BRAC rules say that if it is found that the terms are not met, the property reverts to the original LDA, which is Washington County Development Authority, but no one has ever challenged the gift of the real estate assets by the WCDA to the Cutler Development Corporation.
The statute chartering the Washington County Development Authority authorizes it to ”purchase, develop, redevelop, sell and lease commercial, residential and public property for the purpose of developing the economy of Washington County”, There is no mention of an authority to give the base’s assets away. Lacking a viable means of funding, the base has not been able to perform economic development functions.
§13083-A. Washington County Development Authority established
The Washington County Development Authority is established as a body corporate and politic and a public instrumentality of the State to carry out the provisions of this article. The authority is authorized to take title, acquire and manage in the name of the State and by agreement with the Federal Government the property located within the geographical boundaries of any decommissioned federal military facility located within Washington County. The authority is also authorized to purchase, develop, redevelop, sell and lease commercial, residential and public property for the purpose of developing the economy of Washington County. This authorization allows the authority to provide financial and technical assistance to any governmental entity and non-profit located within Washington County in support of the community and economic development projects. [2005 ,c. 367,§1
2015
After two private developers failed in developing the commercial side of the navy base property, the Washington County Development Authority received a gift of real estate from Cutler North, LLC. This gift included four buildings: the main administration building (#500); the maintenance shop (#501); the warehouse and commissary(#502), and the morale and recreation facility(#506). The Authority assumed the existing lease agreement with Look's Gourmet Food Company, Inc., the tenant in the warehouse and commissary building.
The Authority appealed to the Legislature to pass An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue To Repair and Renovate the Former Cutler Naval Base in Washington County To Facilitate Development and Stimulate the Economy
LD1334 a bill that provides authority for a public bond referendum to finance the maintenance and operations of the WCDA was carried over to the next legislative session.
Ought Not to Pass Pursuant To Joint Rule 310, Apr 14, 2016
WCDA is virtually penniless outside of rent income on the remaining commercial properties but it is authorized by the Legislature to provide financial and technical assistance to any government entity or non-profit located in Washington County. On a volunteer basis, it seems. There is no money even to pay for property maintenance.
Although a municipal corporation is generally understood to be an instrumentality of a municipality, the municipal corporation of WCDA was deemed by the Legislature to be an instrumentality of the state. Such being the case the Maine Legislature must initiate a public referendum to provide funds to repair and modernize the buildings on the former base, and it will be a state debt and not a municipal debt.
The Washington County Development Authority is a legal municipal corporation and should be governed by Municipal Home Rule and able to conduct a public referendum to issue a municipal bond as a municipal debt.
WCDA’s statutory categorization as an instrumentality of the state deprives it of self-determination in solving local problems and weakens its hand considerably. The Legislature has usurped the economic development authority granted to municipalities by Municipal Home Rule, but will not authorize a public referendum to maintain and develop the commercial property on the former navy base. Nor does the Maine Legislature dissolve the municipal corporation of WCDA, a power which the Legislature granted to itself in the corporate bylaws of WCDA. Imagine if the state were authorized to dissolve any municipal corporation at its own discretion!
Dissolving a corporation constitutes an amendment to the charter, which is a power which the Constitution grants only to the inhabitants of the municipality.
This is an opportune moment for the inhabitants of WCDA to take back their sovereignty, especially if the interest is still there to create a drug rehabilitation center. The need for such a center has grown since the WCDA was chartered by the Maine Legislature as a municipal corporation serving as an instrument of the state. The last settlement with Perdue Pharma was low at twenty million dollars for the state, but it’s not over yet. Between a corporate settlement and government programs targeting the drug rehabilitation need, the money could be there for a drug rehabilitation center. The Maine Legislature hasn’t funded the WCDA since the day it created it. It is a long-overdue time to cut the strings with an abusive parent.