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Dutchess County
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Three New York counties join wave of opioid lawsuits
Jun 7, 2017 | Reuters Westlaw
By Nate Raymond
Three New York counties has joined a growing list of state and local governments that have sued Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson and other drugmakers over claims their marketing practices contributed to the opioid epidemic. -
Opioids: Dutchess suit seeks accountability from pharma companies
Jun 7, 2017 | Poughkeepsie Journal (USA Today Network)
By Abbott Brant and Geoffrey Wilson
Dutchess County has done its part in battling the opioid epidemic, County Executive Marc Molinaro said. -
Dutchess County Sues Drug Companies For Opioid Addiction
Jun 8, 2017 | Hudson Valley Post
By Bobby Welber
A Dutchess County lawsuit is holding 11 drug companies accountable for deceptive practices that led to the current opioid epidemic, including many local deaths. Read More: Dutchess County Sues Drug Companies For Opioid Addiction | http://wpdh.com/dutchess-county-sues-drug-companies-for-opioid-addiction/?trackback=tsmclip -
Doctor's Defense for Overprescribing Drugs: Blame Big Pharma
Jun 7, 2017 | New York Law Journal
By Kristen Rasmussen
A Long Island doctor is using a novel defense against federal prosecutors accusing him of overprescribing opioid painkillers: He's blaming the drug manufacturers. -
Dayton mayor files suit against physicians, drugmakers and drug distributers for role in Ohio opioid crisis
Jun 7, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
The mayor of Dayton, Ohio, filed a lawsuit Monday against physicians, drug manufacturers and drug wholesalers for allegedly contributing to the city's ongoing opioid crisis, according to a release. -
Who’s to Blame for Opioid Abuse?
Jun 8, 2017 | National Review
By Robert Verbruggen
The New York Times estimates that drug overdoses rose 19 percent in 2016, a year after they claimed more than 52,000 American lives — and about two-thirds of such deaths involve opioid painkillers. -
Two Ohio cities explore legal action against opioid drugmakers
Jun 7, 2017 | American City & County
By Jason Axelrod
Dayton, Ohio, and Lorain, Ohio have respectively voted to pursue legal action and explore the viability of such action against opioid manufacturers as the state’s opioid crisis worsens. -
Ohio's attorney general testifying before Congress about opioid epidemic
Jun 7, 2017 | WLWT5 Cincinatti
The Ohio attorney general will speak before a congressional committee Thursday about the opioid epidemic in the state.
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Three New York counties join wave of opioid lawsuits
Jun 7, 2017 | Reuters Westlaw
By Nate Raymond
Three New York counties has joined a growing list of state and local governments that have sued Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson and other drugmakers over claims their marketing practices contributed to the opioid epidemic.
The lawsuits, filed in state courts in New York state on Tuesday and Wednesday by Dutchess, Sullivan and Seneca counties, claimed the drugmakers engaged in fraudulent marketing that played down the risks of prescription opioid painkillers.
To read the full story on WestlawNext Practitioner Insights, click here: bit.ly/2rN8QVi
View article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/health-opioid-idUSL1N1J41X6
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Opioids: Dutchess suit seeks accountability from pharma companies
Jun 7, 2017 | Poughkeepsie Journal (USA Today Network)
By Abbott Brant and Geoffrey Wilson
Dutchess County has done its part in battling the opioid epidemic, County Executive Marc Molinaro said.
Now it's time for certain pharmaceutical companies to take "some responsibility" for their role in the spread of this epidemic, he said.
Dutchess County Government filed a civil action lawsuit Tuesday against 11 pharmaceutical companies for the way they have marketed prescription opioid painkillers.
The lawsuit, which was filed in New York State Supreme Court, seeks compensatory and punitive damages for tax dollars spent each year to combat the opioid crisis.
Dutchess is among several counties throughout the state who have filed similar lawsuits, including Broome, Erie, Orange and Suffolk counties.
"We, like many other county and state governments, believe these specific pharmaceutical companies hold some responsibility for the public health crisis of our lifetime," Molinaro said.
The marketing of painkillers has fueled the opioid drug addiction and overdose epidemic that has impacted Dutchess County and the nation, according to a statement from the county executive’s office.
Heroin and opioid addiction has claimed more than 220 lives in Dutchess County over the past five years, according to New York Department of Health data. The county had the highest rate of opioid-related overdose fatalities from 2009-13 in counties with 20 or more deaths, at a rate of 5.5 per 100,000 people. Suffolk and Bronx counties were ranked second and third.
Dutchess County spent three months evaluating the potential benefits and costs of filing this lawsuit, coming to the conclusion that it was necessary to take action.
"This epidemic has grown to a critical level," Molinaro said. "Too many lives are being lost."
Simmons Hanly Conroy, a national law firm, will be working with the Dutchess County Attorney’s Office to prosecute the litigation. The firm is retained on a contingency basis and only receives compensation for their efforts and reimbursement if the lawsuit is successful, the statement said.
The lawsuit alleges pharmaceutical companies used “deceptive marketing campaigns that misrepresented the safety and efficacy of long-term opioid use,” according to the statement, in order to create “false perceptions in the minds of physicians, patients, health care providers and health care payors that using opioids to treat chronic pain was safe for most patients and the benefits of the opioid drugs outweighed the risks."
This occurred, the statement said, despite evidence existing that these drugs “are ineffective to treat chronic pain, can actually worsen patients’ health and are highly addictive and dangerous.”
In the statement, Dutchess County Legislator Jerry Landisi said, "We have been fighting this war on drugs and addiction, but the enemy has been supplied by these pharmaceutical companies who have chosen to put profit ahead of patient safety. The lawsuit says we will not tolerate the damage these companies are inflicting on our society and we will seek justice."
Dutchess County Legislature Chairman Dale Borchert applauded the lawsuit and condemned the pharmaceutical companies' marketing strategies as "dishonest."
"Simply, the companies that are responsible for the aggressive and misleading effort to peddle opioids made a conscious decision to put profits ahead of the well-being of people," he said. "They deliberately misrepresented the dangers associated with these drugs, and they must be held accountable for their reckless actions."
The lawsuit also cites criminal activity, including drug-trafficking offenses, and costs the county has incurred and continues to incur related to opioid addiction and abuse, including those covering health care, criminal justice and victimization, social aspects and lost productivity.
"A large number of the current generation of opioid addicts are individuals whose first experience was with prescription opioid medications, prescribed by doctors who have been led to believe they are safe," Ken Roman, county legislator and captain of the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department, said in the release. "Now, these individuals are battling addiction, seeking out cheaper alternatives like heroin and synthetic opioids and are too often dying of accidental overdose. These people are our family, friends, and neighbors. We must stand up to the drug companies who have fueled this epidemic and continue to educate the public about the dangers and risks of prescription opioid painkillers."
The lawsuit alleges “deceptive acts and practices, false advertising, public nuisance, violation of New York Social Services laws, fraud, and unjust enrichment” against defendants Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutical, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; and Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; as well as physicians Russell Portenoy, Perry Fine, Scott Fishman and Lynn Webster, who were allegedly instrumental in promoting opioids for sale and distribution nationally, including in Dutchess County.
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Dutchess County Sues Drug Companies For Opioid Addiction
Jun 8, 2017 | Hudson Valley Post
By Bobby Welber
A Dutchess County lawsuit is holding 11 drug companies accountable for deceptive practices that led to the current opioid epidemic, including many local deaths.
Read More: Dutchess County Sues Drug Companies For Opioid Addiction | http://wpdh.com/dutchess-county-sues-drug-companies-for-opioid-addiction/?trackback=tsmclipOn Tuesday, Dutchess County filed a lawsuit against 11 pharmaceutical companies. The lawsuit alleges that the drug companies aggressive and deceitful marketing of prescription opioid painkillers, fueled the opioid drug addiction and overdose epidemic that has plagued Dutchess County, as well as the rest of the nation.
“The opioid and heroin epidemic is the public health crisis of our lifetime and Dutchess County has lost far too many lives to this scourge,” Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said. “It is time drug companies acknowledge the devastating damage, take responsibility for their deceptive marketing practices, and be held accountable for misrepresenting the dangers of these addictive painkillers.”
The lawsuit alleges deceptive acts and practices, false advertising, public nuisance, violation of New York Social Services laws, fraud, and unjust enrichment against defendants Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutical, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; and Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; as well as physicians Russell Portenoy, Perry Fine, Scott Fishman and Lynn Webster, who allegedly were instrumental in promoting opioids for sale and distribution nationally, including in Dutchess County.
“We have been fighting this war on drugs and addiction, but the enemy has been supplied by these pharmaceutical companies who have chosen to put profit ahead of patient safety,” Dutchess County Legislator Jerry Landisi said. “So many lives have been tragically impacted by the opioid crisis.”
The lawsuit also points to criminal activity, including drug-trafficking offenses, as well as costs the county paid and continues to pay to fight the opioid epidemic. The lawsuit seeks relief including compensatory and punitive damages for the tax dollars spent each year to combat this public health crisis.
Dutchess County is the fifth county in the state and second local county to sue drug companies for causing the opioid problem. In May, Orange County filed a lawsuit. Suffolk, Broome, and Erie counties recently filed similar actions.
Read More: Dutchess County Sues Drug Companies For Opioid Addiction | http://wpdh.com/dutchess-county-sues-drug-companies-for-opioid-addiction/?trackback=tsmclip -
Doctor's Defense for Overprescribing Drugs: Blame Big Pharma
Jun 7, 2017 | New York Law Journal
By Kristen Rasmussen
A Long Island doctor is using a novel defense against federal prosecutors accusing him of overprescribing opioid painkillers: He's blaming the drug manufacturers.
In a motion pending in the Eastern District, Dr. Michael Belfiore argued that the multiple counts against him of illegally distributing oxycodone should be dropped, and that the "true culprits in the creation of the opioid epidemic, to wit: Big Pharma" should be held responsible.
"With all due respect to the government, its overly simplistic 'knee jerk' presentment to the grand jury totally ignored these compelling factors and wrongfully placed the blame on Dr. Belfiore," Belfiore said in the motion.
The argument may be easier to make and sell in light of the growing wave of plaintiffs lawyers joining state and local governments in filing lawsuits against big pharmaceutical companies blaming them for the prescription opioid addiction epidemic and trying to recover taxpayer funds spent dealing with it. On Wednesday, the plaintiffs firm of Simmons Hanly Conroy filed separate lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers and physicians on behalf of Dutchess, Seneca and Sullivan Counties following pending actions on behalf of Suffolk, Broome, Erie and Orange Counties.Although the pharmaceutical companies are not defendants in the Belfiore case, it is arguably the most creative lawsuit to accuse them of inundating the country with painkillers by deceiving doctors and the public about their safety, thereby playing a significant role in the nationwide epidemic.
In addition to going after Big Pharma through his defense in his federal criminal case, Belfiore has moved to intervene in the state civil case brought by Suffolk County, arguing that his complaint is "nearly identical" to the plaintiff-county's.
"Dr. Belfiore, like many other doctors and their patients, is a victim of an opioid epidemic created by Purdue and other Big Pharma companies, which encouraged the aggressive prescribing of opioids for chronic pain," the motion in Belfiore's criminal case said.
Belfiore allegedly prescribed nearly 3,700 pain pills to three separate patients from September 2011 to August 2013, ranging from 248 to 2,910 pills per patient. Belfiore is a doctor of osteopathy (D.O.) who practices general family medicine and dermatology in Merrick, according to the superseding indictment. His original indictment charged him with prescribing far more. During that nearly two-year period, however, there was little, if any, awareness in the medical profession about the highly addictive nature of opioid painkillers—because that's the way the drug manufacturers wanted it, Belfiore's lawyer, Thomas Liotti, asserted.
And given that the standard for conviction turns on whether the physician prescribed the medication "without a legitimate medical purpose," it is difficult to argue that he had no legitimate purpose when his prescribing practice aligned with the message sent by drug manufacturers, Liotti added.
"You've got [OxyContin and Dilaudid maker] Purdue [Pharma Inc.] and Big Pharma telling doctors, 'Look, we've got this great medication that has no addictive quality, so you can prescribe it freely and not worry about your patients getting addicted," Liotti said in an interview.
"While the government cannot indict itself, it has clearly misfired in this prosecution of Dr. Belfiore, a learned and caring physician who works tirelessly for his patients."
Although the first indictment against Belfiore was dismissed because it failed to include key language alleging that the defendant prescribed the medication "without a legitimate medical purpose," federal prosecutors have indicated their intent to present the case to a new grand jury, Liotti said. The case could be dismissed, however, on statute-of-limitation grounds before a second indictment is filed, he added.
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Jun 7, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
The mayor of Dayton, Ohio, filed a lawsuit Monday against physicians, drug manufacturers and drug wholesalers for allegedly contributing to the city's ongoing opioid crisis, according to a release.
The suit aims to recover costs to the community related to the increases in law enforcement, drug support programs and educational initiatives launched in response to the city's heroin epidemic. As policies have been put into play to crackdown on lax opioid prescribing, many people with opioid addiction have turned to cheaper street drugs. The national rate of heroin use has surged in recent years.
"The heroin epidemic was no accident," said Mayor Nan Whaley. "These big drug companies have destroyed too many lives, broken too many families and done so much damage to our communities … ever since this crisis was created, our community has been forced to focus our time, attention and your tax dollars on addressing the heroin epidemic."
The Dayton suit differs from the suit filed by Ohio's attorney general in May against drugmakers in that it also names drug wholesalers and individual physicians who allegedly advocated for the widespread use of opioid painkillers.
In addition to four out-of-state physicians, the Dayton lawsuit names Purdue Pharma; Teva Pharmaceuticals; Cephalon; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Ortho-McNeilJanssen Pharmaceuticals; Endo Pharmaceuticals; Allergan; Watson Laboratories; McKesson Corp.; Cardinal Health; and Amerisourcebergen, according to a report from The Columbus Dispatch.
"The people of Cardinal Health care deeply about the devastation opioid abuse has caused American families and communities and are committed to helping solve this complex national public health crisis," Cardinal Health said in a statement emailed to Becker's Hospital Review.
"We operate as part of a multi-faceted and highly regulated healthcare system — we do not promote, prescribe or dispense prescription medications to members of the public — and believe everyone in that chain, including us, must do their part, which is ultimately why we believe these copycat lawsuits filed against us are misguided, and will do nothing to stem the crisis. We will defend ourselves vigorously in court and at the same time continue to work alongside regulators, manufacturers, doctors, pharmacists and patients to fight opioid abuse and addiction."
In Montgomery County, Ohio, where Dayton is located, the coroner's office has been forced to rent refrigerator trailers to store excess bodies due to recent surges in opioid-related deaths. The coroner has reported 348 drug overdose deaths this year. In 2016, the county reported 339 drug overdose deaths for the entire year, according to the Dispatch.
In 2016, Lorrain, Ohio, reported 132 fatal drug overdoses, which was double 2015's total, according to the Dispatch. Chase Ritenauer, Lorrain's mayor, said he plans to file a suit similar to Dayton's.
"It is time that the companies and distributers who started this epidemic take responsibility for the communities that have been ravaged as a result of the medications they produce," said Mr. Ritenauer. "It is my sincere hope that mayors across the state will join Mayor Whaley and me as we pursue justice for Ohio communities."
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Who’s to Blame for Opioid Abuse?
Jun 8, 2017 | National Review
By Robert Verbruggen
The New York Times estimates that drug overdoses rose 19 percent in 2016, a year after they claimed more than 52,000 American lives — and about two-thirds of such deaths involve opioid painkillers.
There’s little dispute that the problem can be traced to a dramatic surge in opioid prescriptions that began in the 1990s, when doctors began making a sincere effort to better control patients’ pain. As the pills flowed more freely, some patients became addicted — and the drugs started to find their way to the black market.
To what extent is the opioid crisis the fault of drug companies such as Purdue, that created OxyContin? Several recent lawsuits by state and local governments — including the state of Ohio and the city of Everett, Wash. — are aiming to test that question in court. These entities claim that drug makers’ aggressive marketing and failure to shut down illegal trafficking contributed mightily to the epidemic. They’d like to recoup the money that public health-insurance plans spent on unnecessary opioids, as well as the public costs of opioid addiction.
By most accounts, these lawsuits are a long shot — they are a good deal less compelling than successful previous suits in a similar vein, such as the action against tobacco companies in the 1990s or the 2007 action against Purdue itself. But they invite us to ask who is responsible for America’s addiction to opioids, and what the role of civil lawsuits, as opposed to criminal prosecutions and regulatory sanctions, should be in bringing those people to justice.
Easily the most disturbing allegation against Purdue, uncovered by the Los Angeles Times last year and now the backbone of the Everett lawsuit, is that the company discovered the Lake Medical clinic in Los Angeles was working with a corrupt pharmacy to supply opioid addicts, and yet it did little to notify authorities or choke off the supply of pills.
Purdue’s tracking system showed that one doctor was writing an incredibly high number of OxyContin prescriptions. A district manager for the company visited the clinic and found the hallways filled with trash and packed with suspicious-looking men; she and a colleague left without speaking to the doctor in question for fear of their safety. The law required Purdue to report suspicious activity, and yet the LA Times quotes a former DEA official who was involved with the case who says he hadn’t been aware of the scope of the evidence Purdue had gathered. Many of the 1.1 million pills illicitly purchased at Lake Medical before it was shut down in 2010 made their way to Everett through a trafficker named Jevon Lawson.
There are several layers of complication, however, between this allegation and the conclusion that Everett should win its lawsuit — thorny legal questions of the kind that crop up whenever governments file civil suits seeking damages against companies rather than pursuing justice through more conventional means. For one thing, Purdue notes that law enforcement had its eyes on Jevon Lawson as early as 2007 and was notified by a wholesaler of suspicious activity at Lake Medical in 2009, just one month after the district manager raised concerns with her superiors. This suggests Purdue’s failure to report Lake Medical to the authorities, inexcusable as it may have been, didn’t allow the traffickers to escape notice and thus can’t be blamed for the pills’ ending up in Everett.
Even if we assume Purdue could have shut down Lake Medical sooner, there’s also the question of exactly how much of Everett’s opioid problem can be blamed on sales that should have been prevented, given that Purdue says it currently supplies just 2 percent of opioids nationwide. (Everett is apparently still doing the math itself; the initial filing of the lawsuit does not name the amount the city is seeking.) And then there’s the question of whether Purdue should pay civil damages for failing to stop the criminal activity of others. In one court filing, Everett notes a previous case — a lawsuit against a gun manufacturer that Congress ultimately intervened to stop — that was allowed to proceed on the grounds that criminal activity can be a “reasonably foreseeable” consequence of a company’s negligent behavior.Ohio’s 107-page lawsuit against several drug makers faces even longer odds. Much of it reads as a basic description of how drug companies operate, injected with an accusatory tone: Can you believe these people promoted their products by emphasizing the benefits and deemphasizing the risks, hired doctors to serve as spokespeople, and funded friendly activist organizations? Bizarrely, it also characterizes as “false” or “misleading” marketing statements that are obviously accurate, such as the claim that patients prescribed opioids “usually” don’t become addicted. (Why, one wonders, would any doctor or patient find that reassuring?)
What’s more, in contrast with, say, cigarettes, opioids are harmful primarily when they are not used as directed, are cleared for sale by the federal government, and come with government-approved warning labels explaining the risks — all factors that will make judges skeptical of suits such as Ohio’s. The drug business is unseemly in countless ways, and opioid makers are not corporate angels, but Ohio will have a hard time convincing a court that Big Pharma should fork over a bunch of cash to a state government on account of the conduct described in the lawsuit.
It’s instructive to compare the current efforts to the ones that succeeded back in 2007. The opioid crisis is a lot worse now than it was then, but the drug companies behaved a lot worse then than they do now.
First of all, there were actual criminal charges, not just lawsuits, and those charges resulted in more than $600 million in fines and fees for Purdue and its executives. The company had willfully misled doctors and regulators about the addictive potential of its drugs — sometimes using methods straight out of Christopher Buckley’s Thank You for Smoking, as the New York Times reported at the time:
When the painkiller was first approved, F.D.A. officials allowed Purdue Pharma to state that the time-release of a narcotic like OxyContin “is believed to reduce” its potential to be abused. But according to federal officials, Purdue sales representatives falsely told doctors that the statement, rather than simply being a theory, meant that OxyContin had a lower potential for addiction or abuse than drugs like Percocet. Among other things, company sales officials were allowed to draw their own fake scientific charts, which they then distributed to doctors, to support that misleading abuse-related claim, federal officials said. [Emphasis added.]
That same year, Purdue reached a consent judgment with 26 states — including Ohio and Washington — and D.C. involving its marketing practices, particularly its promotion of “off-label” uses of OxyContin. (Doctors can prescribe drugs for purposes not approved by the FDA, but companies cannot actively promote such uses of their drugs.) The judgment required Purdue to pay the states nearly $20 million and to monitor the abuse and diversion of its drugs. The monitoring program Purdue set up appears technologically formidable, even if company officials do not always act on the information it produces, as in the case of Lake Medical.
In 2010, Purdue took a concrete step to deter the abuse of its signature drug: It released a new version of OxyContin that is harder to crush up and thus harder to snort or inject — methods that give the user the entire dose at once rather than releasing it over many hours. It’s perfectly possible to abuse pills by simply taking them, of course, but the change did seem to have an effect on serious addicts: It caused many of them to switch from OxyContin to heroin, which is chemically similar.
There is a good case to be made that Purdue’s aggressive marketing efforts in the 1990s and early 2000s helped lay the groundwork for the opioid epidemic. Ten years after the previous round of criminal charges and settlements, though, no one can plausibly claim not to know that Oxy is addictive, and the blame deserves to be distributed much more widely. In addition to drug makers and wholesalers who fail to monitor their sales effectively — lapses that, yes, should be punished when they can be proven — there are pharmacies that sell drugs to illicit buyers, corrupt doctors who prescribe to addicts and dealers, patients who sell their pills or give them away to friends, gangs that traffic narcotics, and of course individuals who get hooked by crushing pills to get high.
Suing drug companies might make us feel better. There’s a small chance it might even work in court. But curing America’s addiction to opioids will be far more difficult.
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Two Ohio cities explore legal action against opioid drugmakers
Jun 7, 2017 | American City & County
By Jason Axelrod
Dayton, Ohio, and Lorain, Ohio have respectively voted to pursue legal action and explore the viability of such action against opioid manufacturers as the state’s opioid crisis worsens.
In a June 5, 233-page lawsuit filed in the Montgomery County Common Pleas court, Dayton announced its suing of five opioid manufacturers, three distributors and four doctors associated with the companies, according to the lawsuit and Cleveland.com.
The lawsuit accuses multiple drug companies of misleading the public about the risks and benefits of opioid medications, using deceptive advertising and marketing in the process, according to My Dayton Daily News.
“This case is about one thing: corporate greed,” the first sentence in the lawsuit’s introduction reads. “Defendants put their desire for profits above the health and well-being of the City of Dayton consumers at the cost of plaintiff.”
The opioid crisis has ravaged Dayton. So far this year alone, Dayton first responders responded to 1,800 service calls related to suspected overdoses, according to My Dayton Daily News. Montgomery County, Ohio, has already had more fatal overdoses this year than it had in all of 2016."We are beyond a crisis," Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said at a news conference, per Cleveland.com. "We have lost so many people. We are in a state of emergency. We need action now."
On Monday after Dayton had already filed suit, the Lorain City Council voted to enter into an agreement with a law firm to determine how much money the over-prescription of opioids has cost the city, according to the News-Herald."We can't go to church, we can't go to a restaurant, you can't go to a family event without seeing somebody who has been impacted by the heroin epidemic," Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer told council members at a Monday council meeting, per Fox 8 Cleveland.
Both lawsuits follow a state of Ohio lawsuit filed on May 31 against five major opioid manufacturers, accusing them of deceptive marketing practices, Vice News reports. The opioid crisis has slammed Ohio as a whole. Last year, 4,149 overdose fatalities occurred in Ohio, which is a 36 percent increase from 2015, Vice News reports. That year, the state had the highest number of fatal overdoses.
“It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess should now pay to clean it up,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told the Columbus Dispatch.
As American City & County previously reported, Everett, Wash., sued OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma in January, accusing the drugmaker of knowingly flooding the city’s black market with its opioid drugs.
Most recently, the city filed an opposition brief as a response to Purdue Pharma’s filing of a motion to dismiss, the city’s website shows.
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Ohio's attorney general testifying before Congress about opioid epidemic
Jun 7, 2017 | WLWT5 Cincinatti
The Ohio attorney general will speak before a congressional committee Thursday about the opioid epidemic in the state.
Attorney General Mike DeWine will testify Thursday morning at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee. DeWine's testimony will focus on the economic aspects of the drug epidemic.
Last week, DeWine filed a lawsuit against five drug makers for their alleged role in perpetrating the state's addiction crisis.
The lawsuit accused the companies of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
DeWine wants an injunction stopping the companies from their alleged misconduct and damages for money the state spent dealing with the aftermath of opiates sold and marketed in Ohio.
A record 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015 -- a figure expected to jump sharply once 2016 figures are tallied.
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