Preview Newsletter
Opioid Litigation Media Report (9/14/17)
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Enriching Lawyers Is Not the Solution to the Opioid Crisis (OPINION)
Sep 13, 2017 | Forbes
By Wayne Winegarden
Effective health care reforms must reduce the excessive costs imposed by frivolous lawsuits. Studies have shown that medical tort reform could reduce total health care premiums between 1 and 3 percent. As estimated by the American Action Forum, this could mean “roughly $15 billion” in savings from effective (but partial) medical tort reform. -
Opioid lawsuits offer a quick high, quick letdown (OPINION)
Sep 14, 2017 | Albuquerque Journal
By Editorial Board
In this litigious world, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas’ decision to join other states in suing Big Pharma over the nationwide opioid crisis makes a good headline. Ditto for the lawsuit from Mora County that preceded it and the one expected to follow from Bernalillo County. In fact, at last count the Washington Post had 25 states, cities and counties suing manufacturers, distributors and drugstore chains in connection with opioids, with more being filed almost weekly. -
Tacoma sues top drug manufacturers, alleging lies about opioids
Sep 13, 2017 | KCPQ 13 News
By Staff
Tacoma on Wednesday became at least the second Western Washington city to file a lawsuit against prescription drug manufacturers in an effort to stem the opioid abuse crisis. -
Tacoma latest city to sue manufacturers of opioids
Sep 13, 2017 | Associated Press
The city of Tacoma has sued three manufacturers of prescription opioids seeking to hold them accountable for problems related to opioid addiction. -
Tacoma sues opioid manufacturers for ‘harms they have inflicted on the community’
Sep 13, 2017 | The News Tribune
By Melissa Santos
The City of Tacoma is suing three manufacturers of prescription opioids, alleging the companies’ actions have fueled the city’s homelessness crisis, strained police resources and caused the city’s health insurance costs to skyrocket. -
County may join lawsuits vs. Rx opioid firms
Sep 13, 2017 | The Daily Star
By Erin Jerome
Otsego County may join at least nine others across New York that have filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies who produce opiate drugs, intending to hold them financially responsible for the consequences of the opioid epidemic. -
Coventry joins opioid class-action lawsuit
Sep 14, 2017 | Journal Inquirer
By Tim Leininger
The town is joining a class-action lawsuit the city of Waterbury recently filed against Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma LP and other pharmaceutical companies responsible for making opioid medication that has led to an addiction pandemic across the country. -
Bexar County Commissioners pondering law suit against Pharmaceutical Companies
Sep 13, 2017 | News 4 San Antonio
By Michael Hernandez
Bexar County Commissioners have asked District Attorney Nico Lahood to look into the possibility of filing a lawsuit against some of the pharmaceutical companies, ones that manufacture pain killers with strong Opioids. -
County commissioners preparing to file suit against drug makers
Sep 13, 2017 | KSAT 12
By Stephanie Serna
Bexar County Commissioners are working on filing a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture pain-killing drugs. -
Cayuga County considers joining opioids lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies
Sep 14, 2017 | The Auburn Citizen (NY)
By Gwendolyn Craig
Cayuga County could join a multi-county lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that sell opioids. -
Oklahoma attorney general leads charge against opioid epidemic
Sep 13, 2017 | Koco 5 News
By Jessica Schambach
Oklahoma is one of four states suing the nation’s leading manufacturers of opioid pain medication. -
Surviving an Opioid Overdose May Soon Depend on Where You Live
Sep 13, 2017 | Bloomberg
In southwest Ohio, people die from drug overdoses at more than double the national rate. In the future, whether someone survives could hinge on what county they’re in. -
A month after Trump declared opioids a 'national emergency,' his team still has no plan (OPINION)
Sep 13, 2017 | Daily Kos
By Hunter
As it turns out, a presidential declaration of national emergency doesn't amount to much. -
Portman calls on Trump administration to implement his opioid crisis law
Sep 13, 2017 | Washington Times
By Laura Kelly
Sen. Rob Portman said Wednesday that the government is too slow in implementing key elements of his drug addiction treatment and recovery bill, which was signed into law last year and which outlines concrete steps the Trump administration can take to fulfill his August declaration that the opioid crisis is a national emergency. -
Trump sending mixed messages on addiction (OPINION)
Sep 13, 2017 | Bangor Daily News
By Editorial Board
The signals President Donald Trump has sent on what he has in mind for fighting the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic have been far from clear and consistent. -
KCPQ News this morning early edition at 6am
Sep 14, 2017 | KCPQ (FOX)
By Seattle, WA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29360341?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KIRO 7 News at 5am
Sep 14, 2017 | KIRO (CBS)
By Seattle, WA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29360346?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KOMO 4 News at 5am
Sep 14, 2017 | KOMO (ABC)
By Seattle, WA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29360779?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KOKI Fox 23 News this morning at 8am
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KHBS 40 News Sunrise at 6am
Sep 14, 2017 | KHBS (ABC)
By Ft. Smith, AZ
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29360903?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KSAT Good Morning San Antonio at 6am
| KSAT (ABC)
By San Antonio, TX
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29360948?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KING 5 News at 11
Sep 13, 2017 | KING (NBC)
By Seattle, WA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29360999?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KZJO Q13 News at 9pm
Sep 13, 2017 | KZJO (MNT)
By Seattle, WA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29361058?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KMBC 9 News at 4pm
Sep 13, 2017 | KMBC (ABC)
By Kansas City, MO
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29361119?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
WDRB News at 11:30am
Sep 13, 2017 | WDRB (FOX)
By Louisville, KY
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29361348?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
KFOX News at 9pm
Sep 13, 2017 | KFOX (FOX)
By El Paso, TX
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29361392?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7 -
Hearst: Matter of Fact - State of Addiction with Soledad O'brien
Sep 13, 2017 | Hearst
By All hearst stations
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29361407?token=b68825e0-4a72-4da2-8707-f1658e7ba3d7
Traditional Media Coverage
Broadcast Media Coverage
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Enriching Lawyers Is Not the Solution to the Opioid Crisis (OPINION)
Sep 13, 2017 | Forbes
By Wayne Winegarden
Effective health care reforms must reduce the excessive costs imposed by frivolous lawsuits. Studies have shown that medical tort reform could reduce total health care premiums between 1 and 3 percent. As estimated by the American Action Forum, this could mean “roughly $15 billion” in savings from effective (but partial) medical tort reform.
Given the desperate need to bend the health care cost curve, implementing medical tort reforms that rein in over-zealous lawyers should be a no-brainer. But then again, this is politics, nothing is a no-brainer.
Leaders of more than 20 state and local governments are pursuing the opposite path by filing frivolous lawsuits against opioid manufacturers. Specifically, the states are accusing opioid manufacturers of committing fraud and deceptive marketing practices with respect to their opioid medications. Illustrating the lawsuits’ tenuousness, the California Supreme Court, hardly a bastion of conservative jurisprudence, has already looked very skeptically on the plaintiff’s claims.
The actions of the AG’s are simply an attempt to shake down private industries in order to pad government coffers. Worse, the AGs are outsourcing much of the necessary work to file these lawsuits to private lawyers, who will also reap an oversized payday if the lawsuits are successful. Typically, these payouts are around 20 percent of the reward, therefore, if the judgements hit the billions of dollars the plaintiffs hope, then this would be a nice payday indeed.
While state budgets might benefit, in the short-term, this litigation exemplifies why health care costs are out of control in the U.S. Consequently, any short-term gains to a few states will come at the expense of long-term pain throughout the entire health care sector.
These lawsuits also directly risk the value that opioid medications bring to the millions of patients who live with pain. An estimated 76 million Americans over the age of 20 currently endure pain that has lasted more than 24 hours. And, for those patients suffering the most, chronic pain can lead to other health problems that include severe depression, as well as adverse impacts on the cardiovascular, immune, and musculoskeletal systems.
There are also financial consequences. People who suffer from chronic pain miss work more often, and are less productive at work due to their chronic pain. All told, the financial cost of chronic pain has been estimated to be between $560 billion and $635 billion.
Effectively treating chronic pain is difficult, but opioids clearly have a role to play. Under the new CDC guidelines, opioids are the standard of care for certain patients such as for patients undergoing cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care. For other pain patients, the option to prescribe opioids is valuable, but will not always be appropriate.
Undoubtedly there is a large, and growing, opioid abuse and diversion problem as well. Approximately 2.1 million people were addicted to opioids as of 2012. The abuse of opioids were involved in over 16,000 deaths(as of 2013), and annually impose $72 billion in medical costs.
A careful balance is necessary. It is imperative that opioid medications remain available for those pain patients who will benefit. Just as importantly, it is imperative to address the problems of opioid abuse and misuse. Such actions should include strict requirements, such as mandatory urine drug tests, that can ensure patients are properly adhering to their medications. Encouraging new technologies, such as opioids with abuse-deterrent technologies that reduce the risks of abuse and misuse, are also part of the answer.
While none of the potential solutions are a panacea by themselves, taken as a whole a comprehensive strategy is possible that minimizes the problems of opioid abuse while ensuring that opioid medications remain available to patients that require them.
What should not be part of this strategy, however, is empowering private trial lawyers with another opportunity to shakedown the medical profession. Frivolous lawsuits are already driving up the costs of the overall health care system. Expanding their opportunities to fleece the health care system will not reduce the costs associated with the national opioid crisis, but it will reduce pain patients access to needed medications.
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Opioid lawsuits offer a quick high, quick letdown (OPINION)
Sep 14, 2017 | Albuquerque Journal
By Editorial Board
In this litigious world, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas’ decision to join other states in suing Big Pharma over the nationwide opioid crisis makes a good headline. Ditto for the lawsuit from Mora County that preceded it and the one expected to follow from Bernalillo County. In fact, at last count the Washington Post had 25 states, cities and counties suing manufacturers, distributors and drugstore chains in connection with opioids, with more being filed almost weekly.
But it’s hard to determine how New Mexico residents would benefit from a far-from-guaranteed win.
While Balderas says the suit was filed to hold drug manufacturers and distributors “accountable” and to increase funding for opioid addiction treatment and law enforcement, it’s questionable that any money derived from it would actually be used for the stated purposes.
Remember when New Mexico won millions from Big Tobacco in a 1998 settlement agreement? The windfall, to an embarrassing extent, has ended up being a slush fund for legislative priorities that have nothing to do smoking’s impact. Tobacco settlement money has been used to balance the general budget, prop up the state lottery’s scholarship fund, cover costs for early childhood education – and the list goes on. Sure, some of that money from the “permanent” tobacco settlement fund pays for anti-smoking programs, but you get the picture.
Balderas contends opioid manufacturers “pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids” on the public and failed to tell doctors how addictive they were. The suit also says drug distributors “violated their duties by selling huge quantities of opioids that were diverted from their lawful medical purpose,” thus causing an opioid/heroin/overdose epidemic.
Does anyone believe someone with a medical degree doesn’t understand opioids are addictive? Then again, suing individual doctor feel-goods who hand painkillers out like Pez is nowhere as promisingly lucrative as suing Big Pharma’s deep pockets. As for diverted opioids, how are distributors responsible for things they sell being stolen from people they sell them to?
And where is personal responsibility in all of this?
The suits also fail to mention that opioids have been around for decades, are highly effective painkillers many patients do use as prescribed, and New Mexico had a chronic heroin problem long before the current opioid crisis – largely because of proximity to Mexico and illegal drug trade routes.
Attributing the opioid crisis to manufacturers and distributors ignores the real problem – demand.
There is no denying that the widespread availability, and popularity, of opioids has exacerbated this state’s opioid addiction and overdose rates, and that more must be done to address the scourge. Reforms – including New Mexico’s Prescription Monitoring Program, which requires health care providers check a patient’s prescription history in the PMP database to block doctor shopping for drugs – are working. The state Health Department announced a 63 percent increase in providers using the PMP since last year and a 5 percent decline in opioid prescriptions.
Sure there’s a lure to joining major suits like this one: For a somewhat modest investment, the state or counties might eventually realize a windfall (nowhere equal to what plaintiffs attorneys will make by comparison). New Mexico gets millions annually from Big Tobacco.
In July, Balderas joined a lawsuit against six generic drugmakers, alleging they conspired to hike prices for a common antibiotic and a diabetes medication. More recently, he’s signed onto a suit seeking to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program. While the former targets collusion and price gouging, and the latter is an immediate problem for about 7,300 DACA recipients here, this latest suit has a lot in common with the state’s opioid problem:
It delivers a quick high and a just-as-quick letdown.
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Tacoma sues top drug manufacturers, alleging lies about opioids
Sep 13, 2017 | KCPQ 13 News
By Staff
Tacoma on Wednesday became at least the second Western Washington city to file a lawsuit against prescription drug manufacturers in an effort to stem the opioid abuse crisis.
The city said the lawsuit, which was filed against Purdue, Endo and Janssen, is intended to hold them accountable for “false and misleading information” to both doctors and patients about the safety of prescription opioids over the last 20 years.
“We will vigorously pursue these claims and are exploring all of our available options at this time as we work to protect our community members from the harm caused by the companies that put their profits ahead of our community’s safety,” city manager Elizabeth Pauli wrote in a press release.
Everett filed a similar lawsuit against Purdue in March.
A press release from Tacoma said an estimated 50 percent of Tacoma’s homeless population is addicted to opioids. It said opioid-related crime has soared, and said the city must devote fire-department and human-service resources to battling the fallout.
The city hired the law firm Keller Rohrback to represent it in the litigation.
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Tacoma latest city to sue manufacturers of opioids
Sep 13, 2017 | Associated Press
The city of Tacoma is suing three large manufacturers of prescription opioids seeking to hold them accountable for problems the city has faced related to opioid addiction.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court alleges that Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen Pharmaceuticals made false and misleading statements about the benefits and risks of opioids to doctors and patients over the past two decades.
The city of about 210,000 people about 30 miles south of Seattle alleges that the drug manufacturers falsely claimed that the risk of opioid addiction was low and deceptively marketed abuse-deterrent properties of their painkillers, among other things.
Tacoma has suffered significant economic damage, in public safety, health care, and other costs as well as a human toll, the lawsuit alleges.
City Manager Elizabeth Pauli said Tacoma wants to hold the opioid manufacturers liable for the harm to the community and financial burden to taxpayers.
The city said in the lawsuit that it has spent a lot of money providing human services to the community “as a result of the epidemic Defendants have created.”
Tacoma’s homeless population has increased over the past decade and that the jump “is undoubtedly caused in part by the opioid epidemic,” the lawsuit said. The city estimates that at least half of the city’s homeless population is addicted to opioids.
“Prescription opioids have not only helped to fuel the homeless crisis, but have made it immeasurably more difficult for the City to address,” the lawsuit said.
In a statement, Purdue Pharma, which makes the prescription painkiller OxyContin, vigorously denied the allegations. It said it shared public officials’ concerns about the opioid crisis and was committed to working together to find solutions.
Endo, which makes the painkiller Percocet, declined to comment on litigation but said its top priorities include patient safety. It said it shares in the FDA’s goals of “appropriately supporting the needs of patients with chronic pain while preventing misuse and diversion of opioid products.”
A message left with Janssen, which makes Duragesic, was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Tacoma joins other cities and states in suing drug manufacturers for their alleged role in the nation’s opioid epidemic.
In January, Everett sued Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, seeking to hold it accountable for social and economic damages to the community due to illegal trafficking of the powerful painkillers.
The company has asked a federal judge in Seattle to throw out the lawsuit. A federal judge in Seattle is expected to hear arguments Monday.
Tacoma’s lawsuit asks for an unspecific amount in damages.
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Tacoma sues opioid manufacturers for ‘harms they have inflicted on the community’
Sep 13, 2017 | The News Tribune
By Melissa Santos
The City of Tacoma is suing three manufacturers of prescription opioids, alleging the companies’ actions have fueled the city’s homelessness crisis, strained police resources and caused the city’s health insurance costs to skyrocket.
City Manager Elizabeth Pauli said the city is joining other state and local governments in “seeking to hold opioid manufacturers liable for the harms they have inflicted on the community, and the financial burden their product has caused taxpayers.”
“We will vigorously pursue these claims and are exploring all of our available options at this time as we work to protect our community members from the harm caused by the companies that put their profits ahead of our community’s safety,” Pauli said in a news release.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, targets Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin; Endo Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Percocet; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Janssen makes patches that release the pain killer fentanyl.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of falsely claiming the risk of becoming addicted to opioids was low, while ignoring the risks of long-term use.
William Foster, a spokesman for Janssen, said Wednesday that company leaders believe the lawsuit’s claims “are both legally and factually unfounded.”
“Janssen has acted responsibly and in the best interests of patients and physicians with regard to these medicines, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about possible risks on every product label,” Foster wrote in an email, referring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
According to the suit, the companies’ actions have forced Tacoma officials to spend “significant resources” on social-service programs to combat homelessness and addiction, as well as diverting police to fight drug trafficking. The lawsuit also cites how in recent years, Tacoma has been responding to more emergency drug-overdose calls.
The city wants the court to rule that the opioid makers have been negligent and acted as a public nuisance, while unjustly enriching themselves at the city’s expense.
“Despite minimal or arguably no scientific evidence indicating that opioids offer any long-term benefit in treating chronic pain, defendants misleadingly advertised their opioids as a panacea and pushed hundreds of millions of pills into the marketplace for consumption, fueling a crisis of unprecedented levels,” the lawsuit states.
Purdue Pharma said in an emailed statement that company officials “vigorously deny the allegations” and “share public officials’ concerns about the opioid crisis.”
Purdue’s leaders “are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions,” the statement said.
“OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug-monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis,” the company said.
Nalaxone, also known as Narcan, is a drug that can be used to reverse an opioid overdose. According to the city’s lawsuit, the Tacoma Fire Department has seen a 50-percent increase in the need for Nalaxone in the past few years. The lawsuit says the Tacoma Fire Department administered 153 doses of Nalaxone to people who had overdosed in 2016, up from 102 doses in 2013.
City officials are seeking damages of three times the amount of their actual costs, as permitted under the state’s Consumer Protection Act and the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
David Ko, one of the lead attorneys working on the city’s case, said the length of time the opioid manufacturers have been misleading the public, combined with the myriad costs their products have foisted on local communities, help give Tacoma a strong case.
“In very general terms, this was not just a misrepresentation here and a misrepresentation there,” said Ko, who works for the Seattle law firm Keller Rohrback. “This was a well-orchestrated, sophisticated scheme over the course of the last 20 years to really deceive doctors, patients and really the entire public about the safety and efficacy of opioids, while simultaneously minimizing the risk associated with consuming them.”
Tacoma isn’t the first government to target opioid makers in court.
Ko said about 30 state and local jurisdictions throughout the nation have filed similar cases against drug manufacturers. Those include the city of Everett and the state of Ohio.
All of those cases have been filed recently, so they are still moving through the court system, Ko said.
Endo, the third company named as a defendant in Tacoma’s lawsuit, didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday afternoon.
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County may join lawsuits vs. Rx opioid firms
Sep 13, 2017 | The Daily Star
By Erin Jerome
Otsego County may join at least nine others across New York that have filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies who produce opiate drugs, intending to hold them financially responsible for the consequences of the opioid epidemic.
The lawsuits implicate the firms in fraud via deceptive marketing tactics and over-marketing of their medications, including downplaying the risk of addiction and long-term side effects to doctors and consumers.
There is a precedent for the legal action — in 1998, attorneys general in 46 states sued tobacco companies, ending in the largest civil litigation settlement agreement in U.S. history. The companies agreed to make annual payments to the states, in perpetuity, to fund anti-smoking and public health programs.
“The lawsuits make perfect sense to me,” said Julia Dostal, Ph.D., the executive director of the LEAF Council on Alcoholism and Addiction in Otsego County. “We weren't able to really turn things around until after the big tobacco suit.”
County attorney Ellen Coccoma said the county board will begin meetings this month with two or three law firms who are representing other counties in the state, including Manhattan law firm Napoli Shkolnik. She said the firm the county chooses will work on a contingency basis.
Similar lawsuits are targeting Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Purdue Pharma, L.P., and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., among others, although Coccoma said she isn't sure yet which companies Otsego County will file suit against.
“It will be interesting to sit down with the lawyers and find out what their research has shown,” she said.
It is unclear how unique Otsego County's lawsuit will be, although the verified complaint from Nassau County says that “core message” marketing by pharmaceutical companies was deployed the same way in Nassau county as it was nationwide, and “misrepresentations and deceptions regarding the risks, benefits, and superiority of opioid use to treat chronic pain were part and parcel of Defendants’ marketing campaigns in Nassau County.”
“Doctors were told that there was only minor possibility of patient addiction, that only one percent of people would become addicted,” Dostal said.
Ameen Aswad, a case manager for drug treatment court in Otsego County, said something needs to be done legally to help curb opioid abuse, but he isn't sure what.
“We are seeing a lot of people in our program who got addicted to drugs through prescribed medications,” he said. “We are still seeing a lot of over-prescribing around.”
Aswad said that I-STOP, an internet program started in 2013, has helped doctors identify patients who are abusing opioids and medication seeking. Still, he says a larger shift in attitudes about prescribing is needed, and that medication is often not the only treatment option.
While Otsego county's suit may look different, the introduction from Nassau County begins in concision: “This case is about one thing: corporate greed.”
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Coventry joins opioid class-action lawsuit
Sep 14, 2017 | Journal Inquirer
By Tim Leininger
The town is joining a class-action lawsuit the city of Waterbury recently filed against Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma LP and other pharmaceutical companies responsible for making opioid medication that has led to an addiction pandemic across the country.
The remainder of the article is under paywall: http://www.journalinquirer.com/towns/coventry/coventry-joins-opioid-class-action-lawsuit/article_db2d7480-9899-11e7-bf74-ff409d9b9cc9.html
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Bexar County Commissioners pondering law suit against Pharmaceutical Companies
Sep 13, 2017 | News 4 San Antonio
By Michael Hernandez
Bexar County Commissioners have asked District Attorney Nico Lahood to look into the possibility of filing a lawsuit against some of the pharmaceutical companies, ones that manufacture pain killers with strong Opioids.
Last year 64,000 people died nationally of opioid overdose, and many of these addictions started with pain killers prescribed by doctors and marketed by pharmaceutical companies.
Melissa Dobbertin, the Director of Admissions & Outpatients at Alpha Home exclaims, "yes I think the pharmaceutical companies have some responsibilities of course. "
Dobbertin has been working in the field for more than 20 years and says opioid abuse can start innocently but is a slippery slope.
"The body becomes dependent on that drug and the body also becomes tolerant to it. This is where the real danger with the opioids come in. So the more I take the more need to take."
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff is leading the charge here to try to find a way to stem opioid abuse.
"We did take it up in executive session this week and we expect to have a report back from the District Attorney hopefully in October 3rd meeting. He's going to be interviewing various lawyers, the tactics, what type of lawsuits, who would we be suing," says Judge Wolff.
At that point the commission will decide whether to proceed with the lawsuit. Judge Wolff says opioids and their derivatives have gone up 3 times from what they were in 2000 so this issue is very important to him.
"I'm very passionate about this. One of our greatest responsibilities as Bexar County Commissioners and County Judge is we fund the Bexar County Hospital District."
And he also says doctors can be a part of the problem as well.
"They do have a responsibility, if they understand what they're doing and are prescribing them then they are at fault also. Many times the pharmaceutical companies maybe doesn't share all of the dangers of it," says Wolff.
Judge Wolff says the commission is working on treatment and education programs and to get across how dangerous these opioids are.
And also training medical personnel on prescribing opioids and working with hospitals on how medications should be administered.
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County commissioners preparing to file suit against drug makers
Sep 13, 2017 | KSAT 12
By Stephanie Serna
Bexar County Commissioners are working on filing a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture pain-killing drugs.
County Judge Nelson Wolff said the impact the drugs have in the community, from treatment to social costs, has increased over the years.
"There is some responsibility within the pharmaceutical industry for fostering a lot of these dangerous drugs on people," Wolff said. "So we may decide to join some other cities and counties in that lawsuit."
Wolff said authorities are hoping the lawsuit will work first as a deterrent.
"It's a bigger problem today than ever before," the judge said. "The dangers of it, more dangerous chemicals, more dangerous derivatives, so we are trying to do everything we can to warn people about that and to help those that did get addicted."
"The opioid epidemic is definitely a leading health care crisis in the United States," said Lucy Wilkening, assistant professor at the University of Incarnate Word Feik School of Pharmacy, "Opioid-related overdose is the leading cause of death in individuals under 50 now."
Wilkening said that in the medical field, work is being done to try to identify patients who are at an increased risk for overdose. That includes patients with conditions such as asthma and obstructive sleep apnea and patients taking multiple drugs.
"Taking an opioid by itself carries a certain amount of risk for overdose," Wilkening said. "When you are combining opioids with other drugs like Xanax or alcohol, the risk of overdose increased exponentially. One of the common misconceptions with the opioid epidemic is that this is a problem that is relegated to the addiction community and it's not. Half of opioid-related deaths are related to prescription products."
Wolff said other cities and counties have already filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies over the cost of addiction.
Wolff said if the county gets a verdict, the money will go to treatment programs for people who have become addicted to these drugs.
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Cayuga County considers joining opioids lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies
Sep 14, 2017 | The Auburn Citizen (NY)
By Gwendolyn Craig
Cayuga County could join a multi-county lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that sell opioids.
County legislators at both Judicial and Public Safety and Government Operations Committees discussed the possibility Wednesday night, and ultimately decided to schedule a meeting with two New York City law firms spearheading the lawsuit.
Cayuga County Attorney Fred Westphal said the lawsuit was originally filed by Nassau County. Since then at least nine other New York counties have joined, hoping to recoup costs associated with drug addiction and overdoses. According to Cayuga County Coroner Adam Duckett's monthly report to the Legislature, five of 50 deaths he has investigated this year were from drug overdoses.
District Attorney Jon Budelmann said when doctors write a prescription for pain medication, a patient can easily become addicted.
"We're left cleaning up the mess, which is young kids dying, rehab, which is $30,000 a month plus, prosecutions," he listed. "The drug trafficking drives a huge amount of the crime we see."
Government Operations Committee Chair Ryan Foley said there's also costs associated with emergency responders using Narcan, an opioid inhibitor. Foley added that should the county join and the lawsuit succeeds, there would not be a windfall of money to the county. There's a cap to how much counties can get for each statistic they add to the lawsuit, he said.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is in touch with one of the law firms to collect data, Westphal said, though it was unclear if the state would pursue anything. Collecting data, Westphal continued, is an unknown cost to the county at this point. Considering that the district attorney's office, the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, the department of social services, the probation department, and others would all have to examine the cost effects of the opioid epidemic on their county departments going back a maximum of six years, it could be a significant commitment. PauseCurrent Time0:00/Duration Time0:00Stream TypeLIVELoaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00Fullscreen00:00Mute
That concerned Legislator Tucker Whitman and Legislator Aileen-McNabb Coleman. They both wanted to know whether the information departments would need to supply would examine things like heroin deals on the street, or be as wide-ranging as someone getting dental surgery and using pain killers after.
"It sounds like a lot of weeds to be digging through to try to pick up some nickels," Whitman said.
"There's a lot of unknowns, and I didn't know the parameters of which they're going to investigate this,"McNabb-Coleman added.
Legislator Andy Dennison and Tim Lattimore discussed how there could be a benefit to joining the lawsuit now because the pharmaceutical companies could decide to settle before taking it to court.
"If eight other counties have already looked into this and agree to it, I think we should research it and get into it," Lattimore said.
Westphal said he would reach out to the law firms involved in the suit. Legislators hope they will present at the next Government Operations Committee meeting in October.
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Oklahoma attorney general leads charge against opioid epidemic
Sep 13, 2017 | Koco 5 News
By Jessica Schambach
Oklahoma is one of four states suing the nation’s leading manufacturers of opioid pain medication.
Attorney General Mike Hunter filed the lawsuit in June, claiming deceptive marketing has fueled the state’s deadly epidemic. In the last three years, 3,000 overdose deaths have been reported in Oklahoma.
“If Oklahoma’s not ground zero, it’s close,” Hunter said. “We got to this point, honestly, because of the greed and profiteering and deception by drug manufacturers. And that’s the basis of our lawsuit.”
The lawsuit claims opioid manufacturers lied over the last decade about how effective and addictive the drugs are -- all to make a profit.
“The manufacturers funded a lot of pseudo-science,” Hunter said. “Honestly, paid a lot of people for their opinions and began to advance the view among prescribers in this country that opioids in fact were not addictive and were safe to prescribe for chronic pain issues that patients have.”
The companies deny the allegations, saying they recognize that opioid abuse is a serious public health issue.
“We hope to, on behalf of the state’s taxpayers, recoup the billions of dollars that have been expended because of opioid abuse,” Hunter said. “And I said billions. I didn’t say millions.”
The lawyers serving as lead counsel, representing Oklahoma, have been personally impacted and have lost loved ones to opioids.”
“Mike lost a brilliant, beautiful young niece to an opioid overdose. His law partner, Reggie Witten, a very successful trial lawyer, tragically lost his son at the age of 22 to an opioid overdose,” Hunter said. “We're not only getting great lawyers here, we're getting great Oklahomans who are committed to dealing with this in a decisive way that holds these companies accountable and begins to help the state heal from this epidemic.”
Hunter also helped form Oklahoma’s Commission on Opioid Abuse to come up with solutions and policies that deal with addiction. The first meeting took place two weeks ago.
“We’ll start our efforts to come up with policy recommendations for the legislature and the governor so that we've got the tools to deal with this epidemic,” Hunter said. “They hope to have those recommendations by the end of the year. The state and the federal government have to invest in treatment programs.
“They have to address how to fund drug courts in a better and more comprehensive way than they're currently being funded.”
The commission says the areas that need to be improved include:Prevention and interventionTreatmentEducationTraining for law enforcement
Hunter calls the opioid epidemic a “public health crisis.”
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Surviving an Opioid Overdose May Soon Depend on Where You Live
Sep 13, 2017 | Bloomberg
In southwest Ohio, people die from drug overdoses at more than double the national rate. In the future, whether someone survives could hinge on what county they’re in.
The sheriff in Butler County this summer declared that his officers wouldn’t carry medication to reverse overdoses. In Middletown, a city of 49,000 that overlaps the county, a council member frustrated by ballooning costs went even further, suggesting ambulance crews shouldn’t have to save the lives of some people who have been revived before.
In neighboring Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, officials are taking the opposite approach. They want to create the Narcan capital of America, putting more than 30,000 doses of the opioid-overdose reversal spray in the hands of Ohioans ready to use it. That’s about one for every 27 residents. In addition to police, firefighters, and medics who already carry the drug, Hamilton County plans to distribute Narcan to syringe exchanges, houses of worship—and maybe even employers. People discharged from hospitals or jails after opioid incidents should leave with “Narcan on the belt,” says Tim Ingram, Hamilton County’s health commissioner.
The contrast between these approaches mirrors the national debate over how to deal with a drug crisis that killed 33,000 Americans in 2015, a tally expected to increase. The epidemic began years ago as doctors started to liberally prescribe opioid painkillers such as oxycodone. As addiction and abuse rose, the medical industry began to tighten access, drivng up street prices. Drug cartels saw an opportunity and flooded U.S. cities with cheap heroin, a common substitute.
Nowadays, heroin is often laced with such potent synthetic drugs as fentanyl or the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil, which can be deadly in minuscule doses. As drug poisonings keep rising, communities have to decide how easy it should be for people who overdose to get life-saving medicines—and at what cost.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia allow naloxone, the active chemical in Narcan spray, to be obtained without a prescription. Naloxone isn’t addictive and doesn’t induce a high, so it can’t be abused. President Donald Trump’s opioid commission urged in a July draft report that “Naloxone be in the hands of every law enforcement officer” and suggested doctors also prescribe it in tandem with risky painkillers. Between 1996 and 2014, naloxone dispensed by “laypersons”—including drug users, family members, and other bystanders—reversed at least 26,000 overdoses, the Centers for Diseases Control has reported.
“This is pretty egregious to think that you would just deny people care that would save their lives”
Raising awareness about naloxone has “been a struggle,” says Reilly Glasgow, project manager at the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center in New York City. The nonprofit provides syringe exchange, counseling, and other services to people suffering from addiction. The group hands out free naloxone kits at 800 training sessions each year. “To me, it’s criminal to let this sit on the shelf,” Glasgow says.
Dan Picard, the Middletown, Ohio, council member who proposed limiting naloxone for repeat overdoses, stands on the opposite side of the divide. Picard says drug poisonings in Middletown have dropped since his suggestion made national headlines in June. “Every overdose run costs the city $1,104,” Picard says, adding that Middletown had been on track to spend 10 times the $10,000 it budgeted for Narcan.
“My comments scared people,” he contends. “At some point in life people need to have some personal responsibility.”
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones says people can get Narcan at pharmacies or from paramedics, but his officers won’t carry it. “Everything’s being spent on the treatment of the addict,” he says, adding that more money should go to prevention and school programs to discourage drug use, citing the DARE program and the “Just Say No” campaign Nancy Reagan championed. “I’m here on the front lines, and people are fed up with this. I had a guy call me the other day saying, ‘I don’t get free insulin.’”
Last year Butler County recorded 211 fatal drug overdoses, and the death rate is among the highest in Ohio.
Jones says he’s not aware of anyone who died because his officers didn’t have naloxone, and he notes that medics usually arrive at the same time as police. Picard says Middletown does plenty to get people into treatment, including sending response teams the day after overdoses to follow up.
Withholding emergency treatment after an overdose would violate medical ethics, says Andrew Aronsohn, a doctor and faculty member at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Addiction carries a particular stigma, but society rarely questions whether other medical conditions resulting from personal behavior deserve treatment, from a smokers’ lung cancer or a drunk drivers’ injuries after a crash, he says. “When someone’s dying in front of you, that’s not really our place to judge all of those things as medical providers,” Aronsohn says. “This is pretty egregious to think that you would just deny people care that would save their lives.”
Mike DeWine, Ohio’s Republican attorney general, is currently suing prescription opioid manufacturers, alleging that they downplayed addiction risks. He says that, while he understands why some officials are exasperated with reviving people who may overdose again, they should do it anyway. “You’ve got law enforcement officers who are doing things that five years ago none of them ever would have dreamed they’d be doing—but it’s the right thing to do,” says DeWine, a former U.S. senator who is also running for governor. The epidemic requires both public health and law enforcement solutions, he says, such as drug courts and programs in which police help connect people to treatment.Researchers at the University of Cincinnati will track the Hamilton County experiment to see what effect it has on deadly overdoses. “If you really put an emphasis on nalaxone and put it out there everywhere, how many lives will you be able to save?” DeWine says. Hamilton County’s five hospitals as well as other providers and community groups pledged $550,000 in cash, including $25,000 from the county, to fund the program for the next two years.
“This could be a blueprint for what other communities need to do”
That funding doesn’t cover the cost of 25,000 doses of Narcan that manufacturer Adapt Pharma will donate. Hamilton County has already distributed 7,000 of doses of naloxone over the past two years, mostly through emergency responders. Narcan can be delivered without training and is already available at pharmacies in almost every state, usually on “standing order,” meaning people can get it without a prescription. Mike Kelly, who runs U.S. operations for Adapt, says public awareness is the biggest barrier to more widespread use. New York and Massachusetts are doing public ad campaigns to alert people that naloxone is available at pharmacies.
If the Hamilton County program reduces deaths, he says, “this could be a blueprint for what other communities need to do.” A successful demonstration could also broaden the market for Narcan, providing a commercial opportunity for closely held Adapt. Narcan prescriptions have increased to 530,000 doses so far in 2017, up from 229,000 doses in all of 2016, according to data from Symphony Health Solutions that was compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
Other Ohio counties support expanding Narcan availability. On the other side of the state, police in Lorraine County averted 350 fatal overdoses over the past four years using naloxone, says Detective Gregg Mehling of the county’s drug task force. Medics have saved many more. “If this guy’s going to live another day, it’s in your hands,” he says. Mehling supports having Narcan in schools and workplaces, alongside fire extinguishers and automated defibrillators. “You hope you never use them.”
Last year, Lorraine County had 146 drug overdose deaths—double the rate in recent years. Mehling says that, without Narcan, the numbers would be “two or three times worse.”
No one thinks Narcan alone is sufficient. While making it more widely available is a “no brainer,” the U.S. needs a greater focus on prevention and access to treatment, says Andrew Kolodny, executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and a researcher at Brandeis University. People with addiction should find it easier to “access treatment than heroin,” he says. “That person should be able to walk into a treatment facility regardless of the ability to pay.”
Ingram, the Hamilton County health commissioner, agrees that people need treatment, counseling, and social support to beat addiction. While treatment facility capacity is expanding, there still aren’t enough beds. Making Narcan more widely available, he says, will at least keep people out of the morgue.
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A month after Trump declared opioids a 'national emergency,' his team still has no plan (OPINION)
Sep 13, 2017 | Daily Kos
By Hunter
As it turns out, a presidential declaration of national emergency doesn't amount to much.When President Trump announced in early August, following a presidential commission’s recommendations, that the opioid crisis was a “national emergency,” he called it “a serious problem the likes of which we have never had.”
A month has now passed, and that urgent talk has yet to translate into urgent action. While the president’s aides say they are pursuing an expedited process, it remains to be seen how and by what mechanism Mr. Trump plans to direct government resources.
Just to expand a bit on that point there, it's not just that Donald Trump somehow surprised his staff with his declaration that the opioid crisis was a "national emergency"—his own presidential commission recommended that he do so. No, he shocked everyone by actually saying it, and then ... doing nothing.
Nobody was prepared for the obvious question: "So, um, now what?"His statements have left advisers scrambling to fulfill his pledge, creating a long lag between a presidential statement and an actual action to follow it.
The central problem appears to be that doing something about the opioid crisis would require money, and nobody is interested in spending that money, and House Republicans would never allocate the money anyway, so the administration is simply ... stuck.
One idea has been to make FEMA the responsible agency, thus funding the opioid response via money intended for natural disasters, but that is not likely to go over well on any front. Another is for Trump—the one with actual duties, as opposed to, say, Ivanka—to pressure Congress to allocate money toward the thing he declares to be a national emergency even though his own party is against it. That seems even less likely.
So the short version is that it's been a month and nobody in the administration has a clear plan on how to translate Trump's off-the-cuff declaration that opioid abuse in America is indeed a national emergency into any actionable plan. They're stymied. They've tried nothing and they're all out of options.
There are many areas where the Trump administration's sheer incompetence is saving us from the full brunt of their odiousness. This is not one of them. The federal government could do some good here, if so inspired, but standard-issue Republican orthodoxy may block them from doing so—even if they try.
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Portman calls on Trump administration to implement his opioid crisis law
Sep 13, 2017 | Washington Times
By Laura Kelly
Sen. Rob Portman said Wednesday that the government is too slow in implementing key elements of his drug addiction treatment and recovery bill, which was signed into law last year and which outlines concrete steps the Trump administration can take to fulfill his August declaration that the opioid crisis is a national emergency.
“I think [administration officials] have a commitment to it. I think the president himself has a passion for this issue,” the Ohio Republican told a conference in D.C. on solutions to the opioid epidemic.
At least 21 million people in the U.S. have a substance abuse problem, according to federal data, and the number of opioid-related deaths in 2016 is estimated at over 60,000.
“I think we should move more quickly in implementing the programs in the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act [CARA] — in particular it gives them [the administration] the authorization to do a number of things,” he said, pointing out that a recently formed task force to develop best practices for prescribing pain medications was a major CARA provision.
Mr. Portman also highlighted that CARA makes funds available for research into alternative pain medications. The National Institutes of Health stated last year that complimentary medicine approaches like acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, tai-chi and relaxation techniques help with the management of chronic pain, the principal reason for opioid prescriptions, and addictions. There is also other research into non-narcotic pain relievers.
“There’s no reason the FDA and other parts of the federal government shouldn’t be much more aggressive in pushing through the pipeline some of these medications,” he said.
“That’s an example where over time, they did move. And my only urging — which was the same thing I said to the Obama administration when the legislation passed last July — is that this is a crisis. This is not your typical law that needs to be implemented slowly over time this needs to be dealt with urgency.”
CARA makes available $181 million each year for programs, research and federal task forces to combat the opioid epidemic. While the government needs to appropriate the funding each year, the amount allocated for 2017 rose to $267 million, Mr. Portman said.
Among the provisions include improving education about the dangers of opioid addiction, the “best practices” task force, numerous grants to states and local non-profits who have programs addressing the epidemic, increasing access to treatment including medication assisted treatments, and other provisions addressing law enforcement, prescribers, pharmacists and others.
Mr. Portman’s home state of Ohio has one of the worst rates of number of drug users and overdose deaths in the nation — an estimated 2,590 people died from an opioid overdose in 2015 and another 1,424 died from a heroin overdose. In May, the Ohio Attorney General filed a lawsuit against several pharmaceutical companies accusing them of making fraudulent claims about opioids and of downplaying or ignoring the risks of addiction and harm.
Mr. Portman wants to see grants funded by CARA distributed to states and nonprofit groups, specifically for programs that make naloxone — the overdose-reversal medication — widely available and intervention programs that meet addicts in emergency rooms in overdose cases to make addiction treatment immediately available.
“That’s where we see a lot of the drop off, at the time at which they overdose and [naloxone] is applied, sometimes that is an opportune moment to get into treatment, but it’s not immediately available,” he said.
Other areas where the Ohio senator wants to see a government crackdown include the infiltration of fentanyl into the market. The manufactured opioid is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin and is causing the number of overdoses to rise across the country.
Mr. Portman said fentanyl is being manufactured in China and being sent to the U.S. through the Postal Service, which is exempt from providing important data to law enforcement on the senders, recipients and package contents.
“FedEx, DHL, UPS, other carriers are required by law to provide advanced data on the packages to law enforcement the post office is not required to do that although Congress has suggested it should do that over a decade ago,” he said.
Mr. Portman’s proposed STOP Act last year, which would require people mailing international packages to the U.S. through the postal service provide electronic advance data, available to federal authorities. Information required includes the name of the sender, the recipient and destination and the contents of the package.
“We’re facing an epidemic that is growing, it’s a public health crisis and it’s clear that its effecting everybody in the country, not just states like mine that are particularly hard hit,” Mr. Portman said. “So it’s appropriate the federal government play an aggressive role in getting this legislation moving.”
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Trump sending mixed messages on addiction (OPINION)
Sep 13, 2017 | Bangor Daily News
By Editorial Board
As he campaigned for the presidency last year, he talked tough, but never outlined serious solutions to one of the most critical problems of our time.
“But we’re going to have a real wall, and it’s going to be a great wall, and it’s going to work,” he said in March 2016 at a Portland campaign rally. “And we’re going to stop drugs from pouring into Maine and New Hampshire and all these places. It’s going to work. Believe me, it’s going to work. Walls work. Properly done, walls work.”
After Trump took office, his choice for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, revealed an approach to criminal prosecution more in line with the law enforcement-oriented War on Drugs than the public health-oriented approach to addiction of the Obama administration.
But Trump also chose New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to lead a specially formedPresident’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Over the summer, that commission called on Trump to declare a national emergency to direct more federal resources toward the addiction problem. The commission recommended attacking the addiction crisis as the public health problem that it is. It called for expanding the ability of Medicaid to cover addiction treatment. It called for expanding the use of medication-assisted treatment such as methadone and buprenorphine (known commercially as Suboxone). And it called on every local law enforcement officer in the nation to carry naloxone, to be able to quickly reverse an opioid overdose and save a life.
Trump later agreed with the commission’s assessment that the opioid crisis merited a national emergency declaration, just two days after his health and human services secretary, Tom Price, said it didn’t. But still, nearly a month after Trump said he would declare a national emergency, he has yet to follow through.
Sending another mixed message, Trump earlier this month formally nominatedU.S. Rep. Tom Marino, a Pennsylvania Republican, to serve as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a post that has historically set the tone for how the nation approaches drug policy. (Trump had previously proposed nearly gutting the office’s budget before changing course and proposing to preserve more of the office’s funding.)
Marino comes from the more law enforcement-oriented camp when it comes to drug policy. At a House committee hearing last year, he suggested a “hospital-slash prison” for non-violent drug users that would use criminal charges as a lure for people to enter addiction treatment.
“One treatment option I have advocated for years would be placing non-dealer, non-violent drug abusers in a secured hospital-type setting under the constant care of health professionals,” Marino said. “Once the person agrees to plead guilty to possession, he or she will be placed in an intensive treatment program until experts determine that they should be released under intense supervision. If this is accomplished, then the charges are dropped against that person. The charges are only filed to have an incentive for that person to enter the hospital-slash-prison, if you want to call it.”
The nation desperately needs to focus on the public health side of the addiction crisis, emphasizing treatment approaches backed by research. Instead, Marino’s hospital-slash-prison relies on criminalizing a disease, an approach that hasn’t worked to stem America’s drug problem.
Trump has sent mixed signals so far on how he views the addiction crisis. It’s time he backed and followed the public health-oriented approach of his special commission.
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KCPQ News this morning early edition at 6am
Sep 14, 2017 | KCPQ (FOX)
By Seattle, WA
Rough Transcript: The city of Tacoma, is suing three makers of prescription opioids with the lawsuit filed yesterday claim purdue pharma, endo and janssen made false and misleading claims about opioids. officials want to hold these companies responsible for their actions. to come as one of several cities and states suing drug manufacturers. and a statement, purdue denied the allegations.
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Sep 14, 2017 | KIRO (CBS)
By Seattle, WA
Rough Transcript: tacoma is suing three large pharmaceutical companies - for millions of dollars the city says it's spent on the opioid epidemic.city leaders say the drug companies 'lied' about how addictive their drugs are. yesterday's lawsuit - filed against 'purdue pharma' - 'endo health solutions' - and 'janssenpharmaceuticals' - seeks unspecified damages.city leaders say tacoma has spent millions on opioid addiction. they say half their homeless are addicted - and the fire department deals with overdoses everyday.now the city wants drug companies to pay up. 'purdue' - 'endo' - and 'janssen' have denied the allegations by tacoma --and argue their top priority is patient safety.
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Sep 14, 2017 | KOMO (ABC)
By Seattle, WA
Rough Transcript: we're waiting to learn when a federal judge could hear arguments from the city of tacoma -- currently suing drug makers over the opioid epidemic. the lawsuit filed yesterday demands companies: purdue, endo, and janssen be held accountable-- claiming over the last 20 years... the drug manufacturers misled doctors and patients about the safety of prescription opioids.... the city says... it creates massive problems in the community - and puts a burden on taxpayers. we're still waiting to hear from endo. purdue and janssen both say... they recognize the drug epidemic is a big problem... but they adamantly deny accusations that they're responsible. the companies say they're working to come up with a safe solution to the addiction crisis.
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KOKI Fox 23 News this morning at 8am
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Sep 14, 2017 | KHBS (ABC)
By Ft. Smith, AZ
Rough Transcript: oklahoma is one of four states suing the nation's leading manufacturers of opioid pain medications. the lawsuit claims opioid manufactueres lied over the last deacde about how effective and addictive the drugs are, all to make a profit. the companies deny the allegations, saying they recognize that opioid abuse is a serious public health issue. >> we'll start our efforts to come up with policy recommendations for the legislature and the governor so that we've got the tools to deal with this epidemic. paul: the lawyers serving as lead council, representing oklahoma, are personally impacted, losing loved ones to opioids.
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KSAT Good Morning San Antonio at 6am
| KSAT (ABC)
By San Antonio, TX
Rough Transcript: now working on filing a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids. the impact the drugs have on community from treatment to social costs have increased over the years. the lawsuit will work fishgs they hope, as a deterrent. >> a bigger problem today than ever before. the dangers of it. more dangerous chemicals and derivatives. we're doing everything we can to warn people about that and help those. >> mark: other cities and coun counties have filed lawsuits over pharmaceutical companies over the cost of opioid addiction. if the county gets a verdict, the money goes to treatment programs for having become addicted to these drugs.
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Sep 13, 2017 | KING (NBC)
By Seattle, WA
Rough Transcript: it is a case trying to hold the three largest drug manufacturers of opioids responsible for the misrepresentations they have made about the safety and benefits of opioids. >>> so, tacoma's is taking on big pharma. they file a lawsuit against three opioid manufacturers looking to hold them accountable for opioid addiction. >> the complaint itself is a big statement. and being obviously the second city in the state, but joing the approximately 30 other jurisdictions that have felt the need to do something about this. >> so, the suit here names three companies, purdue, endo, and jansen. concerns have grown the last two decades. everett filed a similar suit. that case is till moving forward.
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Sep 13, 2017 | KZJO (MNT)
By Seattle, WA
Rough Transcript: the lawsuit is about our constitutional rights to be abl to choose what we wear and how we wear. >> the new dress code says it can be seat. not only will i be proposing these changes to our counsel, but i will be seeing those changes throughout multiple jurisdictions. >> the city of effort has not commented on the lawsuit. >> the city of tacoma has filed suit against the top three manufacturers of prescription opiates. the lawsuit names purdue, accusing the pharmaceutical companies are providing false and misleading information. pyramid x are overwhelmed with opioid related health calls and claims half of the cities homeless are addicted to the drug. >> they want to do something to address the opioid epidemic in the country. for specifically for the people of tacoma. >> earlier this year everett filed a similar lawsuit against purdue. a claimed the company failed to report to authorities the drug was flooding the black market. do this as a federal judge to dismiss the effort case.
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Sep 13, 2017 | KMBC (ABC)
By Kansas City, MO
Rough Transcript: anne arundel county intends to file a civil action against opioid manufacturers, distributors and our county's , pill mill doctors whose marketing and prescribing practices have radically amplified this crisis in maryland and here in anne arundel county. kelly: county officials and attorneys say they'll file a lawsuit as soon as possible. lives lost, families devastated, communities struggling to respond to the state of addiction. join us tonight for a live national conversation about the number one health cris in america the opioid epidemic. , don't miss our investigative look into the "state o addiction" with steve albritton, haley harrison, and host of matter of fact, soledad o'brien on kmbc and kcwe at 9pm -- 9:00 tonight.
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Sep 13, 2017 | WDRB (FOX)
By Louisville, KY
Rough Transcript: scott county indiana fighting back against drug epidemic. on wdrb travis ragsdale explain why officials think a lawsuit will help. >> man: the lawsuitfiled on monday at scottcounty courthouse. it alleges all the issues in community in regards to opioid abuse and hiv over the last three years were direct result of the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing those opioids . 37 the economic impact is almost beyond imagination 75 yearsafter it began scott county is recovering . >> man: and affecting children's and families beyond 11:37 AMbelief. >> reporter: opioid and addiction cris gripped the small community. in 2015 city of austin alone 180cases of hiv . >> anchor: we were compared to worst places in the world meaning africa see frank that led bob houston and county commissioner to take action. >> man: they feel like it's their protection responsibility to protect and understand the risk and understand the complexity. >> reporter: does that is lawsuit against opioid manufacturers produce pharmaceuticals and indo pharmaceuticals. >> man: the drug company influence the public can influence the doctors that opioids were safe and they are not. >> reporter: perdue is making a foxy cotton and have been hit with similar lawsuits recently. in 2015 a seta lawsuit with state of kentucky for $24 million. houston said this is different . >> man: the recent history here sets us apart. we been set apart. >> reporter: that's not all. the county suing 10 people who were charged with and convicted of dealing drugs in scott county. >> man: death connected a course to opioid use because that's how it spread by ejecting the opioids. i thank you basically have to be accountable for your actions. those people must be accountable for their actions as well as the people that promoted it, the drug companies.
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Sep 13, 2017 | KFOX (FOX)
By El Paso, TX
Rough Transcript: president donald trump has called the opioid crisis a national emergency but that designation was never made official. resources and funds are not being redirected to tackle the problem. susan brooks have worked with the opioid commission and worries that the white house could hold up critical money that could be fighting the cris. >> there's so much more that needs to be done. some of it requires funding but not all does. that is the focus that i hope this commission and the national emergency declaration puts on this problem.>> the white house has not acted and it leaves some to question.
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Hearst: Matter of Fact - State of Addiction with Soledad O'brien
Sep 13, 2017 | Hearst
By All hearst stations
Rough Transcript: president trump declared the opioid crisis a national emergency, but actually hasn't signed the paperwork that would go to congress that would release those funds. how would that help? >> a federal declaration of emergency means resources, and we desperately need them. we're out of money, we're having to ration this life saving medication and i have to decide every day who gets and it who does not. and we desperately need money for treatment as well. across the country only one in 10 people with the disease of addiction can get the help they need. and i have to tell patients to wait weeks or months to get the treatment that they desperately need.
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