'Campaign mudslinging': Opioids and politics in the race for RI governor

Philip Eil, who's the author of "Prescription for Pain," recently wrote an opinion piece for Rhode Island Current, highlighting how quickly opioids and opioid-related deaths have become a central focus in the race for Rhode Island governor.

"I was uneasy to watch this really serious, literally life and death issue, get turned into campaign mudslinging where it's about scoring points," Eil said during a taping of the show on Wednesday. "The public gaze drifts away from the real stakes of this issue, which, as I noted in my piece, is ongoing."

Incumbent Gov. Dan McKee last month slammed Democratic rival Helena Foulkes when she announced she would challenge him again in next year's primary election.

The governor's campaign launched an attack ad, accusing Foulkes of helping to fuel the opioid crisis while she was as an executive at CVS Pharmacy.

Foulkes and CVS have fired back at McKee, and Foulkes has defended her record at the retail giant, saying she worked to reduce opioid prescriptions and stem to flow of drugs going to pill mills.

Eil offered some suggestions for how candidates could talk about the issue of opioids, along with the effect controlled substances are having on Rhode Island where more than 2,000 people have died from overdoses since 2020, according the R.I. Department of Health.

"There are real things gubernatorial candidates can do to affect this issue," he said. "Public health advocates would dream of the kind of airtime that these two people, Dan McKee and Helena Foulkes, are going to have in the coming months. I just wanted to encourage them to think about the people who have lost their lives."

Later in the show, Kim and Eli talked about the “Stories We Wish We Wrote.” They included:

Kim's picks

‘Barrington Pisser’ tells police that the videos he posted were a hoax by EastBayRI

Patients are being 'dumped' and left at RI hospitals for months, even years. Why? by Jonny Williams and Antonia Noori Farzan, The Providence Journal

Eli’s picks

Glass from the past: why are there marbles in the Blackstone? by Sofia Barr, The Valley Breeze

New Bedford man builds a thriving eBay bike shop business: Check out House of Cogs by Kathryn Gallerani, The New Bedford Standard-Times

Watch “Behind the Story” Thursdays at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on the WPRI 12+ TV app.

How to download the free WPRI 12+ smart TV app

It airs on TV (Sundays at 8 a.m. on FOX Providence and 11 a.m. on The CW Providence), and will be available on demand through the WPRI 12+ app and right here on WPRI.com.

“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of the Boston Globe.