Michael Che Explores the Sick World of Prescription Drug Cartels for ‘The Daily Show’ (Video)

Side effects to watching this segment may include crying at the state of our regulatory system

A few more reports on pharmaceutical companies like this, and Michael Che may never make it to the Weekend Update desk at “Saturday Night Live.”

Because pharmaceutical companies will take him out, if that wasn’t clear already.

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Though the “Daily Show” correspondent is leaving for 30 Rock soon, he’s still at work for Jon Stewart right now, and on Tuesday night, he delivered a lengthy segment on the prescription drug epidemic that has swept America in recent years.

While it’s normally crack and heroin that get all the spotlight as chemical scourges in America, Che’s guests point out that it’s really prescription drugs like the painkiller Oxycontin that are causing the most deaths around the country. In 2010, prescription drug-related overdose deaths reached 22,134, out of a total 38,329 for overdose deaths nationwide.

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Most troubling of all: Unlike illegal drug dealers, pharmaceutical companies have been able to buy massive influence with government officials, meaning that there is little regulation despite the increasing evidence of the danger of their products.

It’s not a funny subject, but Che made sure that viewers won’t want to go find their own bottle and numb up after watching it.

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