Sheriffs’ Ads Slammed Drug Imports, and Big Pharma Helped Pay the Tab
Two-year campaign opposing cost-saving plans featured secret payments, a widely criticized consultant's report and celebrity drug cops.
A still from a Washington, D.C.-area television advertisement that aired this summer, paid for by the National Sheriffs’ Association, featuring Sheriff Keith Cain.
Source: National Sheriffs' Association via YouTubeGrim-faced sheriffs peered from Washington D.C.-area television screens in hundreds of ads this summer, imploring the country’s leaders to reject proposals to import cheaper prescription drugs from other countries.
Importing drugs would “put lives I’m sworn to protect at risk,” Kentucky Sheriff Keith Cain declared from beneath the brim of a white cowboy hat in one of the spots. It, like the others, warned that deadly counterfeit medicines would slip through loose foreign safeguards and overwhelm law-enforcement agencies. The ads concluded by telling viewers they were paid for by the National Sheriffs’ Association, which represents 3,000-plus U.S. sheriffs.