Pharma's lobbying and payoffs at the state level have long been under-reported. So it came as news on Monday, when the Associated Press and Vice Media reported that the pharmaceutical industry has spent "more than $880 million over the past decade to fight laws that would limit the availability of powerful opioids ... in the United States." Pharma resents stricter controls on opioids, despite an epidemic in which 40 people a day die from overdoses of these prescribed pain medications. According to the report, pharma companies spent more than eight times what the gun lobby forked out during the same period to advance its agenda.