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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 2/2/18

MDL

Purdue Pharma's Oxycontin said to be targeted at judge's opioid summit in Cleveland
Feb 2, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Jef Feeley

Local governments pressing lawsuits to hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for the opioid epidemic told a judge that taking the strongest version of Purdue Pharma Inc.'s Oxycontin painkiller off the market would have immediate results in addressing the crisis, according to people at the meeting.
Inside The Opioid MDL's Big Closed-Door Hearing
Feb 1, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff OVerley & Emily Field

Attorneys for local governments and drug companies traded divergent views of the opioid crisis this week at a closed-door hearing about settlement prospects in a colossal legal fight, sources told Law360.

Southeast (NC, GA, AR)

Burke Co officials file lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, states epidemic is 'out of control'
Feb 2, 2018 | WBTV (NC)
By Staff

Government officials in Burke County have filed a federal lawsuit against several drug manufacturers and distributors Thursday because they say the opioid epidemic "is out of control."
Burke County to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors
Feb 1, 2018 | Asheville Citizen Times (NC)
By Alexandria Bordas

Burke County has filed a federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors that officials say are responsible for fueling the local opioid epidemic.
Burke County joins nationwide fight against opioid industry
Feb 1, 2018 | WSOC Charlotte (NC)
By Dave Faherty

Burke County leaders have filed a federal lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of opioids.
Some County Officials Tackle The Opioid Epidemic In Court
Feb 1, 2018 | WUNC (NC)
By Naomi Prioleau

Samantha Morgan has been in an on-and-off relationship with sobriety for the majority of her life. When she was 12, she was homeless and living on the streets of Miami. By the age of 13, she had a $300-a-day cocaine habit.
Forsyth County suing drug companies over opioid crisis
Feb 1, 2018 | Winston Salem Chronicle (NC)
By Todd Luck

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will be hiring law firms to help it sue opioid manufacturers and distributers.
Rural Georgia counties to sue opioid makers over addiction costs
Feb 1, 2018 | Atlanta Journal Constitution (GA)
By Madeline McGee

A tiny Southeast Georgia county ravaged by the abuse of painkillers has filed suit against the pharmaceutical industry, saying the drug makers have fueled a costly opioid epidemic that’s straining their budget.
Conway to take part in lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors
Feb 1, 2018 | KATV (AR)
By Nick Popham

Back in December, Conway agreed to join in litigation against drug manufacturers and distributers, with the hope of putting a stop to what's now become an epidemic.

Midwest (WI, OH)

County Board votes to join statewide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Feb 1, 2018 | The Badger Herald (WI)
By Abby Doeden

The Dane County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to allow the county’s Office of Corporation Counsel to select an outside lawyer to initiate legal action against companies that have illegally contributed to the opioid epidemic in Dane County.
Dane County proceeds with lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies over opioid epidemic
Feb 1, 2018 | The Daily Cardinal (WI)
By Sydney Widell

Dane County will be pressing charges against the pharmaceutical companies it believes are behind the national opioid epidemic, the Dane County Board of Supervisors ruled in a nearly unanimous vote Thursday night.
Commissioners approve entering into opioid lawsuit
Feb 2, 2018 | The Delaware Gazette (OH)
By D. Anthony Botkin

Delaware County Commissioners began the process to enter into the multi-district litigation against the manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications during their regular meeting Thursday.

Northeast (MD)

Baltimore Becomes The Latest Major City To Sue Big Pharma Over The Opioid Crisis
Feb 1, 2018 | The Daily Caller
By Steve Birr

Another major city launched a lawsuit against manufacturers of opioid painkillers, alleging drug companies were knowingly “reckless” in their pursuit of profits.
COUNTY TO FILE SUIT AGAINST OPIOID MANUFACTURERS
Feb 2, 2018 | The Sentinel (MD)
By Neal Earley

Montgomery County plans to file a lawsuit against opioid manufactures and distributors as a way to take a stand against rising rates of opioid addiction, County Executive Ike Leggett (D) said Monday.

Northwest (WA)

Pierce County sues big pharma over opioid prescriptions, alleges ‘deceptive practices’
Feb 1, 2018 | Q13 Fox (WA)
By Brandi Kruse

Pierce County will move forward with a lawsuit against “Big Pharma,” alleging the manufacturers of pain pills are to blame for the opioid crisis that is sweeping Washington.

West (CO)

Huerfano County suing over opioid epidemic
Feb 1, 2018 | News Channel 13 (CO)
By Katie Spencer

Huerfano County looks like a normal small town in Colorado, where main street is just two lanes and people leave their doors unlocked.

Commentary and FYIs

N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein Talks Opioids, Addiction
Feb 1, 2018 | WFMY News 2 (NC)
By Erica Stapleton

On average, 3-4 people a day die from overdoses in North Carolina, according to state records. Drugs like painkillers, heroin, and fentanyl are quietly killing people, and state Attorney General Josh Stein refuses to be quiet about it. He sat down with WFMY News 2's Erica Stapleton to talk about the progress and the perils of the opioid crisis.
Q&A With NC Gov. Cooper On The Opioid Crisis
Feb 2, 2018 | WUNC
By Jeff Tiberii

Governor Roy Cooper is taking a leadership role in North Carolina - and in the country – in addressing the opioid crisis. He was one of six members of President Donald Trump’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE OPIOID LAWSUITS?
Feb 1, 2018 | Spectrum News Charlotte (NC)
By Reuben Jones

Attorney Paul Coates is one of the dozens of attorneys involved in lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Broadcast Media Coverage

KIRO 7 News at 5AM
Feb 2, 2018 | KIRO (CBS)
By Seattle, WA

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400851?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Good Morning Colorado: Early Edition
Feb 2, 2018 | KRDO (ABC)
By Colorado Springs, CO

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400975?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
27 News Wake Up Wisconsin
Feb 2, 2018 | WKOW (ABC)
By Madison, WI

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400981?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Wake Up Washington at 4:30am
Feb 2, 2018 | WUSA (CBS)
By Washington, DC

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400991?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Spectrum News Your Overnight News
Feb 2, 2018 | NEWS14R (Spectrum News)
By Raleigh-Durham, NC

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32401006?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a

MDL

Purdue Pharma's Oxycontin said to be targeted at judge's opioid summit in Cleveland

Feb 2, 2018 | Bloomberg

By Jef Feeley

Local governments pressing lawsuits to hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for the opioid epidemic told a judge that taking the strongest version of Purdue Pharma Inc.'s Oxycontin painkiller off the market would have immediate results in addressing the crisis, according to people at the meeting.
Purdue's 80-milligram version of Oxycontin is snorted by thousands of abusers, so removing it would be a good first step, experts for cities and counties and state attorneys general told U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, according to three people in attendance at the meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 31. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the closed-door summit.
Polster is overseeing more than 200 suits filed by U.S. cities and counties seeking to recoup the costs of dealing with opioid addictions and overdoses in a Big Tobacco-style accord of 1998. The judge has said he wants a deal that goes further than money to also address business practices and the roots of the crisis.
Robert Josephson, a spokesman for privately owned Purdue, declined to comment on the recommendation that the drugmaker do away with the strongest version of Oxycontin. It's the company's biggest-selling drug, though sales have slid in recent years. The painkiller generated $1.8 billion in 2017, down from $2.8 billion five years earlier, according to data compiled by Symphony Health Solutions.
At the meeting in Cleveland, representatives for each side made presentations to the judge. Addiction experts spoke for the municipalities along with plaintiffs lawyers, some of whom were involved in the $246 billion tobacco settlement. Drugmakers including Purdue spoke as well, noting that there are about 100 companies that manufacture opioid-based painkillers but only the seven largest are named in the government suits, the people said. The judge asked questions as the parties floated various ideas, they said.
In addition to smaller opioid makers, there are about 10 smaller drug distributors that haven't been named in the suits. Those smaller companies play a significant role in the distribution of these painkillers, Cardinal Health Inc.'s lawyer F. Lane Heard III told the judge, according to the people.
Having more defendants in the case might mean more contributors to any settlement fund.
Heard declined to comment on the meeting and directed questions to Cardinal Health. Ellen Barry, a company spokeswoman, also declined to comment.
States and local governments have sued opioid makers, such as Purdue, Johnson & Johnson and Endo International Plc for understating the risks of prescription opioids, overstating the painkillers' benefits and violating federal law through their aggressive marketing campaigns.
Polster heard presentations from state attorneys general including Ohio's Mike DeWine, Alabama's Steve Marshall, Tennessee's Herbert Slatery and Kentucky's Andy Beshear about how opioid addictions and deaths are ravaging their states, according to the people attending the summit.
DeWine spoke to reporters after the meeting Wednesday. He refused to say how much money he's seeking but pointed to an Ohio State University study that found opioids are costing his state as much as $8 billion a year. Representatives for Marshall, Slatery and Beshear didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Polster hasn't yet scheduled another conference in the case.
The case is In Re: National Prescription Opioid Litigation, MDL NO. 2804, Before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (St. Louis).

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Inside The Opioid MDL's Big Closed-Door Hearing

Feb 1, 2018 | Law360

By Jeff OVerley & Emily Field

Attorneys for local governments and drug companies traded divergent views of the opioid crisis this week at a closed-door hearing about settlement prospects in a colossal legal fight, sources told Law360.
The jousting occurred on Wednesday in Ohio federal court, where U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster is presiding over multidistrict litigation targeting the nation's largest prescription opioid sellers. The all-day hearing was closed to the press and the public, but sources told Law360 that attorneys discussed ways to ease a deadly overdose epidemic and who’s responsible for it.

It’s been less than two months since the MDL officially began, and observers called Wednesday's preliminary settlement talks a remarkable step at such an early stage.

“I’ve been practicing law for a long time, involved in a lot of complex MDLs. This was an extraordinary and unusual gathering that was required by the judge,” said Paul Geller of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, a member of the plaintiffs’ executive committee. “I commend him. I think it was a very productive discussion and exchange of ideas and information.”

Judge Polster is seeking to avoid drawn-out litigation and to broker settlements that bankroll addiction treatment and cut the number of opioids in circulation. Observers say it’s possible the judge has good reason to think that drug companies will be receptive.

“I don’t believe the judge would be going down this path if he had not received some positive vibes from the manufacturing and distributors’ world and the pharmacies,” Motley Rice LLC co-founder Joe Rice, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said Thursday.

Most of the sources who spoke with Law360 represent plaintiffs, which include local governments, as well as unions and hospitals. Lead defense lawyers largely declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comments.

Wednesday’s hearing had roughly 150 attendees, two sources said. It included presentations for the plaintiffs by public health experts and Joseph Rannazzisi, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official who has advocated stronger enforcement against opioid sellers.

Judge Polster heard many ideas for reducing opioid abuse. They included better education of consumers and doctors, changes to drug labels, narrower indications for prescription painkillers and stronger tracking of suspicious prescribing, said Paul Hanly Jr. of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

“But there were no specific [settlement] terms,” Hanly said. “The defendants are nowhere near being willing to talk about that sort of thing at this juncture.”

According to Rice, Judge Polster took a particular interest in comments from Dr. Anna Lembke, a Stanford University associate professor who specializes in treatment of prescription drug addiction and discussed marketing of prescription opioids.

“He was very taken by the presentation by Dr. Lembke,” Rice said. “She described how doctors were historically relying on marketing information more so than labels, and how that has contributed drastically to the problem.”

Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a member of the plaintiffs’ executive committee, said Judge Polster also appeared to be moved by a speaker — Armond Budish, the executive of Cuyahoga County, Ohio — who urged a reduction in opioid sales and more funding for addiction treatment.

“I think the judge took these types of statements to heart,” Shkolnik said.

Defense attorneys delivered separate presentations for manufacturers and distributors. They did not downplay the opioid epidemic’s severity, but they did argue that some blame rests with drug dealers and “pill mill” doctors who prescribe vast amounts of opioids for money, according to Hanly.

“It was essentially their attempt to set forth that they don’t think that they’re the only folks to blame, and there are lots of other factors that have resulted in the opioid epidemic,” Hanly said.

The defense team also pushed back against the consensus that prescription opioids bear much of the blame for a surge of deaths involving illicit narcotics, such as heroin.

"They reject the idea that the majority of heroin users started out with lawful prescriptions, which is kind of difficult to understand how you can reject that," Hanly said.

According to a source who attended the hearing and requested anonymity, most of Wednesday’s presentations “did not get into parties’ claims or defenses in any detail” and were “intended to be educational for the judge.”

“There were certainly points of factual disagreement in the presentations, but the tone was very civil and professional,” the source said.

The MDL involves more than 250 lawsuits targeting various drugmakers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, as well as major distributors and pharmacy chains. Damages could reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars, according to plaintiffs lawyers.

Wednesday’s hearing also featured a handful of breakout sessions where Judge Polster met privately with various parties to hear their perspectives. In a session with plaintiffs' attorneys, there was “discussion back and forth … about different aspects of the solution and how that could be achieved,” Hanly said.

Another hearing focused on settlement prospects is expected to occur in March. Wednesday’s hearing didn’t shed much light on whether Judge Polster’s quest for quick resolution is realistic, sources said.

“I think clearly the judge has a goal in mind, and only time will tell if that’s able to be accomplished,” Geller said.

But it was apparent at Wednesday’s hearing that Judge Polster — who has called his oversight of the case a “somber responsibility” — deeply desires an outcome that saves lives.

“The judge is very, very committed to this case and is obviously spending many of his waking hours thinking about it,” Hanly said. “That was obvious from comments he made.”

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Southeast (NC, GA, AR)

Burke Co officials file lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, states epidemic is 'out of control'

Feb 2, 2018 | WBTV (NC)

By Staff

Government officials in Burke County have filed a federal lawsuit against several drug manufacturers and distributors Thursday because they say the opioid epidemic "is out of control."
County officials say opioid abuse has cost the county millions.
Burke County is joining several other states and counties including Gaston County who have also filed lawsuits against the manufacturers of prescription opioids.
The lawsuit claims the opioid epidemic is "directly related to the increasingly widespread misuse of powerful opioid pain medications." The complaint states that the manufacturers "aggressively" push doctors to prescribe the opioids to patients for "their own corporate profit."
According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the state is experiencing an opioid epidemic. The lawsuit states that more than 12,000 North Carolinians died from opioid related overdoes between 1999 to 2016.
In 2015, 1,567 people died due to overdoses in North Carolina, according to the lawsuit.
County officials addressed the 166-page complaint in a press conference at the Burke County office building.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of deceptive practices, fraud and more.
Burke County officials say they are not asking that production of the pills be stopped because there are people who legitimately need them.
What they do want is the companies to come clean with their research into addiction and that more stringent controls on distribution be implemented.
They also ask that Burke County be reimbursed for the expenses it has incurred while dealing with the epidemic.
Agencies from the Sheriff’s office to EMS and more have incurred expenses.
County Commissioner Jeff Brittain says it is adding up. “Several hundred thousand dollars in costs by DSS alone.”
The lawsuit leaves compensation up to the discretion of the court.
Attorney Ed Powell, who is representing Burke County, says the lawsuit likely will be consolidated with others that have already been filed.
That will place the lawsuit in the hands of a federal court in Ohio.
Powell says the lawsuits are being fast-tracked and a resolution is possible in the next year.

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Burke County to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors

Feb 1, 2018 | Asheville Citizen Times (NC)

By Alexandria Bordas

Burke County has filed a federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors that officials say are responsible for fueling the local opioid epidemic.
This announcement comes after the Burke County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution in December declaring the opioid crisis a public nuisance devastating families in the region.
More than 100 people died of an opiate-related death in Burke County between 1999-2007, according to the complaint. In the following nine-year period, 2008-16, that number rose to 174.
"Our lawsuit will deliver a very powerful message that the citizens of Burke County will not tolerate the actions and failures of the manufacturers and distributors of these addictive opioid narcotic drugs," said board chairman Jeffrey C. Brittain during the announcement on Thursday morning.
Commissioners hired national law firms, including Baron and Budd of Dallas, which is also representing Buncombe County. They are well-known for going after wholesale opioid distributors across the nation and represent more than 80 units of government.
The list of defendants tops out at around 20 different opioid manufacturers and distributors, including the country's largest firms - Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson and Johnson, Endo Health Solutions, Allergan, Actavis and Watson Pharmaceuticals.
More than 100 counties have filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies since November, including Buncombe, which filed a lawsuit against five of the largest manufacturers of prescription opioids. In total, Buncombe is suing 23 distributors and manufacturers.
There were 151 opioid prescriptions dispensed per 100 people living in Burke County in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control. That is more than double the national average.
The 166-page complaint outlined manufacturers' roles in pushing opioids into communities by promoting advertising campaigns that misled medical professionals.
"The Manufacturer Defendants spread their false and deceptive statements by marketing their branded opioids directly to doctors and patients in and around the State," the complaint said. "Globally, opioid sales generated $11 billion in revenue for drug companies in 2010 alone; sales in the United States have exceeded $8 billion in revenue annually since 2009, according to the complaint."
Attorneys arranged to represent Burke County at no cost, but there is no set timeline on how long it will take to reach a resolution.

"We are well aware that this could take time to reach a favorable conclusion, but we feel it is critical to take action now if there is any way to end this crisis that is impacting so many of our individuals and families," said Johnnie Carswell, vice chairman of the board.

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Burke County joins nationwide fight against opioid industry

Feb 1, 2018 | WSOC Charlotte (NC)

By Dave Faherty

Burke County leaders have filed a federal lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of opioids.
They announced the lawsuit during a news conference Thursday.
Leaders said nearly 20 people die from overdoses of pain pills each year in Burke County and prescriptions for opioids in the county are nearly double the national rate.
Department of Social Services officials said the number of children in foster care has steadily risen over the past three years because of the opioid epidemic.
Mecklenburg County leaders are working with attorneys to help build a case against drug companies, which are blamed for the opioid crisis in the country. The lawsuit hasn’t been filed yet.
Gaston County commissioners are also considering filing a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

There are 300 lawsuits nationwide filed against the opioid industry.

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Some County Officials Tackle The Opioid Epidemic In Court

Feb 1, 2018 | WUNC (NC)

By Naomi Prioleau

Samantha Morgan has been in an on-and-off relationship with sobriety for the majority of her life. When she was 12, she was homeless and living on the streets of Miami. By the age of 13, she had a $300-a-day cocaine habit.
Things changed when, at 15, she married a 28-year-old man and moved to Colorado. She was sober for 12 years. But when her marriage ended, she moved to North Carolina and found drugs again.
“I had some back issues, I had some knee issues but they [doctors] were so quick to hand out those drugs,” said Morgan, who now lives in Randolph County. “Not only was I on methadone, my husband was on methadone, my child was on methadone and we got it all from a doctor.”
Randolph County Plans To Sue Pharmaceuticals
Morgan’s easy access to prescription drugs is one of the reasons Randolph County is suing the pharmaceutical industry.
Randolph County, just south of Greensboro, saw 28 opioid-related deaths in a nine-month period last year. County officials said their emergency services responded to 350 opioid overdoses since January 2017. Those numbers are comparable to the the much larger Charlotte/Mecklenburg County metropolitan area.
Randolph County Public Health Director Susan Hayes said she was alarmed when she saw those figures.
“How many calls, how many overdoses, the number of deaths in our county,” she said. “It became pretty evident that we had a pretty big problem.”
The lawsuit hasn’t been filed yet. Greensboro attorneys Paul Coates and Mike Fox couldn’t specify the monetary amount they’re seeking but they said it’d be a substantial amount.
County Manager Hal Johnson wants this lawsuit to hold pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors accountable. He said distributors are at fault because they failed—at both a state and federal level— to monitor suspicious orders of large quantities of opioids going into communities.
“To recover costs that we've experienced over the past several years because of the national opioid epidemic,” he said. “But also this terrible impact it's had on our citizens here.”
Another reason they’re suing is to keep younger people from experimenting with prescription drugs.
“We're talking about stopping what's happened in the past, not allowing it to continue so we can protect future generations in Randolph County,” Johnson said.
They're going after big manufacturers and distributors like Purdue, Johnson & Johnson and Teva.
Although they aren’t filing as part of a class action lawsuit, Randolph County joins nine other counties and one Indian tribe in the state that have filed or will file lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry.
Fellowship Home Offers A Path Out of Addiction
For Samantha Morgan, recovery has been a long-term process. However, it wasn’t easy when she moved back to North Carolina.
“When I got here, I did really well,” she said. “I got a job, I got two jobs. I got my own place, but I fell into the drug scene really quickly.”
Morgan now lives at a recovery home called Randolph Fellowship Home. She resides in their women’s facility, The Alpha House.
She’s been sober for eight months.
Seven women live in the house. Each is responsible for specific chores. They also must either have a job, go to school or volunteer.
Morgan was court-ordered to be in the home. She now has a full-time job at K&W Cafeteria and pays $100 a week for rent. She said she’s re-learned how to be a responsible adult.
“When I was on the streets I lived on an animalistic level so even though I was raised to do all these things [chores], the drugs took that all away,” she said.
One of the main goals at the home is to try to get to the root of why addicts use drugs, according to Randolph Fellowship Home Administrator Lori Brady.
“A lot of times it started as a young child, or it’s a genetic situation,” she said. “Then they don’t deal with it, they cover it up. Then the anger starts then they use it to hides they feel it or they use it to feel.”
Drug Abuse Leads Some To A Life Of Crime
Morgan is now 46, a mother of three children and a grandmother of two. Her drug addiction has led down the wrong path numerous times -- she has a rap sheet that includes 17 felonies ranging from breaking and entering to selling drugs. Even though she committed all of her crimes outside of Randolph County, County Manager Hal Johnson said felonies are another reason why the opioid epidemic affects more than just the addict.
In the last six months, 96 people were re-arrested 230 times in opioid-related crimes in Randolph County, according to Johnson.
“It is a cost to the taxpayer of Randolph County when we have to build new jail facilities for a lot of these recurring inmates that are coming back in,” he said.
County Commissioner Stan Haywood said the opioid epidemic, legally, is a “public nuisance.” A public nuisance is defined as an “act or omission that obstructs, damages, or inconveniences the rights of the community.”
“When they can't get their opioids they go to methamphetamines when they get to methamphetamines, if they can't get some help at a detox unit, next thing you know they're dead,” he said.
Haywood, a trained pharmacist for 50 years, says something needs to be done to interrupt the “opioid tragedy.”
“I've seen people destroyed by addicting drugs,” he said. “It makes me feel sad and makes me feel responsible in some ways because I'm part of the system.”
County Manager Johnson said the manufacturers and distributors are to blame.
“They were telling the pharmacists that these were, for the most part, non-addictive medications that allow people to deal with pain,” he said. “They knew at that time, that that was not the case.”
However, that might not work as a reason to sue the industry.
Suing The Industry May Prove Harder Than Expected, Some Experts Say
Elon Law School professor Catherine Dunham compared the lawsuit to when states where suing the tobacco industry years ago. But according to Dunham, there’s a big difference.
“When people are smoking, they're using the product the way it's designed,” she said. “They're doing exactly what the product is for. No one is taking it apart and snorting it. When people [addicts] use an opioid, nobody is using it the way it's prescribed.”
The trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is also trying to tackle the opioid issue. In 2017, they announced new policy recommendations, including “a limit on the supply of opioid medications to 7-days for acute pain with clear exemptions” among others.
In a statement, they also mentioned they’re working with the “NIH, the FDA and the President’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis to establish a public-private partnership that will accelerate the development of non-opioid pain medications and new formulations of medication assisted treatment for addiction recovery.”
Randolph County officials expect their lawsuit to take a year or more to handle.

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Forsyth County suing drug companies over opioid crisis

Feb 1, 2018 | Winston Salem Chronicle (NC)

By Todd Luck

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will be hiring law firms to help it sue opioid manufacturers and distributers.
“It’s the board’s intention to join in the litigation that a number of counties have joined into to hold those manufacturers and distributors of opioids responsible for what, I think the sense is, the inaction or improper action of some those companies,” said County Manager Dudley Watts during last Thursday’s county commissioners briefing on Jan. 25.
Big pharmaceutical companies’ tactics in marketing and distributing highly addictive prescription opioids have been widely blamed for starting the current nationwide crisis of opioid addiction. Watts said that the commissioners plan to vote today to enlist law firms Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Crueger Dickinson LLC and von Brieson and Roper, s.c in the suit. The law firms would be paid out of the damages awarded, so the suit won’t cost taxpayer money.
The exact claims and targets of the lawsuit will be determined by the lawyers, but judging from what the state and other county governments have done, there are many possibilities. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein has sued Insys Therapeutics for what he said was an unlawful marketing campaign that rewarded doctors who prescribed Subsys, a potent painkiller that’s 100 times stronger than morphine and only approved for cancer patients.
Many counties have announced lawsuits. Yadkin County filed a lawsuit naming 24 defendants. A lawyer representing Randolph County said last month that that county’s suit would target companies at the “top of the food chain” who make billions selling opioids “while knowingly violating their own rules.” Other counties that announced suits include Mecklenburg, Buncombe, Pitt, Gaston, Surry, New Hanover, Onslow and Rockingham. The state’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is also suing.
In 2016, an average of five people died every day from drug overdose in the state, a 410 percent increase from 1999. This dramatic increase is felt by the county’s Emergency Medical Services, who are constantly responding to overdose calls.
“We’re picking up people everyday, 30 days out of a 30-day month, where it used to be once a month,” said County Commissioner Chair Dave Plyler.
The cost can be felt in other areas, too. For instance, there’s been a large increase in children taken into custody by the county’s Department of Social Services due to opioids. Plyler said he expects the settlement with state and local governments over the opioid crisis to be similar in scope to the 1998 tobacco settlement. That settlement between the four largest tobacco companies in the country and the attorney generals of 46 states involved paying a minimum of $206 billion over the first 25 years.

Forsyth County will be filing its own lawsuit that will be grouped with other counties, but is it not a class action suit, which gives the county more control over it.

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Rural Georgia counties to sue opioid makers over addiction costs

Feb 1, 2018 | Atlanta Journal Constitution (GA)

By Madeline McGee

A tiny Southeast Georgia county ravaged by the abuse of painkillers has filed suit against the pharmaceutical industry, saying the drug makers have fueled a costly opioid epidemic that’s straining their budget.
Candler County, near Statesboro, is believed to be the third county in Georgia to file suit against opioid manufacturers and distributors, following in the footsteps of Fulton and DeKalb last year.
It won’t be the last. Jim Matthews, an attorney at the Athens-based law firm representing Candler, said he expects his firm to take on dozens of additional lawsuits in the coming week from counties and hospital systems across the state. Most are located in rural areas, where the epidemic has done the most harm, he said.
Candler County, where a quarter of the roughly 11,000 residents live in poverty according to census data, has been hit particularly hard. The county saw 169.7 opioid prescriptions per 100 people in 2016, according to the CDC. That ranks Candler as the county with the state’s fifth highest prescription rate.
Candler County attorney Kendall Gross said it’s not because local physicians are overprescribing.
“I would be willing to bet you that the overwhelming majority of people in Candler don’t have any opioid prescriptions at all,” he said. Instead, he points to “pill mills” as the culprit — clinics and doctors who dispense narcotics without a legitimate medical reason.
The epidemic, he said, has racked up a bill. There are costs associated with medical care for people who have become addicted, of course, but there are other expenses as well; Law enforcement has seen an increase in robberies and burglaries and the Department of Family and Child Services is left caring for children neglected by addicted parents. Now, the county is seeking more than $75,000 in damages for reimbursement of the public funds used to fight addiction.
The 176-page lawsuit accuses more than two dozens drug makers and distributors of misrepresenting the addictive risks of prescription opioids while fraudulently marketing the drugs as a cure for chronic pain. The cost, the suit said, has been an increase in opioid-related addictions and deaths.
“In connection with this scheme, each Manufacturer Defendant spent, and continues to spend, millions of dollars on promotional activities and materials that falsely deny or trivialize the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain,” the suit reads.
The suit alleges these marketing campaigns targeted general practitioners and family doctors who lack the expertise and time to monitor high-risk opioid patients. It also accuses pharmaceutical companies of failing to halt and report suspicious orders of prescriptions opioids, which could potentially be redistributed through illegal networks.
Matthews, the attorney representing the county, said Candler and the other counties will join a larger body of plaintiffs nationwide in suing the drug companies.
“We thought it best to join other law firms nationally because we’re all going to have to team up against the defendants,” he said. The defendants in the suit are some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry — major manufacturers like Purdue Pharma, which produces OxyContin, and Endo Pharmaceuticals, which produces Percocet. But Matthews said he isn’t daunted.
“Sure, they have unlimited resources, which is another reason for us to band together in court with other law firms so that we also have resources,” he said.
Matthews said that although the case could drag on for up to three or four years, he believes the judge is more interested in settling within the year than presiding over a drawn-out legal battle. But even if the case does last months or years, that could work in the plaintiffs’ favor.
“The longer it drags on, the more evidence could come out and the more plaintiffs may file,” he said.

The defendants include:
Purdue Pharma
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA
Cephalon
Johnson & Johnson
Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Noramco
Endo Health Solutions
Endo Pharmaceuticals
Allergan
Actavis
Watson Pharmaceuticals
Watson Laboratories
Mallinckrodt
McKesson Corporation
Cardinal Health

AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation

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Conway to take part in lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors

Feb 1, 2018 | KATV (AR)

By Nick Popham

Back in December, Conway agreed to join in litigation against drug manufacturers and distributers, with the hope of putting a stop to what's now become an epidemic.
Conway city attorney Chuck Clawson says Arkansas ranks second in the country for opioid prescriptions that are filled out.
"There's actually 114 prescriptions for every hundred people in the state and that's enough for 38 pills for every man, woman and child," Clawson said.
So, when the Arkansas Municipal League, an organization that represents cities in the Natural State with matters involving the federal government, decided to reach out to communities to see if they'd join in potential litigation to combat this epidemic, Conway jumped on board.
"We've got to do something to turn the tide,” Clawson said, “we've got to hold these drug manufacturers and distributers accountable."
And that's because, according to Clawson, the lawsuit will provide relief for Arkansans, and funds to combat the problem.
"Those community resources have been strained because of this epidemic," he said.
But it's not an overnight fix.
"For years, they've been overselling the benefits and understating the risk,” said Clawson. “So, they've chosen profit over our people and I represent our people."
Clawson hopes that more cities and towns will join his city, in the fight that's claiming too many lives here in Arkansas.
"It's not just a Little Rock problem, it's not just a Conway problem, this is statewide,” said Clawson. "Somebody's got to do something and that's why we jumped in."
Clawson says the potential funds that could come from this lawsuit would go to things like counseling and treatment for people that are addicted to these drugs.

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Midwest (WI, OH)

County Board votes to join statewide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

Feb 1, 2018 | The Badger Herald (WI)

By Abby Doeden

The Dane County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to allow the county’s Office of Corporation Counsel to select an outside lawyer to initiate legal action against companies that have illegally contributed to the opioid epidemic in Dane County.
According to the resolution, the opioid epidemic claims a significant number of lives each year in Dane County. The number of opioid-related deaths in 2016 has increased 130 percent since 2010 and estimates another 50 percent increase in 2017.
Over two-thirds of Wisconsin counties have already sued prescription drug companies for similar damages.
At the meeting, Supervisor Mary M. Kolar, District 1, said she believes the opioid epidemic is an extremely important issue.
“I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is in this country [to address] the opioid crisis,” Kolar said. “In my family, as far as I know, I’ve been blessed that it hasn’t hit my family directly. But the opioid crisis is hitting multiple millions of people every day.”
Ninety-one people die every day in the U.S. because of the opioid crisis, and it has been hitting Dane County at a greater magnitude than other communities in Wisconsin, the resolution said.
Kolar is specifically concerned about the veteran population who are involved in the epidemic.
“What is most tragic to me is veterans who are in pain because of service to their country, and have literally had their lives come to almost an end,” Kolar said. “They have to live with pain every day — but instead of finding other ways to address that pain, they are given a pill.”
The resolution includes plans for an outside counsel to initiate legal action against companies who have been found to illegally supply opioids to veterans in Dane County.
Supervisor Tim Kiefer, District 25, questioned Marcia A. MacKenzie, Dane County’s Corporation Counsel, on the negotiation of contingency fees involved in hiring an outside counsel to address the issue.
MacKenzie noted there is a specific firm they have in mind, but did not provide any further information on what the firm may be.
“Their percentage [on the contingency fee] is 25 percent, with 10 percent of that going to a law firm that also represents the county’s association,” MacKenzie said. “Because of that, I wanted to see if the county could get a better deal. It may not be possible, but we owe it to the citizens and taxpayers to look into it.”
After discussion, the board voted to allow the OCC to select an outside counsel to bring forth the suit.
The counsel will not be compensated unless the county receives a financial benefit in a lawsuit against a company found to have illegally contributed to the opioid epidemic within Dane County, the resolution said.
“This is a crisis that must be addressed,” Kolar said. “Thank you for your vote for this resolution, where we join municipalities and local governments throughout the country who are doing their part to fight the misuse and abuse of what could be a benefit, but instead, the bottom-line profit became the motivation.”

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Dane County proceeds with lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies over opioid epidemic

Feb 1, 2018 | The Daily Cardinal (WI)

By Sydney Widell

Dane County will be pressing charges against the pharmaceutical companies it believes are behind the national opioid epidemic, the Dane County Board of Supervisors ruled in a nearly unanimous vote Thursday night.
“The opioid epidemic has hit local communities hard across the United States, and Dane County is no exception,” said County Executive Joe Parisi, when he introduced the resolution in December. “It’s time to tell pharmaceutical companies that enough is enough.”
The rate of opioid-related deaths in Dane County has nearly doubled since 2000, and the rate of heroin fatalities has more than tripled.
“We have major pharmaceutical companies who knowingly marketed a product because it was extremely profitable, not because of their health benefits,” said Mary Kolar, District 1. “This is a crisis that must be addressed.”
By passing the resolution, Dane County joins a growing number of counties nationwide that are taking legal action against pharmaceutical companies in an effort to hold them accountable for the rampant rates of addiction and mortality caused by opioids.

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Commissioners approve entering into opioid lawsuit

Feb 2, 2018 | The Delaware Gazette (OH)

By D. Anthony Botkin

Delaware County Commissioners began the process to enter into the multi-district litigation against the manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications during their regular meeting Thursday.
The commissioners approved appointing the law firm of Taft Stettinius and Hollister LLP, Delaware, to represent, prosecute, and defend on the behalf of the board.
Commissioner Barb Lewis said in working with other departments such as the prosecutor’s office, the sheriff’s office, and judges, she has “seen the scourge of the opioid epidemic in Delaware County.”
Lewis said she voted to join the litigation against the manufactures and distributors of the opioid medication because it has “crippled our community.”
“… they owe us and should help us pay the cost of the terrible damage they have caused. … the opioid crisis is everywhere and it is affecting everyone,” she said in her statement. “The problem is obvious, and it is disheartening. Many good families in our community are terribly afflicted by the opioid addiction. At the same time, due to these lifetime addictions, every Delaware County taxpayer is facing the increased cost of emergency services, hospitalization, and recovery services.”
Lewis said by joining the litigation, based on a contention recovery fee, it will not cost the taxpayers any money. She said that in the long run, the taxpayers will save “thousands of dollars that would otherwise be spent on recovery and prevention efforts.”
“I’m convinced that the legal counsel we are retaining is top notch and dedicated to achieving a prompt and favorable result for Delaware County,” she said. “I wish the retained counsel all successes in achieving full justice for Delaware County.”
Commissioner Gary Merrell said it was a tougher decision for him because he sees both a philosophical and a pragmatic perspective to it.
“The doctors that over-prescribed, and those who provided the drugs illegally, should also play a role in this,” he said. “I really think that the doctors who are involved in this should be part of this philosophically, but it’s just not practical.”
However, he did feel as a commissioner he has a “fiscal responsibility” to the taxpayers.
“It’s believed there will ultimately be a settlement and if we don’t participate in this, the taxpayers in this county would not be able to participate in the settlement,” he said. “For practical reasons I support it. Philosophically, I do have some concerns that the part of the villains in this are not part of the lawsuit and are not being affected and paying their fair share of it.”
David Butler, of Taft Stettinius, and Hollister LLP, said the consolidation will go before Judge Dan Polster of the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, in Cleveland. He said Polster is taking a very active role to bring a resolution within this year.
“They need a strong judge who is willing to put the time and effort into it,” Butler said. “Judge Polster has made it very clear how deeply he cares about this crisis. Whether he is successful or not we’ll see, but he is going to do everything he can to try and get it done. He has a lot of ambition.”
Butler said if there is a resolution that Delaware County will share in it, but if it’s not settled, the case will run the typical course in the court.
Butler said the next step in the process is that the prosecutor’s office will apply to the Delaware County Common Pleas Court to allow the county to enter into the contingency contract.
“Once that application is made, Judge (Everett) Krueger or Judge (David) Gormley will sign off on approving the contract,” he said. “We’ll then file the complaint in federal court for the Southern District of Ohio. The case will then get transferred up to a multi-litigation … where similar cases have been filed throughout the country and being consolidated before one judge.”
Prosecutor Carol O’Brien states in the application to appoint legal counsel, “The appointment of legal counsel is needed due to the scope and complexity of the litigation and the inability of the prosecutor to devote existing resources to the litigation as requested by the board.”
Commissioner Jeff Benton was out of town and could not attend the session.

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Northeast (MD)

Baltimore Becomes The Latest Major City To Sue Big Pharma Over The Opioid Crisis

Feb 1, 2018 | The Daily Caller

By Steve Birr

Another major city launched a lawsuit against manufacturers of opioid painkillers, alleging drug companies were knowingly “reckless” in their pursuit of profits.
Baltimore City Solicitor Andre Davis announced the lawsuit Wednesday targeting a number of drug makers including Purdue Pharma and Endo Pharmaceuticals, as well as drug distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen. Davis alleges the drug makers poured money into research that gave a false perception of the risks associated with long-term opioid use, knowing it would have a “destructive” impact on public health, reports The Baltimore Sun.
The lawsuit accuses drug distributors of failing to report suspicious pill orders to pharmacies in the city. The city wants the pharmaceutical industry on the hook for the rising public costs of fighting the overdose epidemic.
“They were reckless, they were intentional, it was marketing, it was greed,” Davis said in the announcement Wednesday.
The action comes on the heels of lawsuits filed by New York City last week and Philadelphia on Jan. 17 against the major opioid drug makers and distributors in the country.
Pharmaceutical companies have previously denied any claims of wrongdoing and say they are committed to working with the government to solve the opioid epidemic.
“We are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution,” a spokesman for Purdue Pharma previously told The Daily Caller News Foundation in response to a lawsuit filed by the attorney general of New Jersey. “We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”
Lawsuits are mounting against the largest drug makers in the country for their alleged complicity in sparking the opioid crisis through dishonest advertising. There are currently more than 75 cities and states suing pharmaceutical companies over the destructive addiction crisis.
Nationally, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death for Americans under age 50, killing 63,600 people in 2016. The increase is driven primarily by opioids, which claimed 42,249 lives last year, a 28 percent increase over the roughly 33,000 lives lost to opioids in 2015, according to data released Dec. 21 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Opioid overdose made up a staggering 66 percent of all drug overdose deaths in 2016, surpassing the annual number of lives lost to breast cancer.

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COUNTY TO FILE SUIT AGAINST OPIOID MANUFACTURERS

Feb 2, 2018 | The Sentinel (MD)

By Neal Earley

Montgomery County plans to file a lawsuit against opioid manufactures and distributors as a way to take a stand against rising rates of opioid addiction, County Executive Ike Leggett (D) said Monday.
“I think next week, I’m announcing full steam ahead on a lawsuit against a number of manufacturers and distributors who have provided drugs not only in Montgomery County but throughout this nation, so I’m taking them to court,” Leggett said, while speaking at a budget forum in Germantown.
While almost all of Leggett’s time at the event was dedicated to talking about the budget, the County Executive announced the County’s forthcoming lawsuit in response to a question from a resident about the ongoing opioid epidemic.
Leggett’s announcement, however, is not a surprise, as he announced in December that the County had hired an outside law firm – San Francisco based Robbins Geller and Dowd – to help file suit against opioid manufactures. Leggett’s statement came as an impromptu, unofficial announcement of the pending lawsuit, which will be officially announced during a news conference Feb. 7.
“I think that what you described is a real crisis for us in Montgomery County,” Leggett said in response to a question about the opioid epidemic. “The resources that have been expended, the challenges are quite, quite severe in the County.”
Aelish Baig, an attorney from Robbins Geller who will represent the County in the lawsuit named Purdue Pharma, Cephalon, Cardinal Health and Janssen Pharmaceuticals as opioid manufactures and distributors that will likely be listed in the County’s lawsuit.
“We anticipate filing a very comprehensive complaint against potentially eight or nine manufactures and distributors,” Baig said. “We have done a fair amount of that investigation already. We are just completing that investigation now and once it’s completed and, you know, be prepared to file.”
Montgomery County joins other jurisdictions across the country that have filed similar lawsuits against opioid manufactures and distributors such as Ohio, Mississippi, South Carolina, Missouri, New Mexico, Arizona and Illinois. Leggett said opioid addiction has put severe cost on the County, namely police, fire and rescue, and health and human services, and that the lawsuit is a way for the County to be compensated for increased expenses related to the crisis.

The County is not the first to bring attention to the opioid crisis. In May, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) declared a “state of emergency” in response to an opioid addiction crisis in the state. In the speech, Hogan announced the state would spend an additional $50 million over the next five years to combat the crisis through prevention and treatment.

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Northwest (WA)

Pierce County sues big pharma over opioid prescriptions, alleges ‘deceptive practices’

Feb 1, 2018 | Q13 Fox (WA)

By Brandi Kruse

Pierce County will move forward with a lawsuit against “Big Pharma,” alleging the manufacturers of pain pills are to blame for the opioid crisis that is sweeping Washington.
The county alleges that companies like Purdue Pharma engaged in deceptive marketing practices by convincing doctors, who in turn convinced patients, that pills like oxycodone were not addictive.
Mark Lindquist, the county’s prosecutor, told Q13 News This Morning that a suit would be filed in federal court Thursday.
“What we’re focusing on in the lawsuit are deceptive marking practices of Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies that helped create this crisis,” Lindquist said.
The county announced plans for a lawsuit last month. Everett, Tacoma and Skagit County are also suing big pharmaceutical companies over opioid practices.
Between 1997 and 2011, opioid prescriptions rose more than 500 percent, Pierce County said in a release. In 2015, the number of overdose deaths in Washington exceeded the number of deaths from car accidents.

Any money garnered from the suit will go to offset costs associated with fighting the epidemic, including addiction and homeless services, Lindquist said.

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West (CO)

Huerfano County suing over opioid epidemic

Feb 1, 2018 | News Channel 13 (CO)

By Katie Spencer

Huerfano County looks like a normal small town in Colorado, where main street is just two lanes and people leave their doors unlocked.
But in reality, many of the people living there are addicted to pain medications like Vicodin and Oxycontin.

And county leaders aren't going to take it anymore. County Commissioner Max Vezzani said they're joining litigation, targeting companies in the opioid supply chain.

"It's unknown territory for us for sure, but we also felt it was a big enough issue for our county that we should take action," Vezzani said.

Attorney Pat Mika and two other law offices are helping the county lead the charge.

"It's time that we take a stand and make accountable those pharmaceutical companies and distributors who have misrepresented, mislead, falsely advertised the effects of opioids," Mika said.

The 73-page law suit accuses pharmaceutical companies of being negligent and using aggressive sales tactics to bring large amounts of opioids into the San Luis Valley.

"Big pharmacy companies have admitted guilt in terms of fraudulent kinds of marketing," Vezzani said.

Per capita, the county is ranked third in the nation for the number of opioid addicts.

"Huerfano County has been among the worst for over 10 years," said Vic Meyers from the Huerfano County Health Department.

And this public health crisis is taking a huge bite out of municipal budgets.

The lawsuit states that at least $750,000 has been spent on opioid related expenses and that includes the sheriff's office.

"Unless we hit them in their pocketbook and return to the communities the resources that they're losing everyday from this epidemic, then nobody is going to be safe," Mika said.

The hope is to treat the people who live in the county and stop the growth of opioid use in the county.
Philadelphia and Delaware filed lawsuits this month. New York has filed similar suits.

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Commentary and FYIs

N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein Talks Opioids, Addiction

Feb 1, 2018 | WFMY News 2 (NC)

By Erica Stapleton

On average, 3-4 people a day die from overdoses in North Carolina, according to state records. Drugs like painkillers, heroin, and fentanyl are quietly killing people, and state Attorney General Josh Stein refuses to be quiet about it. He sat down with WFMY News 2's Erica Stapleton to talk about the progress and the perils of the opioid crisis.
ES: How have the opioid summits been going?
JS: "I've been on the job as Attorney General for about a year and we've had 22-23 community roundtables across the state and it's given me an opportunity to be in the mountains, Piedmont, coast, urban, rural. While the opioid crisis differs a little bit depending on where you are in the state, it shares a devastation. People are dying. Families are being torn apart, community budgets are straining. This is the gravest public health and public safety issue we face in North Carolina."
ES: What scares you the most about that?
JS: "What scares me is the cost to human life. We're losing people. Average age is late 20's, early 40s these are usually people who became addicted to pills that they got out of a medicine cabinet or maybe from a doctor when they were in their teens. And then they move on to heroine and then overdose and die. So, substance abuse disorder is a disease. And once your brain gets rewired so you need that morphine molecule that exists in opioids it becomes and all consuming compulsion taking over your life, ruining it. And tearing the hearts of your loved ones."
ES: How does talking about it in roundtables lead to action?
JS: Every part of government plays a role but so do all types of people. We need resources from the federal government. We need resources and policies from the state government and I'm convinced that the solution is going to happen at the local community level. So, when I go to a community and you go to a roundtable and you have policy makers like city council, mayors, county commissioners, sheriff's, chiefs of police, EMS, the local emergency room, treatment and recovery folks, religious and business leaders. Every type of group has a role in solving this problem. Then once we learn what's going on in communities, we shared across the state. We have a wonderful website, ncdoj.gov/opioidresources, and it's just 50 different ideas but different communities are experimenting with across North Carolina to tackle this crisis."
ES: What have been the biggest takeaways for you?
JS: "The biggest takeaway for me has been how committed the people of North Carolina are to solving this problem. You see it at community levels where - a police chief in Oakboro just had two people within a couple week period of time, come to him with heroine and say 'Chief, take this and help me. I need help.' People with addictions they don't want to be addicts. Their body has been taken over by the drug and are imperative is to help people get healthy and get well. If we help people get well, and we can, we know how to do that, it just requires good care and resources. If we do that, crime will go down; jails will not be filled with people with substance abuse disorder; our emergency rooms will not be inundated with overdoses; our EMS will not have to be on call to save people with naloxone; our foster care system will not be burdened, overburdened with children in need of loving homes. If we can solve this problem, we can make a huge difference in our communities."
ES: What's the solution?
JS: "The solution in this crisis is multifaceted. It requires a comprehensive approach. Prevention, treatment and recovery, and enforcement. On the prevention side there is way too many pills prescribed. 7 hundred million pills. That's enough prescriptions for every man, woman and child. It's inexcusable. The United States provides 10 times more than what they do in Japan. Four times more than what they do in Europe. We've got to reduce the number of pills doctors and dentists are prescribing. We've got to help young people avoid these risky behaviors in the first place and we're going to be doing some work on that front this year. On the treatment and recovery side we just need more facilities. There aren't enough detox places, there aren't enough treatment facilities and too few people who want to help can get the help they need. Enforcement - they got to hold the drug traffickers accountable for the misery that they're bringing to North Carolina. But for somebody who's crime is their drug use, is their substance abuse it is better if we can connect those people to healthcare and our criminal justice system. That's how we're ultimately going to solve it. I hear from sheriffs, chiefs all the time that we will never arrest ourselves out of this crisis. We have to help people get healthy."
ES: What is the state of lawsuit with Insys?
JS: "My job as Attorney General is to help protect people and that means trying to come up with solutions to the opioid crisis, but that also means holding accountable any corporation played a role in creating or fueling it. I'm part of the national, multi-state 40 attorneys general, bipartisan, across the county investigating the role of the manufacturers and drug distributors. If we conclude that they unlawfully created this crisis, we are going to hold them accountable. I've already done that with one company called Insys. They have a fentanyl product called Subsys. Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine. It's one of the most powerful drugs you can buy on the market. It's a drug that goes in under the tongue, which is almost as potent as putting it into your vein with a needle. That company was engaged in unlawful marketing tactics. We alleged that company was engaged in unlawful marketing efforts so we're taking them to court to hold them accountable."
ES: You're alleging doctors are getting paid to promote their drug. Why is that a bad thing?
JS: "Insys was actually paying doctors who were prescribing a lot of their drugs speaker fees. And they were giving out the speaker fees based on who was prescribing the most. Essentially, they were buying off doctors prescribing in order to sell they are drug to more people and they were also marketing it for purposes that were not originally approved by the FDA for back pain rather than for cancer treatment. Those things are illegal. They're not lawful in terms of how they can market. That's what we allege and we're taking them to court to hold them accountable."
ES: And in your opinion it's completely unethical for doctors to even be engaging in such a practice?
JS: "Doctors should be prescribing would help their patients. But too often doctors and dentists are prescribing opioids as a first line of defense for dealing with pain when it should be the last line. Study after study shows that things like ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatories are actually better at treating pain than opioids. We need to have a whole culture shift in the way that medicine works and frankly, the questions patients should ask their doctors when they go to see one."
In 2017, North Carolina lawmakers passed the STOP Act, which limits the number of pills doctors can prescribe. The law went into effect January 1, 2018.
ES: How has the STOP Act made a difference?
JS: "This will do two things. One is fewer people will get addicted from their first prescription, which happens. And two, there will be fewer leftover pills in our medicine cabinets were young people and people with addiction get their hands on and it fuels the drug problem."
ES: Have you seen a difference yet?
JS: "We haven't seen it yet. What we will see over time is few were pills being prescribed. People can still get pain pills for an injury but you shouldn't be taking the past five days anyway. The CDC out of Atlanta concluded that if you take pain pills, say for 10 days, 20%, one out of five people are going to be taking them a year later. That is how addictive these pain pills are. So, if folks can get help through other non-addictive types pain relief, that's what they should be doing."
ES: How important is bipartisanship on this issue?
JS: Our political system is not working well today, whether it's Washington or Raleigh. Both parties are going to their corners and fighting their issues and that's not healthy when it comes to solving problems. One thing I'm encouraged about here in North Carolina is the opioid crisis is one issue where we can able to put our party issues to the side and focus on what's going to help the people of North Carolina."
ES: You say in 2017, more people getting saved by Narcan than dying of overdoses. What do you make of that trend?
JS: There's a drug called naloxone {Narcan}, which is a miracle antidote to an overdose. Basically, if it gets administered it bring somebody back to life and it's not addictive. So, it really is a fantastic drug and in 2016 and again last year for the first time, more people were brought back to life from an overdose after the administration of naloxone than died of an overdose. It's wonderful because every time you bring somebody back, you're giving him another chance at The life that we all want. We all want to be free to make her own decisions, choose where we live, where we work, who we're married to, how many children we have. But the people who have addiction, they don't have that freedom of choice because their brain has been taken over by the morphine molecule."
ES: How do you stop people from overdosing in the first place?
JS: "Clearly naloxone is after somebody's addicted, so the best thing we can possibly do is to prevent people from getting addicted in the first place. The number one driver of addiction for opioids in the United States is over prescription of pain killers. It's a 1:1 correlation over the past 20 years. Increase in prescriptions, increase in addictions, increase in death. So if we can reduce the number of pills that get prescribed in the first place we're going to save a lot more lives. We're going to turn off the spigot of people with addiction. But we also have to work with our young people. Kids are experimenting with drugs in middle school. They're getting a hold of what's in our medicine cabinets and playing around and getting hooked. We've got to break that cycle. We need to engage young people in a constructive way ."
ES: And how do you do that?
JS: "I think you do in the schools. I think you do it with evidence-based programs that are showing to change risky behavior. Look, we have reduced teen smoking. We've reduced drunk driving among teenagers. We've Increased seatbelt used by teenagers. We Know how to do this. It just requires time, the right messaging and resources and we can change behavior."
ES: More dealers are getting charged with murder in fatal overdoses. What do you make of that approach?
JS: "I think we need to hold the drug traffickers and drug dealers accountable. They're making money at the expense of peoples lives. They're bringing misery and death to North Carolina and need to be held accountable. I think that's different from somebody who's crime is their addiction. If you're breaking the law because you are addicted to a drug, the best thing I think we can do is help them break the addiction. Then, we're going to stop their criminal behavior. I was just at the conference this morning with city and county managers, with Chief Bayshore out of Nashville in eastern North Carolina. He's got a program called the HOPE initiative that's been operating about 2 years. He's had more than 300 people walk in to the front door of the town police, hand over their drugs and drug paraphernalia and said 'Chief, I need help.' And he has personally back to those people to detox and treatment so that they can get healthy. To me, I think that's how we're going to solve this crisis."
ES: In terms of drug dealers, do you think it's fair to charge them with second degree murder or something along those lines if someone does overdose on the drug they give them?
JS: "If somebody's making money selling a drug to someone else and that person overdoses and dies, they should be held accountable for their criminal behavior."
ES: Is there a backlog at the Crime Lab because of the epidemic?
JS: "The state crime lab is actually under the Department of Justice, and we do have a backlog in our chemical analysis because there are so many drugs submitted by law-enforcement for testing that we don't have the resources to turn around as quickly as we all want 24:32 this drug crisis. it's overburdening our crime lab, it's overburdening our court system, it's overburdening our county jails, it's overburdening our state prison system. And were all collectively paying for it. What we have to determine is what is the most effective way to spend our scares public dollars can stop this crisis from spreading any further."
ES: How do you pay for it?
JS: "We are paying for it today. We're paying for it in foster care, we're paying for it when 3/4 of the people in our jails have substance abuse disorder. We're paying for it in our emergency rooms, which are seeing a double in the number of people coming in because of overdoses. We are all paying for it today. What we should do is figure out how we can spend that same amount of money in a smarter way so we can make this problem go away. It's good for us the taxpayers, but it's good for the people who are no longer sick. That's good for their families so they don't have to worry that their family member is going to die."
ES: How do you ensure law enforcement and first-responders are continually equipped with what they need?
JS: One thing my office is doing. We have a law enforcement task force. That can be used with federal state local prosecutors, law enforcement. We meet regularly, we meet next week. And we identify what are the gaps. What are the gaps in policy and what are the resource needs? And one of the items on the agenda is naloxone. We are going to collectively go to the legislature this summer to urge them to fund naloxone. Buy it at a state level where it's more efficient and help distribute that across North Carolina."
ES: Where are we lacking in this fight?
JS: "I think where we are failing as a nation, as a state, as counties and cities is treatment. We do not have enough detoxification centers or treatment facilities or long-term recovery organizations. I think that something where we can I will step up because if we can help people get well, then we have nipped this problem. People will not need to go on the street corner to buy heroin if they're not addicted."
ES: What is your overall goal?
JS: "My goal is the attorney general of North Carolina it's to help people get the lives that they want. It means reducing crime. It means improving the quality of life. If we can turn the tide on this crisis, if we can reduce the number of people, who get addicted. If can reduce the number of people who are addicted, we will save lives, we'll enhance the quality of life. I've met too many parents, my age, who have lost a loved one due to overdose. No parent should lose their child due to an accidental drug overdose. We can stop parents having to experience that, we'll have achieved a great deal."
ES: Are there any other lawsuits in the works when it comes to suing big manufacturers?
JS: "Just the other day I was in Cleveland at the invitation of the U.S. District Court judge who's got a multidistrict litigation that involves every pharmaceutical company, probably 200 different jurisdictions, that they've already sued. My hope is that we can come to some kind of cooperative resolution. If we can get resources to attack this problem today, we can save lives because every day we don't deal with it another 3-4 North Carolinians are going to die of an accidental overdose. But if the companies don't step up and do the right thing, I will not hesitate to take them to court."
ES: The number of people dying every day is 3-4 people in North Carolina? So, that number is rising?
JS: "More people died of an accidental drug overdose due to opioids in 2017, than 2016. In 2016, than 2015 and what I fear is that more people die in 2018 than 2017. So, this is not a problem that we can flip the light switch and make it go away but if we do the hard work today, we can save lives down the road and that's what we have to do."

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Q&A With NC Gov. Cooper On The Opioid Crisis

Feb 2, 2018 | WUNC

By Jeff Tiberii

Governor Roy Cooper is taking a leadership role in North Carolina - and in the country – in addressing the opioid crisis. He was one of six members of President Donald Trump’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.
As part of our series "Hitting Home: The Opioid Crisis in North Carolina," Cooper sat down with WUNC reporters Jason deBruyn and Jeff Tiberii to discuss the crisis. Below is a portion of their discussion.
On the President's commission and what the Trump administration has done since the final report was submitted in November:
"They were looking at moving forward with a number of these proposals, and very little, if anything, has happened at this point. And there’s a lot that can be done – federal money can be freed up, action can be taken to make a difference in this arena. There’s still time for them to do it, but it’s disappointing that they haven’t yet."
Tell me why you think they haven’t acted. Because you made your recommendations. As I think any reasonable person can agree, this is a really serious issue, and something needs to be done. Why haven’t they moved on those?
"It is so frustrating because some of the things they could do that would alter rules that would not require that much appropriation of federal money. I think one of the reasons is that they are looking - the Trump Administration and Republican leadership in Congress is looking - at severely cutting back on domestic spending. And one of those areas is healthcare.
We saw the continued proposals to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, and to move to block grants, and clearly the long term goal was to significantly reduce investment in healthcare for people across this country. And we know that making sure that we deal with this opioid crisis is not an inexpensive proposition. We know that treatment is going to be required.
So I think they’re afraid of opening avenues that we know are going to cost money. They would rather give tax breaks to the wealthiest and the corporations instead of investing in the education and healthcare of people. That’s another topic altogether. But it does fit into what we’re talking about here and it does matter."
What about the 10 million residents in the state – what should we be doing?
"I’d like to see voices raised to get more people health insurance coverage. I’d like people to understand that this is a treatment oriented approach to saving lives. And they need to talk to their friends about it.
They need to rise up and make sure that every single person in North Carolina has access to quality healthcare coverage. And that includes treatment for substance use disorder. And once we realize that that is something basic that everybody ought to have, and we have to find ways to get there, then we’ve come a long way. And we certainly are not there yet."

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HOW EFFECTIVE ARE OPIOID LAWSUITS?

Feb 1, 2018 | Spectrum News Charlotte (NC)

By Reuben Jones

Attorney Paul Coates is one of the dozens of attorneys involved in lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
“They're breaking the rules, and because they're breaking the rules, people are dying,” says Coates.
Counties involved say their budgets are feeling the pinch as they try and take care of people addicted to opioids.
More than 100 states, counties and cities are suing the drug companies. Many of them have joined together.
“It's pretty unprecedented,” saysUniversity of Michigan Assistant Professor Rebecca Haffajee.
Haffaje says the opioid crisis can best be compared to the lawsuit against tobacco in the nineties.That lawsuit was settled for $246 billion dollars over 25 years.
“We will see more settlements of greater magnitude is my prediction. Whether we will get to that hundreds of billions dollars figure I’m not sure,” says Haffajee.
Haffajee says the government aims to prove a number of claims including:Fraud and misrepresentation by drug companiesMisbrandingPublic nuisanceUnjust enrichment at the government's expenseFailing to report suspicious shipments.
Haffajee says finding evidence for some of the claims could be hard, but the amount of money could be high.
“I'm somewhat optimistic that these government claims aggregately might be quite successful,” says Haffajee.
Joining the lawsuit is a win-win for governments, according to Coates. Many of them don't have to pay unless the lawsuits are successful.
While taxpayers likely won't directly see any potential settlement money, supporters say it could be a step towards fighting a deadly epidemic.
Coates says the judge in the lawsuit he’s involved in would like the parties to settle this year. If a settlement can’t be reached, he wants the trial to start early next year.
Burke and Gaston County are involved in a lawsuit againt drug companies. Mecklenburg County is considering suing.

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Broadcast Media Coverage

KIRO 7 News at 5AM

Feb 2, 2018 | KIRO (CBS)

By Seattle, WA

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400851?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Rough Transcript: local leaders will gather at the univeristy of washington tacoma - to discuss how to fight the opioid crisis.the pierce county opioid summit will look at strategies communities can adopt. the tacoma fire department has started giving out free opioid overdose 'rescue kits.'the kits include the nasal spray narcan - and information about local recovery programs. paramedics will give the kits to opioid patients they treat. pierce county is also taking the opioid fight to court - by ásuing three companies that manufacture prescription opioids.prosecutor mark lindquist filed the federal lawsuit yesterday - against purdue, endo and janssen. the lawsuit claims the companies' "agressive marketing" fuel the opioid crisis. pierce county saw more than 400 opioid-related deaths from 20-12 to 20-16. seattle, tacoma, everett and the state of washington have also filed lawsuits against purdue pharma.in september - a judge dismissed purdue's request to throw out the city of everett's lawsuit.purdue argued the connection was too remote.

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Good Morning Colorado: Early Edition

Feb 2, 2018 | KRDO (ABC)

By Colorado Springs, CO

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400975?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Rough Transcript: the ongoing opioid crisis is spurring a major lawsuit in southern colorado. huerfano county is suing major pharmaceutical companies for reportedly causing addictions and overdose deaths. the 73-page lawsuit details how the county believes companies like purdue pharma knowingly sold opioidsas a long-term pain medication despite its addictive nature. the county is claiming its enties including the sheriff's office have spent 750 thousand dollars on the epidemic... and are asking for future costs as well. "it's time that we take a stand and make accountable those pharmaceutical companies and distributors who have misrepresented, mislead, falsely advertised the effects of opioids." cont vo prosecutor, pat mika says he thinks it will take three to five years to reach a decision in the lawsuit.

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27 News Wake Up Wisconsin

Feb 2, 2018 | WKOW (ABC)

By Madison, WI

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400981?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Rough Transcript: dane county board members vote to move forwad with the opioid lawsuit. supervisor mary kolar says the number of opioid-related deaths in dane county has increased 130 percent since 2010. kolar alleges unlawful marketing by the manufacturers - which has led to a crisis among county residents. (("they have grossly profite from the pain and misery and los of death that is resulted from agresive marketing of opioids, including oxycontin.) the board's action alows county attorneys to bring in outside lawyers. dane county joins dozens of states, counties and cities taking similar action.

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Wake Up Washington at 4:30am

Feb 2, 2018 | WUSA (CBS)

By Washington, DC

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32400991?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Rough Transcript: the city of baltimore is the latest government to see opioid manufacturers over the marketing of pain pills. the baltimore sun reports a couple of doctors are also named in the lawsuit. the distributors are accused of not reporting suspicious pill orders. in the past decades more than 3,000 people in baltimore have died from opioid overdoses. >>> the maryland attorney general said the state will challenge the federal constitutionality of the tax overhaul. they are targeting the $10,000 on state and local property income tax deductions that will result in higher taxes for more than half a million maryland taxpayers.

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Spectrum News Your Overnight News

Feb 2, 2018 | NEWS14R (Spectrum News)

By Raleigh-Durham, NC

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32401006?token=18456e6e-81ce-4f69-9e78-982caddb382a
Rough Transcript: another charlotte area county announs it's suing opioid manufacturers and distributors. burke county joins dozens of counties dozens of counties across the country in the 4:16 AMlawsuit....that are beginning to stack up-- but what exactly are they arguing about and how likely are they to succeed? spectrum news reporter reuben jones digs -nat- paul coates has a lot of paperwork to go through these days. the whole country is suffering with the problem he's one of the dozens of attorneys involved in a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors. lawsuit against opioidmanufacturers andistributors. manufacturers and distributors. they're breaking the rules. because they're breaking the rules people are dying. counties involved say their budgets are feeling the pinch as they try and take care of people addicted to opioids. there are increased costs everywhere. take headline super more than a hundred states, cities and counties are suing the drug companies. many of them joined together. it's pretty unprecedented. rebecca haffajee is a professor of health policy at the university of michigan. she says this can best be compared to the lawsuit against compared to the lawsuit against tobacco in the nineties. take down headline super that lawsuit was settled for 246 billion dollars over 25 years. the drug companies listed today make billions every year and haffajee says the opioid lawsuit has the potential to reach that level. we will see more settlements prediction. whether we will get to that hundreds of billions dollars figure i'm not sure. haffajee says the government aims to a number of claims including... -fraud and misrepresentatio n by drug companies -misbranding -public nuisance -unjust enrichment at -unjust enrichment at the government's expense -and failing to report suspicious shipments. finding evidence for some of the claims could be hard-- haffajee says-- but... i'm somewhat optimistic that these government claims aggregately might be government claims aggregately might be quite successful -nat- joing the lawsuit is a win- win for governments-- according to coates. many of them don't have to pay unless the lawsuits are successful.

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