Five years ago, researchers at the CDC released a study on the abuse of narcotic painkillers like OxyContin. Their conclusion? The deaths from such abuse were absolutely linked to an increase in the number of prescriptions written for those drugs.

How big an increase? Up to 500 percent.

That's a lot of paper -- in both prescription pads and money.

In the same journal, a couple of researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health shared conclusions of their own -- including a warning against the increased regulation recommended by the CDC.

What they didn't share was this -- the university's Pain & Policy Studies Group were receiving what has amounted to a cool $2.5 million from the makers of the very drugs in question. Add more rules and regulations, and those drug makers wouldn't have quite as much money to throw around.

Since then, the research group has pumped out research supporting less regulation on the way narcotic painkillers are prescribed and used in the US -- not always mentioning that the researchers have received payment from... yep, those same drug companies.

In fact, one of the UW researchers helped a Big Pharma giant get a new narcotic painkiller approved by the FDA. They also work as consultants, helping to change the face of what we all know are bad news drugs.

Angry yet? It gets worse. You'd think, at least, that these researchers would be doctors or in the lab actually testing the effects of these drugs, right? That they at least know what they're doing and have some background that makes their standing as authorities make some kind of sense, right?

Wrong. Though they do call themselves scientists, they're not performing research in a lab. Oh, yes, one of the officials is a doctor -- of social welfare. The other? He has a master's in social work. Interesting backgrounds for people who seem to have no interest in the well being of others.

And yet, their shady "research" is used to change policy and color public opinion -- after all, it's research from a university, right? Why wouldn't you trust that? Especially when they talk such a good game about improving pain care and "balancing" policies to minimize abuse.

But it just doesn't hold water. Experts in addiction and pain have said the UW research group pushes a Big Pharma agenda that isn't at all supported by rigorous science. These critics allege they push policies that benefit one group only -- pharmaceutical companies -- and might've even helped put people in harm's way by advocating for the expanded medical use of drugs that may cause dependence and addiction.

Some people say this is why financial conflicts of interest are disclosed in articles and research reports. Well... yeah. But there are several cases in which those disclosures weren't included in UW Pain Group research.

The group's founder co-authored a consensus statement asserting that opioids carried low risk of addiction and were safe and effective for chronic, non-cancer pain -- claims that had absolutely no proof. These are similar to the claims that got the U.S. Department of Justice to throw a few accusations the way of OxyContin’s manufacturers, but it didn't stop these two researchers.

Even after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal recently uncovered all of these sordid details, the university remained protective of its Pain Group, saying it's their mission to improve pain care.

You know, every time someone says to me, "Oh, come on, why are you so down on these drugs? They're safe! There's research," I can't help but think of stories like these. How can I be expected to trust research that is basically paid advertising for Big Pharma? I'll stick with my cynicism and mistrust, thanks.

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