The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ lawsuit against Purdue Pharmaceuticals exemplifies a common narrative that lays a large part of the blame for the opioid epidemic at the feet of the manufacturer of prescription opioids for manipulating physicians into prescribing the drugs more liberally. Is there merit to that story?

To examine that question, we have as our guest Jacob James Rich, a policy analyst at Reason Foundation. Mr. Rich holds master’s degrees in economics and mathematics from Eastern Michigan University. Prior to joining Reason, he conducted research for the Cato Institute focused on opioids and the drug war.