How to turn a win for the people into a pile of sh__

You can’t make this up.

NC was recently awarded $750 million over the next 18 years in the multi-state settlement against Johnson & Johnson and 3 leading drug distributors for their role in the opioid epidemic, a settlement which the NC Attorney General Josh Stein played a major role in negotiating.  The funds are intended to be used strictly for addiction recovery and treatment in each of the state’s 100 counties.

Scammers and opportunists, with ties to the Republican party, which controls most of the county governments in the state, have sniffed out a money grab. Robin Hayes – the Republican former state lawmaker, Congressman, and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party – who was pardoned by Donald Trump for his role at the center of the biggest bribery scandal in modern state history - and some partners formed a group called Bridge to 100 that seeks to connect local county governments and faith-based rehabilitation groups in its network.

The group is very ambitious – the “100” in the name is from its goal to expand to all 100 counties (because each is eligible for its own share of settlement funds). For this venture, Hayes has also named Daniel Williford to the “Bridge” board. Williford is a former Salisbury businessman who was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for running a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme. Williford’s prison sentence only formally ended last November.

The other big red flag at Bridge to 100 is that the exclusively faith-based treatments offered by most of its rehabilitation centers simply do not work. They use the 12-step approach to treating addiction, meaning they do not use medications.

“Addiction recovery has been studied by medical science for a very long time. While religious faith may offer spiritual comfort patients recovering from addiction, the evidence is clear that treatment including medication (known as “Medication-Assisted Treatment,” or MAT), paired with professional counseling, is by far the most effective route. Much like in sex education, an “abstinence-only” approach simply does not work for most people.” (Carolina Forward, January 30, 2023)

Evidence indicates  that “approximately 90% of addiction patients who undergo a detox and then drug abstinence program will return to using within 6-12 months. With standard, proven medication (as well as ongoing therapy), as few as half will return to using drugs. And yet, Robin Hayes’ Bridge to 100 group has mostly chosen not to partner with established addiction recovery clinics that provide medication and therapy, but rather a number of fly-by-night groups that seem to ignore the standard of care for addiction recovery in lieu of sectarian evangelism."

One way to convince people that government can’t work is to take every opportunity to make sure it doesn’t (and if you can make a quick buck in the process, that’s gravy.) Check out the party of “NO” in the US House of Representatives. Was the faux battle over electing a Speaker of the House merely a clown show to support the Republican mantra that government is the problem, not the solution to the crises our country faces? If it looks like sh__ and smells like sh__, do we have to taste it to be sure?