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Opioids
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Editorial: Opiod abuse grabs news spotlight
Jun 29, 2017 | Albany Democrat Herald
By Editorial Board
The nation's long-running battle with opioid addiction is back in the news: Reports suggested that one of the reasons why Senate Republicans have stumbled in lining up support for their health care bill is that it fails to properly fund the fight against the drugs. -
OUR VIEW: County's right to consider suing opioid manufacturers
Jun 29, 2017 | Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
By Editorial Board
The Niagara County Legislature has directed the county attorney’s office to pursue a lawsuit against the manufacturers of opioid pain medications. While we’re not too crazy about the idea of a litigious Niagara County – the last time it took on a corporate behemoth, the New York Power Authority, it blew through hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees only to have the suit thrown out of court – in this instance, the notion may not off-base. The goal of a suit would be to try and recoup some of the money that local municipalities have spent while battling the seemingly worsening opioid addiction epidemic. -
Beshear plans lawsuits against pain pill companies as GOP questions his resolve (Video)
Jun 29, 2017 | Lexington Herald Leader (KY)
By Jack Brammer and Daniel Desrochers
Attorney General Andy Beshear announced Wednesday that his office plans to file two to 10 lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers that allegedly contributed to the state’s drug overdose crisis by illegally marketing and selling opioids. -
State AG takes next step in pursuing litigation against ‘contributors’ to opioid crisis
Jun 29, 2017 | The Ohio County Monitor
By OC Monitor Staff
Attorney General Andy Beshear is taking another step in the fight against what he believes is the single greatest threat to Kentucky – the state’s drug epidemic.
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Impending Kentucky AG Opioid Lawsuit Coverage
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Editorial: Opiod abuse grabs news spotlight
Jun 29, 2017 | Albany Democrat Herald
By Editorial Board
The nation's long-running battle with opioid addiction is back in the news: Reports suggested that one of the reasons why Senate Republicans have stumbled in lining up support for their health care bill is that it fails to properly fund the fight against the drugs.
Two Senate Republicans, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, at one point had asked for $45 billion over the course of a decade to battle opioid addiction. (The two senators represent states that are awash in opioids.)
So the two were disappointed last week to learn that the bill, crafted mostly behind closed doors by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, allocated just $2 billion for the fight, and all of that in 2018. (McConnell, of course, represents Kentucky, another state that's been hard-hit by opioids.)
Portman and Capito might have been hoping that a big influx of money would at least offset proposed cutbacks in Medicaid funding. In many states, Medicaid pays for roughly half of addiction treatment, according to a recent story in Stat, a health-care publication produced by The Boston Globe. No such luck, at least according to the first draft of the Senate Republican bill.
Of course, addiction to opioids isn't just a problem in states like Ohio and West Virginia and Kentucky: All the indications are that this is a big deal in states across the nation, including Oregon.
To that end, consider a recent finding from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Hospitalizations and emergency room visits for opioid-related issues boomed during the years between 2005 and 2014.
Nationally, the report found that the number of opioid-related hospitalizations increased more than 60 percent during those 10 years. The number of emergency room visits nearly doubled.
The numbers were similar for Oregon, although the state did not report statistics for emergency room visits. But the number of opioid hospitalizations in the state more than doubled during that decade.
If that isn't troubling enough, consider another report from Stat, The Boston Globe publication: Stat reporters consulted with public health experts at 10 universities to forecast opioid trends over the next decade. The experts came up with 10 different scenarios, all dependent on a variety of factors. But the average of the 10 scenarios suggested that nearly 500,000 Americans will die during the next 10 years because of opioids. (The online version of this editorial includes a link to the Stat report, which came out this week.)
Stat reporters struggled to put that number into context, but here's a starting point: Over the next decade, opioids could kill nearly as many Americans as HIV/AIDS has since the start of that epidemic in the 1980s.
But here's the shocking thing: It won't take much of a bump in the death rate to hit that number. The Stat piece reported that opioids already kill nearly 100 people a day in all corners of the United States. It works out to 36,500 deaths a year.
All the experts agreed that the number of opioid deaths is certain to increase, at least through 2020, because it will take years to see if current efforts will have any effect. (Those efforts include trying to convince doctors to write fewer prescriptions for opioids.)
The Trump administration has said fighting the opioid abuse is among its priorities, but we've seen little action thus far. It did appoint New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to head a commission to investigate the issue; the commission has yet to report its findings.
To be fair, it has taken decades for the United States to reach this point. Answers won't come overnight. But here's the bottom line: A greater sense of urgency on this issue will save lives. (mm)
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OUR VIEW: County's right to consider suing opioid manufacturers
Jun 29, 2017 | Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
By Editorial Board
The Niagara County Legislature has directed the county attorney’s office to pursue a lawsuit against the manufacturers of opioid pain medications.
While we’re not too crazy about the idea of a litigious Niagara County – the last time it took on a corporate behemoth, the New York Power Authority, it blew through hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees only to have the suit thrown out of court – in this instance, the notion may not off-base. The goal of a suit would be to try and recoup some of the money that local municipalities have spent while battling the seemingly worsening opioid addiction epidemic.
Lawmakers gave County Attorney Claude Joerg 60 days to explore the feasibility of such a lawsuit and determine whether the county should file its own, pursue a different legal strategy or join a multi-plaintiff suit. The resolution also gives Joerg authorization to retain a New York City law firm to move ahead with litigation.
So far, nine counties across the state, including Erie County, have pursued legal action against the makers of addictive painkillers such as OxyContin. Some of those plaintiffs, including Ohio state and Nassau County, N.Y., are being represented by Napoli Shkolnik PLLC of New York City, the law firm that Niagara would use. Joerg said the firm will only be compensated if it is successful in the lawsuit.
There doesn’t appear to be any financial risk on Niagara County’s part; after all, a law firm agreeing to not be paid unless it gets results suggests that the firm has some confidence in its chances of victory. Nothing ventured is nothing gained.
Plus, someone should be held accountable. The public till has been tapped every which way while society tries to deal with the opioid crisis — police respond to more crime, first responders deal with more emergency calls, health agencies have increased spending on addiction treatment programs.
In a written statement, Napoli Shkolnik’s Paul Napoli said, “Many opioid manufacturers were so intent on selling as much product as possible that they either turned a blind eye towards or intentionally buried reports that these drugs were highly addictive and potentially deadly.”
No lawsuits against major opioid manufacturers have yet been settled and Joerg said he expects decisions won’t be reached for years. But, a lawsuit may have a more immediate impact in forcing pharmaceutical companies to change their practices.
“Let’s face it: drug manufacturers are in the business of making profit. The only way to attack the manufacturers is by attacking their profits,” Joerg told county lawmakers.
They may ignore headlines, but they won’t ignore their bottom lines.
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Beshear plans lawsuits against pain pill companies as GOP questions his resolve (Video)
Jun 29, 2017 | Lexington Herald Leader (KY)
By Jack Brammer and Daniel Desrochers
Attorney General Andy Beshear announced Wednesday that his office plans to file two to 10 lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers that allegedly contributed to the state’s drug overdose crisis by illegally marketing and selling opioids.
Beshear said his office will hire outside counsel on a contingency fee to assist in the multiple lawsuits and to ensure that state tax dollars are not used for litigation costs. He identified McKesson Corp., a California-based pharmaceutical distributor, as one possible target of the lawsuits.
Beshear’s announcement in his Capitol office came a few minutes after Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, held a teleconference to raise questions about Beshear and the state’s settlement in 2015 against Purdue Pharma, the maker of the painkiller OxyContin. The state claimed Purdue Pharma misrepresented how easy it is to get hooked on the powerful painkiller, driving up drug problems and deaths in Kentucky.
Stivers suggested that Kentucky’s 2007 lawsuit against Purdue Pharma was settled in December 2015 by then-Attorney General Jack Conway because of potential conflicts of interest with Beshear, the incoming attorney general. Beshear was previously an attorney with Stites and Harbison, which helped represent Purdue Pharma.
Conway settled the case with Purdue Pharma in 2015 for $24 million, an amount Stivers said was far less than what former Attorney General Greg Stumbo and Conway had suggested they could get from Purdue Pharma. The settlement included an agreement to keep some of the documents in the case sealed from public view.
Stivers said he thinks those documents should be made public.
“It may have been settled because of potential conflicts,” Stivers said. “That’s what we want answered. Open the records. If it’s not, that’s fine. If it is, then there’s more questions that need to be asked.”
Beshear told the Herald-Leader’s editorial board in 2015 that he had never been involved in or privy to any non-public information about the case, though he refused to identify the clients he represented as a private attorney who specialized in helping companies that ran afoul of the attorney general’s office.
Beshear repeated Wednesday that he received no income as a private attorney because of the Purdue Pharma settlement.
Beshear said Stivers’ comments are “silly” and “shame on President Stivers.”
“To use this type of press conference or preempt this type of action with a political shot when it deals with opioids and the lives of our families, that ought to be beneath him,” Beshear said.
Stat, a national health publication owned by Boston Globe Media, asked a court in 2016 to unseal documents in the Purdue Pharma case as it searched for information about how the company marketed OxyContin and whether top executives knew about the addictive dangers of the pill.
Stivers said he plans to file a motion in that case sometime next week, even though the Kentucky Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case Monday.
“We are going to take the option and if the court denies it, the court denies it,” Stivers said.
Beshear said until now, Stivers “loved” the Purdue Pharma settlement. He noted that Stivers participated in a May 2016 news conference in Corbin when Beshear presented Independence House recovery center with $450,000 from the settlement to support drug abuse treatment for pregnant women.
He said Stivers even complimented his mother, former first lady Jane Beshear, on her work against drug abuse.
“I guess a lot changes when your income is dependent on an at-will job of your spouse for the governor,” said Beshear, referencing Stivers’ wife, Regina Stivers, who makes $118,000 a year as the deputy secretary of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.
Beshear announced last week that Kentucky was one of several states participating in a bipartisan effort among attorneys general to use their offices to fight the opioid crisis.
Attorneys general in Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri and West Virginia recently have filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
Kentucky officials announced Tuesday that the number of drug-overdose deaths in the state hit a new high in 2016. Kentucky recorded 1,404 overdose deaths, up from 1,248 in 2015.
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State AG takes next step in pursuing litigation against ‘contributors’ to opioid crisis
Jun 29, 2017 | The Ohio County Monitor
By OC Monitor Staff
Attorney General Andy Beshear is taking another step in the fight against what he believes is the single greatest threat to Kentucky – the state’s drug epidemic.
Beshear yesterday announced his office intends to file multiple lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers where there is evidence that they contributed to the opioid epidemic by illegally marketing and selling opioids to Kentuckians.
To support this litigation, Beshear is issuing a request for proposal for legal services to assist the Commonwealth in multiple lawsuits and to make sure Kentucky tax dollars are not used for the costs of the litigations.
Last week Beshear announced Kentucky was one of several states participating in a bipartisan coalition among AGs using their investigative tools, including subpoenas for documents and testimony, to address the opioid crisis.
Beshear is co-chair on the National Association of Attorneys General Substance Abuse Committee.
The RFP, Beshear said, is a critical next step in moving the investigation into immediate and future litigation.
“Kentuckians have seen the effort this office has made to combat addiction and to go after those who have willingly contributed to the opioid epidemic that has caused children to lose their parents, and parents to lose their children,” Beshear said. “The ongoing commitment by my office will continue as we actively work to leave no stone unturned and hold accountable those responsible.”
The RFP names McKesson Corporation, a California-based pharmaceutical distributor, as well as other potential “entities and individuals.”
Beshear said Kentucky, like other states, is experiencing personal and economic devastation from the opioid epidemic. According to the CDC, the total economic burden associated with prescription opioid abuse, including the cost of health care, lost productivity, substance abuse treatment and the impact on the criminal justice system in the United States is $78.5 billion a year.
Attorneys general in Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri and West Virginia have recently filed legal actions against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
Beshear’s latest action follows many steps the office has already taken to combat the state’s opioid epidemic.
The AG’s office previously settled a $24 million lawsuit with Purdue Pharma about OxyContin. Beshear’s office has provided $8 million from that settlement directly to 15 substance treatment centers across Kentucky.
From a different drug company settlement, the office dedicated $2 million to expand and enhance Rocket Docket programs that speed up drug cases, generate significant cost savings and allow select defendants rapid access to substance abuse treatment.
Recently, Beshear joined a multistate lawsuit alleging the drugmaker of Suboxone, a drug used for treating opioid addiction, tried to monopolize the market.
Beshear is working with local law enforcement and community leaders to host substance abuse awareness forums across the state. The office has also been instrumental in many drug related arrests, including working with federal authorities on arresting a fentanyl dealer whose drugs had killed several Kentuckians.
“It is my hope that the governor and lawmakers commit to use the more than $11 million the AG’s office will provide for the next budget to fund additional drug treatment and to combat violence in our cities and counties because drugs drive virtually all crime. Only by working together can we save our families and communities from the crisis of our times.”
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