Stand up to PhRMA: THC not PFE

Amy Youngman
Lego My Politics

            THC not PFE: the legalization of marijuana would cost big pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, whose stock symbol is PFE, billions of dollars a year by supplying a cheaper alternative.  Big pharmaceutical companies do not only control the drug market, but have also been singled out as the most political and influential industry in Washington.  As a police officer, my protestor is ironic because next to the police union, pharmaceutical corporations are the second biggest opponent on Capitol Hill for the legalization of marijuana (Fang 2013).  However, by using a police officer to claim the way Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) lobby is criminal further strengthens the cause.  APCO Worldwide released a survey of 456 policymakers in Washington, DC, which ranked PhRMA as the best in four out of 15 categories: lobbying, multilateral impact, local impact and membership mobilization; the highest ranked of any corporation (Silverman 2013).

            Former Pfizer CEO Henry A. McKinnell was a chairman of PhRMA’s Board of Directors, current Chairman of the Board and CEO Ian Read holds the same duties (“Pfizer” 2013).  Pfizer is one of the most powerful political lobbyists in the nation and uses their power to affect regulations, laws and policies based on their own personal profit-driven agenda.  They have strategically gained local, regional, national and global members of all major corporate lobby groups.  They are strong advocates, sponsor or have members on the boards of: Biotechnology Industry Organization, United States Council for International Business, Business Roundtable, American Chamber of Commerce, Advisory Committees and the American Council on Science and Health, and that's only in the US.  This stretch of relationships allows them to flex their power and manipulate the market for personal gain at the cost of the public.  Pfizer has “encouraged US politicians to threaten trade sanctions against poor countries producing or importing ‘cheap’ generic drugs, and the company pushed for a strict patent law within the World Trade Organisation” (“Corporate Watch" 2013).

            This strategy to infiltrate the core or Washington through relationship building and reputation building is recognized by Bill Dalbec as the most effective strategies to gain power (Hacker and Pierson 2010).  Pfizer does not only lobby but has created a drug empire full of corruption and too deeply intertwined with the government to be brought down.  By funding both major political parties they are rewarded for their contributions, a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found resurgence in corporate tax avoidance and reported that many of the country's biggest corporations, like Pfizer, once again paid little or nothing in federal income taxes.  Pfizer has close ties to regulatory authorities, the FDA and has been guilty of attaining grants and patent rights over drugs invented with public funds.  What is more scary is their involvement with education; corporate involvement in research and education bears great risks as commercial and public interests get blurred.  Pfizer is a research-based company who has tight relationships with schools boards and universities, and have tried to shape national curriculum in the US and Europe.  While their first concentration is medicine, not far behind is marketing: spending billions of dollars annually on marketing and advertising.   Clearly big pharmaceuticals have jumped on the “Winner-Take-All”, trickle up politics presented in both Inside Job and Hacker and Pierson’s book Winner Take All Politics.  Pfizer and other drug giants have continually been accused of distorting research for profit sake effecting the lives of billions of sick people, and by supporting them our government continually proves that cash rules:

“During my seven and a half years in Washington… nothing astonished me more than witnessing the powerful special interest groups in full swing when they thought a proposed rule or a piece of legislation might hurt them, giving nary a thought to how the proposal might help the investing public.  With laserlike precision, groups representing Wall Street firms, mutual fund companies, accounting firms, or corporate managers would quickly set about to defat even minor threats.  Individual investors, with no organized labor or trade association to represent their views in Washington, never knew what hit them.” (Hacker and Pierson 2010)

“Corporate Watch : Pfizer Inc : Influence / Lobbying.” 2013. Accessed October 7. http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=329.

Fang, Lee. 2013. “The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal.” Republic Report. Accessed October 6. http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marijuana-lobby-illegal/.

Hacker, Jacob S., and Paul Pierson. 2010. Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. Simon & Schuster.

“Pfizer.” 2013. Pfizer. Accessed October 7. http://www.pfizer.com/about/leadership_and_structure/meet_board.

Silverman, Ed. 2013. “PhRMA Is The Most Effective Lobbying Group In Washington DC?” Text. Pharmalive. July 25. http://www.pharmalive.com/phrma-is-the-most-effective-lobbying-group-in-washington-dc.