FDA Invited Google and Facebook to a Summit to Discuss Tackling the Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis has reached a seemingly never-ending crescendo in the U.S., with more and more Americans dying of overdoses and related illnesses as a result. In an effort to curb these incidents, the Food and Drug Administration held a summit on Wednesday to discuss such issues. Among those invited were tech giants like Google and Facebook, but the event became mired in controversy before it even started.

As WIRED points out, about 115 Americans die due to the opioid crisis every single day. As of now, much of the blame is aimed at pharmaceutical companies and the doctors who are pushing these drugs to patients. However, tech companies are becoming increasingly scrutinized in relation to the issue as well.

The monkey wrench that could potentially derail the proceedings this time is the apparent refusal of tech companies to sign a pledge provided by the FDA. Called the “Pledge to Reduce the Availability of Illicit Opioids Online,” it was supposed to be signed by attendees and published 30 days following the summit.

However, it would seem that the tech companies had an issue with signing the pledge. After consulting with them, the FDA announced that it was putting that part of the plan on hold. While the reasons for the change have not been made clear, some experts are saying that this was an attempt by tech companies to deflect blame away from them.

This is a problem because one of the main points that the FDA wants to bring home during the summit is the suppression of sales of the drug fentanyl, CNBC reports. With the internet making it so easy to purchase such medication, the rates of overdose have skyrocketed, particularly in rural communities.

To help address this problem, the FDA wants tech companies to start doing their part and curb the spread of these drugs. They can start by making it substantially more difficult to get fentanyl off of the internet through search engines or social media.