U.S. Rep. Thomas Marino, R-Pennsylvania, hadn’t even gotten a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing before he withdrew his name for consideration as President Donald Trump’s drug czar.
The move on Tuesday came two days after a bombshell from The Washington Post/”60 Minutes” report about the congressman’s role as chief advocate for a 2016 federal law that weakened the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s control over opioid distributors. These middlemen between the pharmaceutical manufacturers and retail pharmacies are suspected of being instrumental in the prescription painkiller abuse epidemic ravaging the country, whistleblowers and others in the joint investigation said.
