Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 3/2/18

White House Opioid Summit

1. Remarks by President Trump at the White House Opioids Summit

   Mar 1, 2018 | White House

   By Donald J. Trump
   
   
   THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, Kellyanne. And it’s an honor to be with you. I just said I was going to stop over, say hello to some of the great families and some friends — some friends that have had some incredible difficulty. I know what you’re going through.
2. Trump urges lawsuit against opioid companies, tougher sentences for dealers

   | Reuters

   By Ayesha Rascoe
   
   
   U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a federal lawsuit against opioid companies and stiffer penalties for drug dealers, arguing that the government must take a strong approach to combat an opioid addiction epidemic.
3. Trump says drug dealers may deserve 'ultimate penalty'

   Mar 1, 2018 | Associated Press

   By Darlene Superville
   
   
   President Donald Trump said Thursday the "ultimate penalty" may be in order for drug dealers because the nation's drug problem will never be solved without a show of strength and toughness.
4. President Trump suggests executing drug dealers at summit on opioid crisis

   Mar 2, 2018 | Washington Post

   By Katie Zezima
   
   
   President Trump suggested that executing drug dealers could help solve the opioid crisis during a White House summit Thursday, an event the administration billed as a way to measure its progress in combating the nation’s drug problem.
5. Trump brings up death penalty for drug dealers, suing drug companies at opioids summit

   Mar 1, 2018 | CBS News

   By Staff
   
   
   President Trump made an unexpected appearance at a White House summit on the opioid crisis Thursday afternoon, floating penalties for "opioid companies" and tougher punishments for drug dealers, noting that some countries have the "ultimate penalty."
6. Trump says federal government lawsuit against drug companies over opioid crisis 'will happen'

   Mar 1, 2018 | CNBC

   By Dan Mangan
   
   
   President Donald Trump said Thursday that the federal government will follow the example set by states and cities and begin suing drug companies and distributors for their role in the opioid epidemic.
7. Trump praises countries with death penalty for drug dealers at opioids summit

   Mar 1, 2018 | NBC News

   By Ali Vitali
   
   
   President Donald Trump on Thursday praised countries that impose "the ultimate penalty" on drug traffickers, suggesting that harsher punishments for "drug pushers and drug dealers" would help combat America's opioid crisis.
8. Trump Says Administration Working On 'Very Very Strong' Policies To Combat Opioids

   Mar 1, 2018 | NPR

   By Brian Naylor
   
   
   The White House convened a summit on the opioid epidemic Thursday, where first lady Melania Trump said she is proud of the what the administration has already accomplished on the issue, but that "we all know there is much work still to be done."
9. The Health 202: HHS chief pushes Trump opioid commission's top recommendation

   Mar 2, 2018 | The Washington Post

   By Paige Winfield Cunningham
   
   
   President Trump’s top health official wants everyone to know that he is pushing forward with a key recommendation for helping states combat the opioid epidemic.

White House Opioid Summit Cont'd

MDL

10. 'Revolving Door' At DEA Faces Scrutiny In Opioid MDL

    Mar 1, 2018 | Law360

    By Jeff Overley
    
    
    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s resistance to divulging information about opioid sales as part of multidistrict litigation is generating fresh scrutiny of its “revolving door” relationship with drug companies and law firms
11. Details Emerge On DEA Data Release In Opioid MDL

    Mar 1, 2018 | Law360

    By Rachel Graf
    
    
    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will divulge two years of information about drugmakers that sold the vast majority of opioids in every state, an Ohio federal judge presiding over multidistrict litigation said Thursday.

Commentary and FYIs

12. Justice Department hasn't decided whether to participate in opioid litigation

    Mar 2, 2018 | Cleveland.com (OH)

    By Eric Heisig
    
    
    As U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised, the Justice Department on Thursday evening filed a "statement of interest" in the swath of lawsuits being heard in Cleveland that accuse drug manufacturers and distributors of heavily contributing to the nation's opioid epidemic.
13. Kentucky could become the first state to tax opioid prescriptions

    Mar 2, 2018 | STAT News

    By Andrew Joseph
    
    
    Lawmakers in Kentucky are weighing whether to impose a new tax on opioid prescriptions, the latest effort in a string of so-far failed attempts to pull new revenue from the painkillers that helped seed a nationwide addiction crisis.
14. Clallam morally bankrupt to sue drug manufacturers

    Mar 2, 2018 | Peninsula Daily News (WA)

    By David Benzick
    
    
    Clallam county suing drug manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications is the height of moral bankruptcy (“Clallam County to file suit against opioid firms,” PDN, Feb. 15).
15. Despite Opioid Lawsuits, Drug Companies Will Still Come Out on Top (Opinion)

    Mar 1, 2018 | CityWatch

    By Morgan Statt
    
    
    THE POWER OF BIG PHARMA-The opioid epidemic has left no part of the country untouched, yet California can be considered one of the luckier states. Close to 115 Americans die each day of an opioid-related overdose, but California’s death rates have begun to taper off. Public experts surmise that a diverse demographic makeup and the type of heroin available in the area have contributed to the stabilization. But, this is only one barely shining light at the end of a long tunnel.

Midwest (IN, IL, MI)

16. West Lafayette Joins Nationwide Wave Of Lawsuits Against Opioid Makers

    Mar 1, 2018 | WBAA (IN)

    By Charlotte Tuggle
    
    
    West Lafayette is gearing up to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors – joining a long list of U.S. cities going after painkiller producers in the courtroom.
17. West Lafayette mayor sues 10 opioid manufacturers and 3 distributors

    Mar 1, 2018 | The Exponent (IN)

    By Staff
    
    
    The city of West Lafayette is pursuing litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors for their part in causing the opioid crisis that has gripped communities around the nation, according to a press release.
18. WEST LAFAYETTE WILL SUE OPIOID MANUFACTURERS AND DISTRIBUTORS

    Mar 1, 2018 | WLFI (IN)

    By Staff
    
    
    The city of West Lafayette announce on Thursday it plans to pursue litigation against ten opioid manufacturers and three distributors. Lafayette filed a similar lawsuit on November 29 of last year against opioid manufacturers and distributors for their part in causing the opioid crisis in Tippecanoe County.
19. Lawsuit filed against pharmaceutical companies over newborns addicted to opioids

    Mar 1, 2018 | KMOV (IL)

    By Rachel Sudduth
    
    
    A Class Action lawsuit was filed Wednesday in East St. Louis suing several pharmaceutical companies for their manufacturing of opioids.
20. Sanilac considers joining federal opioid lawsuit

    Mar 1, 2018 | The Times Herald (MI)

    By Jackie Smith
    
    
    Sanilac County may join more than two dozen other Michigan counties in ongoing federal opioid litigation

Northeast (NY, PA)

21. Warren County files lawsuit against opioid makers

    Mar 1, 2018 | The Post Star (NY)

    By Don Lehman
    
    
    Warren County has filed a lawsuit against companies and people its lawyers blame for the opioid addiction epidemic, claiming that the county and local businesses have paid millions of dollars to counteract the crisis and that the county should be compensated.
22. Cattaraugus County lawmakers set hearing on law declaring opioid epidemic a public nuisance

    Mar 1, 2018 | Olean Times Herald (NY)

    By Rick Miller
    
    
    Cattaraugus County lawmakers took the first step Wednesday toward joining a class-action lawsuit against drug companies for the marketing and overprescribing of opioid pain relievers.
23. Clarion joins suit against 14 drug companies

    Mar 2, 2018 | TheDerrick (PA)

    By William Stevens
    
    
    Clarion County commissioners have announced that the county has filed suit against 14 pharmaceutical companies in an effort to recoup costs related to the opioid crisis that has affected the county.

Southeast (FL, WV)

24. Miami-Dade County Hires Legal Team To Launch Opioid Suit

    Mar 1, 2018 | Law360

    By Carolina Bolado
    
    
    Miami-Dade County has hired a team of litigators led by Podhurst Orseck PA to prepare legal action against drug manufacturers and distributors for enabling the opioid addiction crisis that has cost the county millions in increased law enforcement and health care costs.
25. Miami-Dade County Retains Legal Team for Opioid Litigation

    Mar 1, 2018 | Daily Business Review (Law.com)

    By Celia Ampel
    
    
    Miami-Dade County signed a retainer agreement with seven law firms led by Miami’s Podhurst Orseck to file litigation against Big Pharma over the opioid epidemic.
26. Law firms pitch lawsuits to Wood County Commission

    Mar 2, 2018 | Parkersburg News & Sentinel (WV)

    By Brett Dunlap
    
    
    The Wood County Commission heard from more law firms Thursday on whether it should join lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications.

Broadcast Media Coverage

27. Shepard Smith Reporting

    Mar 1, 2018 | National Programming

    By Fox News
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179372?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1
28. Mornings With Maria Bartiromo

    Mar 2, 2018 | National Programming

    By Fox
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179048?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1
29. necn THIS MORNING

    Mar 2, 2018 | Boston, MA

    By NECN (NEWSENG)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179057?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1
30. Fox 5 News at 5

    Mar 2, 2018 | New York, NY

    By WNYW (Fox)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179136?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1
31. News 4 at Noon

    Mar 2, 2018 | St. Louis, MO

    By KMOV (CBS)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179387?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1

White House Opioid Summit

1. Remarks by President Trump at the White House Opioids Summit

   Mar 1, 2018 | White House

   By Donald J. Trump

   THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much, Kellyanne.  And it’s an honor to be with you.  I just said I was going to stop over, say hello to some of the great families and some friends — some friends that have had some incredible difficulty.  I know what you’re going through.

   Melania is here someplace.  Where is our First Lady?  Where is she?  Where’s Melania?  Hello, darling.  So she feels so strongly about it.  Kellyanne feels so strongly about it.  And I do.

   And a friend of mine, Steve Witkoff, who is a great developer in New York City — stand up, Steve.  I didn’t know you were going to be here.  Steve had some big difficulty.  He went through — Steve, come on up here.  Steve has been one of my great friends over the years.  A tremendously successful man.  And would you want to just discuss this?  Because we’re all among friends here.  You know, it’s a tough thing to discuss, right?

   MR. WITKOFF:  It is.  It is.

   THE PRESIDENT:  But I was there when he was going through something with a very special boy, right?  Go ahead.

   MR. WITKOFF:  I remember the hug you gave me when the world was — when I felt all was lost.  I listened to Eric’s story.  I lost my son in 2011.  And he didn’t buy drugs on the Darknet; he bought drugs on the Internet — a website owned by three of the largest U.S. corporations in the country today.  So it’s not just the Darknet.

   But he was a great kid, and he detoxed the first night with me.  So he was my special child.  So if I lost him — I always felt hopeless before you were elected.  And I’ve never lobbied my friend about anything.  I’ve just supported you because I so believe in you.  But if my son knew that you were going to take up this battle — oh, my gosh, he must be upstairs applauding every single day.  So I am so grateful.  Thank you.

   THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Steve.  You take care of yourself.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

   And Steve went through something where he thought everything was perfect.  He thought everything was fine.  And his boy was recovered.  And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he got some very bad news.  So I fully understand what you’re going through.

   The administration is going to be rolling out policy over the next three weeks, and it will be very, very strong.  I’ve also spoken with Jeff about bringing a lawsuit against some of these opioid companies.  I mean, what they’re doing and the way — the distribution.  And you have people that go to the hospital with a broken arm, and they come out and they’re addicted.  They’re addicted to painkillers, and they don’t even know what happened.  They go in for something minor, and they come out and they’re in serious shape.

   So we’re going to very much — you know, as you know, I think we’ve been involved more than any administration, by far.  It’s a problem that’s growing.  And drugs are a similar but different problem, in the sense that we have pushers and we have drug dealers that don’t — I mean, they kill hundreds and hundreds of people, and most of them don’t even go to jail.  You know, if you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty.  These people can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them.

   And we need strength with respect to the pushers and to the drug dealers.  And if we don’t do that, you’re never going to solve the problem.  If you want to be weak and you want to talk about just Blue Ribbon Committees, that’s not the answer.  The answer is you have to have strength and you have to have toughness.  The drug dealers, the drug pushers are — they’re really doing damage.  They’re really doing damage.

   Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty.  And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do.  So we’re going to have to be very strong on penalties.  Hopefully, we can do some litigation against the opioid companies.  I think it’s very important because a lot of states are doing it, but I keep saying, if the states are doing it, why isn’t the federal government doing it?  (Applause.)  So that will happen.  So that will happen.

   In the meantime, I just want to pay my respects to everybody.  Some of you have gone through a lot.  Many of you in this room have gone through a lot, more than anyone can imagine.  We’re with you a hundred percent.  We’re fighting for you, and we’re going to win.  We’re going to win.  Thank you very much.  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

   Return to headline | Return to top

2. Trump urges lawsuit against opioid companies, tougher sentences for dealers

   | Reuters

   By Ayesha Rascoe

   U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a federal lawsuit against opioid companies and stiffer penalties for drug dealers, arguing that the government must take a strong approach to combat an opioid addiction epidemic.

   Trump said that he had urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take legal action.

   “Hopefully we can do some litigation against the opioid companies,” Trump said at a summit hosted by the White House on the nation’s opioid crisis.

   Hundreds of states, counties and cities have sued drugmakers and distributors, saying that manufacturers have deceptively marketed opioids and distributors have failed to take action against indications the painkillers were diverted for improper uses.

   On Tuesday, Sessions announced that the federal government would seek reimbursement from major drug companies and distributors to recoup costs from the opioid epidemic. The Justice Department will file a“statement of interest” in consolidated litigation on opioids.

   It was not immediately clear whether, in his remarks at the summit, Trump was referring to that Justice Department action or pressing for further steps.

   The White House convened the opioid summit to highlight administration efforts to address drug abuse.

   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016, the last year with publicly available data.

   Trump complained that people dealing drugs on the streets did not face enough consequences in the United States.

   “Some countries have a very, very tough penalty - the ultimate penalty,” he said.“And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do.”

   He did not specify the type of punishment he would like to see drug dealers face.

   The White House has indicated it would favor new rules to provide prisoners with more opportunities once they are no longer incarcerated, but has declined to back changes that would reduce mandatory minimums for drug offenders.

   Return to headline | Return to top

3. Trump says drug dealers may deserve 'ultimate penalty'

   Mar 1, 2018 | Associated Press

   By Darlene Superville

   President Donald Trump said Thursday the "ultimate penalty" may be in order for drug dealers because the nation's drug problem will never be solved without a show of strength and toughness.

   The comments were Trump's most explicit on the matter to date. He previously has alluded to death for drug dealers by noting that some countries are "very harsh" with drug dealers. Trump also has said he knows the answer to the drug crisis, but he isn't sure the country is "ready for it yet."

   In remarks Thursday at a White House summit on the opioid epidemic, Trump said drug dealers and pushers kill hundreds of people but that that most don't go to jail.

   "You know, if you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty. These people can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them," he said, referring to drug dealers.

   "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty. And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do," Trump continued. "So we're going to have to be very strong on penalties."

   Trump also held out the possibility of initiating federal lawsuits against opioid makers and distributors. He also said his administration will be "rolling out a policy" on opioids in the coming weeks that will be "very, very strong." Neither he nor his aides provided any details.

   Trump said he had spoken with Attorney General Jeff Sessions about suing opioid makers. Sessions announced this week that the Justice Department will support local officials in hundreds of lawsuits against opioid makers and distributors.

   Addressing potential federal litigation, Trump said: "I think it's very important because a lot of states are doing it, but I keep saying, if states are doing it, 'Why isn't the federal government doing it?' So that will happen. So that will happen."

   Trump's wife, Melania, opened the summit. She said many people are grieving loved ones lost to the opioid crisis and "we need to change that."

   She read from a letter from Betty Henderson, a Florida woman who lost her 29-year-old son, Billy, to drugs last September. Henderson appealed to Mrs. Trump for help "in claiming these lost souls before drugs take them from this earth."

   Opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl, killed more than 42,000 people in this country in 2016, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump has declared that fighting the opioid epidemic is a priority for the administration but critics say the effort has fallen short.

   Trump in the past has addressed the issue of tough penalties for drug dealers and pushers.

   In January, Trump said: "We've never had a problem with drugs like we do, whether it's opioid or drugs in the traditional sense. It's never been like it is.

   "And we are going to do everything we can. It's a very difficult situation, difficult for many countries," Trump said. "Not so difficult for some, believe it or not. They take it very seriously and they're very harsh. And those are the ones that have much less difficulty. "

   Trump raised the issue later that month as he signed legislation giving Customs and Border Protection agents new resources to stop the illicit drug flow. He suggested that he'd like to take a more aggressive approach to the drug crisis — but said the country isn't ready for what he has in mind.

   "So we're going to sign this. And it's a step. And it feels like a very giant step, but unfortunately it's not going to be a giant step, because no matter what you do, this is something that keeps pouring in," he said.

   "And we're going to find the answer. There is an answer. I think I actually know the answer, but I'm not sure the country's ready for it yet," he added. "Does anybody know what I mean? I think so."

   Return to headline | Return to top

4. President Trump suggests executing drug dealers at summit on opioid crisis

   Mar 2, 2018 | Washington Post

   By Katie Zezima

   President Trump suggested that executing drug dealers could help solve the opioid crisis during a White House summit Thursday, an event the administration billed as a way to measure its progress in combating the nation’s drug problem.

   “Some countries have a very tough penalty, the ultimate penalty, and they have much less of a drug problem than we do,” Trump said.

   Trump also said that the administration will roll out unspecified “strong” policies on opioids over the next three weeks. He said he has spoken to Attorney General Jeff Sessions about “bringing a lawsuit against some of these opioid companies.”

   White House officials said that the administration is considering whether to make trafficking large quantities of fentanyl a capital crime because of the drug’s potential to kill so many.

   “If you shoot one person, you get life in prison,” Trump said. “These people kill 1,000, 2,000 people, and nothing happens to them.”

   Trump’s statements came at the end of a two-hour summit on opioid addiction, in which Cabinet secretaries talked about combating the nation’s opioid epidemic with treatment programs and law enforcement officials discussed efforts to disrupt the supply chain for heroin and fentanyl in Mexico and China.

   Trump’s emphasis on criminal penalties stands in contrast to the focus on treatment by some of his Cabinet secretaries and many fighting the epidemic nationwide.

   Other members of the administration have expressed interest in more-punitive measures: Sessions has directed his prosecutors to pursue the harshest penalties possible in drug cases.

   A White House official said Trump has privately expressed interest in Singapore’s policy of executing drug dealers. He also has endorsed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose “drug war” has led to the deaths of thousands of people by extrajudicial police killings. Last year, Trump praised Duterte in a phone call for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem,” according to the New York Times.

   Trump’s comments alarmed some who work in public health.

   “We’ve tried enforcement before and interdiction before for many years with the war on drugs, and it’s been completely unsuccessful,” said Andrew Saxon, a psychiatry professor at the University of Washington. “When it comes to the death penalty, I’m totally against it.”

   Trump declared the opioid epidemic a “health emergency” in October, but cities overwhelmed by the crisis have complained that there has been little action or money from Washington in the months since.

   During the summit, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the administration wants to expand medication-assisted treatment for people who are addicted to opioids and urged states to apply for Medicaid waivers to get people into treatment. Addiction, he said, is a medical issue that needs to be treated as such.

   “At HHS and across this administration, we know that we need to treat addiction as a medical challenge, not as a moral failing,” Azar said.

   Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen talked about efforts to disrupt overseas suppliers of heroin and fentanyl, including efforts to prosecute traffickers of any fentanyl-related substance and efforts to work with the governments of Mexico and China to cut off the supply chain. Neilsen said that only about two pounds of illicit fentanyl were seized by Customs and Border Protection in 2013; in 2017, the agency interdicted 1,485 pounds of fentanyl.

   The summit sought to highlight how addiction has become a personal issue for millions in the country, including some in the administration. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams talked about visiting his brother who suffered from addiction in prison. Jim Carroll, who was just named deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said he has a family member who has struggled with addiction.

   Kathleen O’Connor, director of public policy for the treatment advocacy nonprofit group Shatterproof, said she is heartened by the administration’s efforts to combat the opioid crisis. Trump interacted with families at the summit in a compelling way, she said, that shows his attention to the issue.

   “I think the administration is obviously making a very concerted effort,” she said. “I was heartened to hear that at least the agencies are focused on solutions.”

   The Justice Department on Tuesday said it would file a statement of interest in hundreds of lawsuits against drug companies brought by cities, counties and medical institutions seeking reimbursement for the cost of the drug crisis. Sessions said the Justice Department would seek repayment as well, arguing that the federal government has borne substantial costs.

   On Thursday, Sessions directed the Drug Enforcement Administration to consider reducing the number of opioids manufactured in the United States.

   But the administration did not specify what its upcoming policy initiatives will be and how it plans to implement recommendations made by an opioid task force.

   “While I appreciate that the Trump Administration is continuing to raise awareness about the devastating fentanyl, heroin, and opioid crisis with today’s White House Opioid Summit, what we really need is meaningful action, not just more words,” Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) said in a statement.

   Return to headline | Return to top

5. Trump brings up death penalty for drug dealers, suing drug companies at opioids summit

   Mar 1, 2018 | CBS News

   By Staff

   President Trump made an unexpected appearance at a White House summit on the opioid crisis Thursday afternoon, floating penalties for "opioid companies" and tougher punishments for drug dealers, noting that some countries have the "ultimate penalty."

   "The administration's gonna' be rolling out policy over the next three weeks and it'll be very, very strong," the president said. "I've also spoken with Jeff (Sessions) about bringing a lawsuit against some of these opioid companies. I mean, what they're doing and the way, the distribution. You have people who go to the hospital with a broken arm and the come out addicted. They're addicted to painkillers, and they don't even know what happened."

   "So we're going to very much, you know, as you know, I think we've been more involved than any administration by far. It's a problem that's growing. And drugs are a similar but different problem in the sense that we have pushers, and we have drug dealers that don't — I mean, they kill hundreds and hundreds of people. And most of them don't even go to jail. You know, if you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty. These people can kill 2,000, 3000 people, and nothing happen to them. And we need strength with respect to the pushers and to the drug dealers. And if you don't do that, you're never going to solve the problem."

   "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty, the ultimate penalty," the president said. "And by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do. So we're going to have to be very strong on penalties. Hopefully we can do some litigation against the opioid companies." 

   The president's comments came just after the West Virginia attorney general announced a lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in an effort to decrease opioid prescriptions in the U.S. 

   The president ignored shouted questions as to whether he has confidence in his attorney general. 

   Return to headline | Return to top

6. Trump says federal government lawsuit against drug companies over opioid crisis 'will happen'

   Mar 1, 2018 | CNBC

   By Dan Mangan

   President Donald Trump said Thursday that the federal government will follow the example set by states and cities and begin suing drug companies and distributors for their role in the opioid epidemic.

   "I keep saying, 'If the states are doing it, why isn't the federal government doing it?'" Trump said during a surprise appearance at the White House's opioid summit.

    "So, that will happen," Trump said. "That will happen."

    The president said he has already spoken to Attorney General Jeff Sessions about taking such federal action against the makers of prescription painkillers.

    About 62,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016, with most of those cases related to either prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

    The negative economic effect of the opioid crisis recently was estimated to be more than $1 trillion from 2001 through last year, primarily from a loss in earnings and productivity from victims of fatal ODs.

    Trump also said Thursday that the U.S. needs to get tough with drug dealers.

    He said other countries which impose the death penalty for illegal drug selling have fewer problems with drug abuse than the U.S.

    If the federal government actually does sue opioid manufacturers, it would be going significantly further than an action announced Tuesday.

    Sessions that day revealed that the Justice Department would be filinga so-called statement of interest in hundreds of lawsuits that states and municipalities and Native American tribes already have pending against opioid makers.

    The lawsuits, which claim that drugmakers, distributors and dispensers misled customers about the risks of addiction from opioids, have been consolidated in an action pending in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. The company defendants in the pending lawsuits have either publicly denied the allegations in statements to the media, or have declined to comment.

    But "the statement of interest does not make the government party to the lawsuit," attorney Jesse Gessin told NBC News for a story published Thursday.

    Gessin was one of several lawyers quoted by NBC who were skeptical that the Trump administration will get aggressive with drug companies over the issue.

   Return to headline | Return to top

7. Trump praises countries with death penalty for drug dealers at opioids summit

   Mar 1, 2018 | NBC News

   By Ali Vitali

   President Donald Trump on Thursday praised countries that impose "the ultimate penalty" on drug traffickers, suggesting that harsher punishments for "drug pushers and drug dealers" would help combat America's opioid crisis.

   President Donald Trump on Thursday praised countries that impose "the ultimate penalty" on drug traffickers, suggesting that harsher punishments for "drug pushers and drug dealers" would help combat America's opioid crisis.

   "And, by the way, [those countries] have much less of a drug problem than we do," he said in remarks at a White House summit on the epidemic. "So we’re going to have to be very strong on penalties."

   The president's comments come several days after Axios reported that Trump talks privately about executing drug dealers, like Singapore and the Philippines do. NBC News has not independently confirmed the report.

   Addressing the group Thursday, which included Attorney General Jeff Sessions as well as families and individuals affected by the opioid epidemic, Trump promised action from his administration "over the next three weeks."

   He also said that he'd spoken to "Jeff" about wanting to bring lawsuits against some opioid manufacturers, saying the companies were responsible for killing thousands of people, but had not been punished for it.

   Trump's interaction with his attorney general at the summit was notable, given that the day before, he called Session's handling of a Justice Department inquiry into Republican allegations of surveillance abuses by the FBI "disgraceful." Trump's Twitter attack, the latest in a series of public critiques the president has levied against the nation's top law enforcement officer, prompted Sessions to defend himself in a rare statement.

   During Thursday's press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked if Trump had any plans to remove his attorney general.

   "Not that I know of," she said.

   Trump has repeatedly said that combating the opioid crisis is a priority for his administration. He declared it a national public health emergency in October of last year.

   "As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue," Trump said at the time. "It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction."

   But advocates pushing the president to make good on his promise have said that so far, his administration's efforts, like Sessions' recent "statement of interest" in supporting local governments that go after manufacturers, are likely to fall short. 

   Return to headline | Return to top

8. Trump Says Administration Working On 'Very Very Strong' Policies To Combat Opioids

   Mar 1, 2018 | NPR

   By Brian Naylor

   The White House convened a summit on the opioid epidemic Thursday, where first lady Melania Trump said she is proud of the what the administration has already accomplished on the issue, but that "we all know there is much work still to be done."

   Although he had not been expected to participate, President Trump briefly joined the event.

   After introducing a personal friend who lost a son to drugs, the president addressed his administration's plans for battling the opioid epidemic. "The administration is going to be rolling out policy over the next three weeks, and it will be very, very strong," Trump said. I've also spoken with [Attorney General] Jeff [Sessions] about bringing a lawsuit against some of these opioid companies."

   Since President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency last October, advocates and members of Congress have complained they haven't seen much action and have struggled to get information about what the administration has been doing.

   White House officials insist the administration has been hard at work, and that's what Thursday's opioid summit was all about. It featured Cabinet members, along with Mrs. Trump and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.

   The summit was intended to "highlight the progress the Administration has made to combat drug demand and the opioid crisis," a White House official said in a statement.

   In 2016, the most recent year for which data are available, opioid-related overdoses killed more than 42,000 Americans. That's an average of 115 deaths every day.

   Last November, the president's commission on opioids released a lengthy set of recommendations, and most remain a work in progress or unaddressed altogether.

   Several advocates NPR contacted ahead of the summit said they hadn't seen as much action as they had hoped, especially in the area of making quality, scientifically sound treatment options more readily available.

   In recent weeks there has been some movement, with a congressional budget agreement pledging to add several billion dollars to combat the crisis and the Department of Justice announcing it would work with states that are suing drug manufacturers.

   Still, the advocates said that is far short of what they had hoped when Trump declared an emergency, and they said they were interested to see what new information they could learn from the White House summit.

   Panels planned for Thursday's event included a discussion of prevention, treatment and recovery with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. David Shulkin and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson. A discussion of law enforcement and drug interdiction efforts with Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions was also planned.

   Also on the agenda: a question-and-answer session with Jim Carroll, the recently named acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. President Trump has also nominated Carroll to permanently hold the position of "drug czar." Trump's first nominee was forced to withdraw. Carroll is a lawyer who has extensive government and private sector experience but hasn't done any work in the public health arena.

   Other administration officials were expected to attend as well as about 200 advocates and others directly connected to the opioid crisis. There were some well-known names among them, including former congresswoman Mary Bono, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi who was a member of the president's opioid commission, the first lady of North Dakota Kathryn Helgaas Burgum who is herself recovering from opioid addiction and former Fox News personality Eric Bolling whose son died of an opioid overdose.

   "It's a problem that's growing," the president also said while speaking to those at the summit Thursday. "And drugs are a similar but different problem," Trump also said, "in the sense that we have pushers and we have drug dealers that don't — I mean, they kill hundreds and hundreds of people, and most of them don't even go to jail."

   "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty [for drug dealers]," Trump also said. "And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do. So we're going to have to be very strong on penalties."

   Speaking before to NPR before the start of the event, the nation's top doctor said he was a mission to raise awareness about the epidemic. "We want America to understand this is a problem," Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in an interview that aired Thursday on Morning Edition. "The majority of the public does not see the opioid epidemic as rising to the level of an emergency, so it's important that we continue to say at the highest levels, this is a problem in all communities and it's getting worse."

   But he added he also wants Americans to have hope. "The administration has prioritized the issue and is implementing strategies around saving lives, lowering demand and lowering supply," said Adams.

   Return to headline | Return to top

9. The Health 202: HHS chief pushes Trump opioid commission's top recommendation

   Mar 2, 2018 | The Washington Post

   By Paige Winfield Cunningham

   President Trump’s top health official wants everyone to know that he is pushing forward with a key recommendation for helping states combat the opioid epidemic.

   Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said yesterday at a White House summit on opioids that he’s willing to exempt more state Medicaid programs from a long-standing restriction that severely limits where those struggling with addiction may get treatment – all states have to do is ask, he said.

   “We’re open for business,” Azar said, speaking in the East Room of the White House, where top Trump administration officials spent several hours Thursday afternoon touting their strategies for combating the national plague of drug abuse and overdose.

   Although President Trump has been heavily criticized over the past several months for doing little about opioid addiction — despite declaring it a public health emergency in October — the administration has sought to change that narrative in recent weeks.

   Trump’s budget proposed an additional $13 million to expand addiction treatment, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new opioids task force this week and Azar said he told state governors at their meeting last weekend that he is prioritizing Medicaid “waivers,” making it easier for states to provide substance abuse treatment.

   There are several levers these waivers can pull to expand treatment, but a chief way is through removing what’s known as the “IMD exclusion” — a federal law banning facilities with more than 16 beds from providing substance abuse treatment.

   Treatment advocates, governors and medical providers have lobbied heavily to remove this exclusion, which has been in place since the Medicaid program was created half a century ago. Back then, there was a big push to deinstitutionalize mental-health patients in favor of integrating them into communities.

   Trump’s opioid commission, led by former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R), last August identified removing the IMD exclusion as the top way to make treatment available to patients immediately. “This is the single fastest way to increase treatment availability across the nation,” the report said.

   Azar is apparently taking that recommendation to heart. While he can’t permanently reverse the policy, since it’s written into law, he can excuse states from it. He said HHS has granted five states such waivers – including West Virginia and Kentucky, two states with huge rates of addiction — and he wants to see many more apply.

   “I berated the governors, saying, 'Why have we gotten only five of these [waiver requests] so far?' ” Azar joked yesterday.

   Azar said he even encouraged governors who are seeking multiple changes to Medicaid to separate out their request for ducking the IMD exclusion — that way, the agency could expedite it and start expanding access to treatment sooner.

   “I’m hoping we’ll see a faster clip,” Azar said. “We can handle those quite quickly.”

   The Post's Katie Zezima watched the summit: 

   Azar appears to be striving overall to remake HHS’s image as an agency grounded in research and evidence-based practices, after it was criticized in recent months for appearing to censor certain language. Multiple times in the past few weeks, he has emphasized viewing those addicted to opioids not as morally corrupt but as people in need of medical help.

   “We need to treat addiction as a medical challenge, not as moral failing,” Azar said.

   Azar’s emphasis on medication-assisted treatment for opioid abuse also stands in stark contrast to Trump, his boss, who typically focuses heavily on law enforcement whenever he’s addressing the epidemic. That’s the approach Trump took yesterday, telling summit attendees that cracking down on drug dealers is a key to solving the problem — and even suggesting that imposing the death penalty on them would be helpful.

   “Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty,” the president said. “And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do. So, we’re going to have to be very strong on penalties.”

   Trump added that he planned to roll out additional policies in the coming weeks to address the crisis. And the White House is considering whether to make trafficking in fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times more deadly than heroin, a capital crime, per my colleague Katie Zezima.

   “If you shoot one person, you get life in prison,” Trump said. “These people kill 1,000, 2,000 people, and nothing happens to them.”

   Trump tweeted this morning in support of Eric Bolling, who spoke at the summit about his 19-year-old son who overdosed last year. Bolling was ousted by Fox News in September following allegations of sexual misconduct: 

   Return to headline | Return to top

White House Opioid Summit Cont'd

MDL

10. 'Revolving Door' At DEA Faces Scrutiny In Opioid MDL

    Mar 1, 2018 | Law360

    By Jeff Overley

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s resistance to divulging information about opioid sales as part of multidistrict litigation is generating fresh scrutiny of its “revolving door” relationship with drug companies and law firms.

    The DEA’s opposition has spilled into public view as plaintiffs lawyers in the opioid MDL seek access to a massive government database with information from drug companies about painkiller sales. Citing trade secrets and other issues, the DEA has so far been willing to divulge only two years of data, but U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is pressing the agency to cough up nearly a decade of information.
    
    Now the dispute is on Congress’ radar. At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday regarding the opioid epidemic, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., grilled Susan Gibson, a top official in the DEA’s drug diversion office, over the issue.

    Video Link:  https://www.law360.com/articles/1016196/-revolving-door-at-dea-faces-scrutiny-in-opioid-mdl
     

    “You said you’re committed to combating the epidemic,” Castor told Gibson, “and I would think DEA’s full compliance with the district court judge’s request for information would go a long way to doing that.”

    
    Castor added: “There’s been a lot of criticism about the DEA and the revolving door between the DEA and drug companies and manufacturers.”
    
    Gibson responded by saying that DEA officials “have to protect business proprietary information” and are looking for a way to do so. She promised to follow up with Castor about ethical restrictions for DEA staffers who leave to work for drug companies as lawyers or internal employees.
    
    The opioid MDL involves hundreds of cases brought mainly by local governments against drug companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis through negligent marketing and distribution of painkillers. Access to the database, known as ARCOS, would affect which companies are sued and how damages are allocated, among other things.
    
    Peter Mougey, a Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor PA attorney who represents the local governments and has been involved in the database negotiations, told Law360 that Castor “hit the nail on the head when she ... asked about the revolving door.”
    
    “This repetitive cycle leaves our regulators in a conflicted mess. … There is no question the revolving door is [a] significant part of the problem,” Mougey said.
    
    Mougey added that one of the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys involved in the database negotiations previously worked at a BigLaw firm that represents drugmakers.
    
    “Is he going to release the ARCOS data while [with] the DOJ knowing he may one day soon be looking for a gig with a law firm [that] represents the pharmaceutical industry?” Mougey asked.
    
    A DEA spokesman on Thursday declined to comment on the revolving door issue or provide an update on the database negotiations. The DEA is expected to supply an update in Ohio federal court by Monday.
    
    A Washington Post article in 2016 said that drug companies and law firms that represent them hired more than 40 DEA officials over the prior decade, mostly from the drug diversion office. The article questioned whether some of the hires were part of a strategy to thin the DEA’s ranks of top talent. Drug companies defended the hires, saying that they needed government experts to improve compliance.
    
    The Trump administration has been criticized by many observers for not acting aggressively on the opioid crisis. But the administration has stepped up its efforts in recent days, including on Thursday, when some notable announcements emerged.
    
    For one, President Donald Trump on Thursday held an opioid summit at the White House and promised action, including potential litigation led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
    
    “The administration is going to be rolling out policy over the next three weeks, and it will be very, very strong,” Trump said. “I've also spoken with Jeff about bringing a lawsuit against some of these opioid companies.”

    “Hopefully, we can do some litigation against the opioid companies,” Trump added.
    
    On a related note, the DOJ late Thursday filed a so-called statement of interest in the MDL. The statement asked that the DOJ be given 30 days "to evaluate whether to participate in these proceedings at this stage."
    
    Also on Thursday, Sessions ordered the DEA to consider changing its approach for setting the annual caps, or “quotas,” on opioid manufacturing.
    
    “We need DEA to act quickly to determine if changes are needed,” Sessions said in a memo to the DEA’s acting administrator.
    
    West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who challenged the caps in December at the D.C. Circuit, hailed that directive on Thursday.
    
    “The DEA’s quota system is fundamentally broken,” Morrisey said in a statement. “For far too long, it served the industry’s wants, instead of the patients’ needs.”
    

    Return to headline | Return to top

11. Details Emerge On DEA Data Release In Opioid MDL

    Mar 1, 2018 | Law360

    By Rachel Graf

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will divulge two years of information about drugmakers that sold the vast majority of opioids in every state, an Ohio federal judge presiding over multidistrict litigation said Thursday.\

    U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, in an order summarizing a hearing this week, said that the DEA will provide plaintiffs lawyers with the identities of drug manufacturers that sold 95 percent of opioids in every state for 2012 and 2013.
    
    In addition, the DEA is seeking authorization to identify drug manufacturers, as well as distributors, that sold 95 percent of opioids in each state for the 2006-2014 time period, Judge Polster reported. By Monday, the DEA is expected to tell the court whether it has received that authorization and how long it will need to produce any information.
    
    The 2006-2014 data may detail the “aggregate amount of pills sold and the market shares of each manufacturer and distributor on a state-by-state basis,” Thursday’s order said.
    
    The DEA has come under criticism for resisting broad disclosure. A congressional hearing on Wednesday called attention to the “revolving door” in which attorneys and experts cycle between positions at the DEA, drug companies and law firms.
    
    The DEA and lawyers for local governments have also battled over the terms of a protective order to keep the information under wraps. The parties on Friday are expected to file a protective order on which they agree.
    
    After the protective order is in place, the DEA will start by producing the 2012 and 2013 data for Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida and Alabama, according to Thursday’s order.
    
    The data is important to the MDL because it could affect which companies are brought into the litigation and how damages are allocated among cities and counties.
    
    At issue is the extent to which the attorneys can access a federal database known as ARCOS that contains a trove of information about sales of prescription painkillers — including what drugs were sold, where and when.
    
    The hundreds of lawsuits consolidated in the MDL allege that the makers of opioid pain medication overstated the drugs’ benefits and downplayed their risks while marketing them to doctors. Some suits are brought against drug distributors, which the governments say failed to monitor and report suspicious drug orders.
    
    Representatives of the parties didn’t respond Thursday to requests for comment.
    
    The case is In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, case number 1:17-md-02804, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
    

    Return to headline | Return to top

Commentary and FYIs

12. Justice Department hasn't decided whether to participate in opioid litigation

    Mar 2, 2018 | Cleveland.com (OH)

    By Eric Heisig

    As U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised, the Justice Department on Thursday evening filed a "statement of interest" in the swath of lawsuits being heard in Cleveland that accuse drug manufacturers and distributors of heavily contributing to the nation's opioid epidemic.

    But instead of a display of force and support for the local and state governments that allege the drug companies caused the addiction problems, the Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Dan Polster for 30 days to decide whether it wants to intervene right now.

    The statement of interest noted that the federal government has borne substantial costs because of the opioid epidemic, while at the same time the Justice Department has taken steps to combat the problem.

    Polster is presiding over hundreds of lawsuits filed by local governments across the country, including by Cuyahoga County, Cincinnati and other Ohio cities and counties.

    The lawsuits say drug manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma overstated the benefits and downplayed the risks of addiction when treating pain with opioids, and that distributors failed to properly monitor suspicious orders of prescription painkillers.

    Polster has pushed for a global settlement that would address all the lawsuits filed nationwide, including those not in his courtroom, and said the goal is to put money toward reducing the number of pills on the street. Another round of settlement talks is set for March 6 in Cleveland.

    Sessions announced that he would file the statement of interest during a news conference Tuesday. By his side were seven state attorneys general, including Ohio's Mike DeWine, a Republican who has made the state's painkiller problem a key issue on his campaign for governor.

    DeWine on Tuesday called the Justice Department's then-intent to file a statement of interest "a game changer" and "very, very significant."

    But as of Thursday evening, the Justice Department wrote that it had not made up its mind on whether to participate.

    The nine-page court filing notes that the federal government has incurred "substantial costs" because of the nation's painkiller problem and that the president's Council on Economic Advisors estimated that the epidemic's economic cost in 2015 was $504 billion. A lot of that money went to treating opioid addicts, the Justice Department says.

    The statement also notes that it has taken a number of steps to address the problem, including through criminal investigations and prosecutions and grants to law enforcement and public health agencies.

    It also mentions Sessions' announcements Tuesday that he had hired a federal prosecutor to serve as the Justice Department's director of opioid enforcement and prevention efforts and the creation of the Prescription Interdiction and Litigation Task Force.

    "Among its responsibilities, the PIL Task Force is 'directed ... to examine existing state and local government lawsuits against opioid manufacturers to determine what assistance, if any, federal law can provide in those lawsuits.'," the statement of interest says.

    The Justice Department's noncommittal on whether to join the opioid litigation comes on the same day President Donald Trump noted at an opioid summit held at the White House that he has spoken to his attorney general about suing drug companies.

    "I mean, what they're doing and the way -- the distribution," the president said. "And you have people that go to the hospital with a broken arm, and they come out and they're addicted. They're addicted to painkillers, and they don't even know what happened. They go in for something minor, and they come out and they're in serious shape."

    It also comes as the Justice Department must also decide whether to release nine years of prescription transaction data kept by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to the local governments suing the drug companies.

    Attorneys for local governments want the data so they can find out which companies moved large amounts of prescription opioids to certain parts of the country.

    The amount of data Polster proposed having the DEA hand over to the local governments is more than the Justice Department, citing ongoing criminal investigations and confidentiality issues, previously indicated it was willing to release. The judge ordered the Justice Department to inform him by Monday whether it would agree to his proposal.

    Return to headline | Return to top

13. Kentucky could become the first state to tax opioid prescriptions

    Mar 2, 2018 | STAT News

    By Andrew Joseph

    Lawmakers in Kentucky are weighing whether to impose a new tax on opioid prescriptions, the latest effort in a string of so-far failed attempts to pull new revenue from the painkillers that helped seed a nationwide addiction crisis.

    The proposed tax — a 25-cent levy on drug distributors for every dose sent to the state — was approved by the Kentucky House Thursday as part of a broader budget and tax plan. But unlike in other states, where lawmakers aimed to steer the new revenue to addiction treatment and education programs, the Kentucky plan, if enacted, would direct the money to fill budget gaps elsewhere, including boosting funding for the state’s public schools.

    Still, the measure’s backers said that it could decrease the amount of pills coming into the state, which is among the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic.

    “We hope that pain pills will quit being dumped into this state at the level that they are,” said state Rep. Steven Rudy, a Republican who leads the House’s budget committee, according to WKYT.

    The tax plan also includes an increase in the cigarette tax.

    Around the country, state and local officials have been ramping up their attacks on the players involved in supplying painkillers to people, from drug makers to pharmacy benefit managers to drug distributors. Dozens of cities, counties, and states have sued such companies, alleging that they flooded communities with painkillers that laid the groundwork for the addiction crisis, even as nonprescription opioids like heroin and illicit fentanyl are increasingly responsible for overdoses.

    But no state has enacted a specific tax on prescription painkillers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, despite plans being introduced in a dozen states. Some of the proposals, including those in California, Iowa, and New York, are still under consideration.

    Some of the plans stipulated that at least some of the revenue raised would go to fighting addiction. Bills in Alaska, Tennessee, Minnesota, and other states, for example, would or would have created treatment and education programs and funded drug courts.

    A 2017 bill in Kentucky would have also created a new opioid tax — funding, among other initiatives, treatment programs for babies born dependent on opioids — but it failed to pass, according to the NCSL.

    Critics of such measures, including industry trade associations, have called them regressive and warned that they could force patients to go without their medications. In a statement Thursday, the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, which represents drug distributors, said that “if a regressive tax is imposed on any product, particularly a healthcare product, it will limit the ability for legitimate patients to access the medicines they require for the treatment of chronic pain or palliative care.”

    The Kentucky tax plan now moves to the state Senate, where it could be changed or rejected.

    Return to headline | Return to top

14. Clallam morally bankrupt to sue drug manufacturers

    Mar 2, 2018 | Peninsula Daily News (WA)

    By David Benzick

    Clallam county suing drug manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications is the height of moral bankruptcy (“Clallam County to file suit against opioid firms,” PDN, Feb. 15).

    Opioid medications are produced and distributed for legitimate medical purposes and many of this paper’s readership have legally availed themselves of these medications to successfully control acute pain while recovering from injury or surgery.

    Responsible doctors and paramedics depend on the availability of opioid medications for low-cost relief of severe, acute pain suffered by their patients, allowing for initial extrication at the emergency site, treatment and diagnostic procedures, hours-long transport to specialty centers for definitive care and successful post-surgical recovery.

    The abuse of these medications originates not during the production and distribution phases but through irresponsible or even criminal prescription of the medications, criminal theft or diversion and end-user profiteering.

    In their greed for easy money, the Clallam County commissioners have chosen to accept the temptation offered by litigators behaving as high-end ambulance chasers.

    The commissioners hope to fleece legitimate businesses, misdirecting blame, increasing medication costs and decreasing drug availability all the while making no impact on the root causes of opioid abuse.

    I expect this kind of behavior from Commissioners Ozias and Johnson and am ashamed to have voted for Peach.

    Return to headline | Return to top

15. Despite Opioid Lawsuits, Drug Companies Will Still Come Out on Top (Opinion)

    Mar 1, 2018 | CityWatch

    By Morgan Statt

    THE POWER OF BIG PHARMA-The opioid epidemic has left no part of the country untouched, yet California can be considered one of the luckier states. Close to 115 Americans die each day of an opioid-related overdose, but California’s death rates have begun to taper off. Public experts surmise that a diverse demographic makeup and the type of heroin available in the area have contributed to the stabilization. But, this is only one barely shining light at the end of a long tunnel. 

    California is also one of several states whose local communities and counties have filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for deceptive marketing and other sales tactics that led to the rise of the opioid crisis. One out-of-state lawsuit has even named a Los Angeles drug ring in the allegations, citing that Purdue Pharma knew its drugs were being diverted and illegally distributed. 

    The sad news is that this type of lawsuit is nothing new to the pharmaceutical industry. More often than not, these massive corporations view any courtroom action as just the “cost of doing business” -- look no further than the industry’s extensive history of litigation.  

    With this understanding in mind, any opioid lawsuit settlements that side in favor of the plaintiffs may be just a temporary fix to the overarching problems within the pharmaceutical industry that contribute to America’s healthcare issues. Before we can begin to make any real progress, it’s time we address two major issues of Big Pharma that often allow them to have the upper hand time and time again. 

    For one, drug companies are allowed to fund their own clinical trials. Typically, this sponsorship comes from independent entities such as the National Institute of Health. But over the past decade, this source has decreased dramatically, paving the way for industry-sponsored studies to become a regular occurrence. With financial interest in a trial’s outcome, drug companies can often prioritize the positive results of a medication while downplaying a drug’s potential side effects. 

    This was the case with anticoagulant Xarelto’s clinical trial ROCKET AF.  Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson revealed that a faulty blood-testing device caused trial patients to receive an overdose of traditional blood thinner warfarin, thus making it appear that Xarelto was a safer and more effective anticoagulant. When it was time for the drug to go through the FDA’s approval process, investigators at the British Medical Journal discovered that Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical subsidiary withheld data from the agency that would have indicated this faulty monitoring. Under the guise that the trial results were accurate, the FDA approved the blood thinner without an antidote. Since its introduction however, the medication has caused numerous internal bleeding incidents and other life-threatening side effects. 

    Xarelto is still on the market today with a black box warning for possible reactions that include severe internal bleeding complications and even death, but there is one thing that unites the issue of clinical trials with the ongoing opioid crisis. Like the cities and states that have joined together in the opioid lawsuits, thousands of consumers are now filing claims against Xarelto’s manufacturer for the harm it has caused after the medication was approved. 

    Then, there’s the issue of lobbying that plays a major role in the successes of Big Pharma. In the past decade, the pharmaceutical/health industry spent roughly $2.5 billion in lobbying and the funding of specific Congressional members, more than any other industry in the country. 

    With deep pockets and the ability to influence key members of Congress, drug companies have engaged in multiple efforts to curb legislation focused on ending the opioid epidemic. In the spring of 2016, for example, Congress passed the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act which stripped the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of its ability to halt the suspected illegal distribution of painkillers. Political action committees represented by pharmaceutical companies spent $1.5 million in lobbying efforts directed towards the 23 Congress members who supported the bill. 

    In another example of actions that halted opioid crisis initiatives, the pharmaceutical industry-funded group Pain Care Forum spent approximately $740 million in lobbying that tabled legislative efforts to put a limit on opioid prescriptions. 

    Once again, seemingly endless funds available to Big Pharma contribute to the industry’s ability to have the upper hand in so many facets of healthcare. 

    California is certainly doing its part to end the opioid crisis. One of the latest initiatives in the state aims to pay drug users to test their dope for the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl that has caused numerous overdoses. But, there’s one thing to be mindful of as we strive to overcome the public health emergency. The pharmaceutical industry holds incredible influence, and it may take more than just lawsuits and patient-focused initiatives to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

    Return to headline | Return to top

Midwest (IN, IL, MI)

16. West Lafayette Joins Nationwide Wave Of Lawsuits Against Opioid Makers

    Mar 1, 2018 | WBAA (IN)

    By Charlotte Tuggle

    West Lafayette is gearing up to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors – joining a long list of U.S. cities going after painkiller producers in the courtroom.

    More than a dozen manufacturers are to be named in the lawsuit, including Johnson & Johnson, Allergan and Purdue Pharma. They’re some of the companies responsible for such drugs as Norco and Oxycontin. The city will allege those companies, in its words, “deceptively marketed” opioids.

    Opiate distributors will also be named in the lawsuit, alleging those parties failed to report and stop high-quantity orders.

    West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis says the epidemic has hurt the city financially.

    “Specifically, when you look at emergency runs by police departments, emergency runs by fire departments, ambulance services, and the resources that are used in the event somebody suffers an unfortunate overdose from an opioid exposure,” Dennis says. “That costs us money. That’s taxpayers’ dollars.”

    On paper, reparations for those costs would be sought. But Dennis says the primary goal is to draw attention to the opioid crisis.

    “Sometimes, litigation does more because of who’s involved, the number of people involved, and the issue particularly at stake,” Dennis say. “Like in this case, it’s what happened to folks who have been horribly and irrevocably addicted to opioids – what’s happened to their lives and what’s happened to communities.”

    Scott County and the cities of Lafayette and Indianapolis are among others in Indiana who have filed suit against drug makers.

    Return to headline | Return to top

17. West Lafayette mayor sues 10 opioid manufacturers and 3 distributors

    Mar 1, 2018 | The Exponent (IN)

    By Staff

    The city of West Lafayette is pursuing litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors for their part in causing the opioid crisis that has gripped communities around the nation, according to a press release. 

    Mayor John Dennis hired Cohen & Malad, LLP for the possible suit.

    The lawsuit will seek to recover funds to address the financial burden that the opioid crisis has placed on the city. Emergency room treatments in Tippecanoe County for non-fatal opioid overdoses jumped nearly 75 percent from 2011 to 2015, according to a press release. 

    "Those that have perpetrated this crisis have used their profits to expand their market and buy protection and influence at the highest levels," Dennis said in a press release. "All the while, families, schools, cities counties and states have been made into victims and forced to pay the price of this scourge.

    "This crisis has led to an overprescription of drugs, which has itself led directly to the drastic increase of heroin use throughout the nation," Dennis said. 

    The manufacturer defendants will be Cephalon Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Noramco, INc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Mallinkrodt PLC, Allergan PLC, Watson Pharmaceuticals and Purdue Pharma — which has no relation to Purdue University. 

    "The lawsuit will allege that these manufacturers deceptively marketed the appropriate uses, risks, and safety of opioids," according to a press release. 

    The opioid distributor defendants will be AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., and McKesson Corporation. 

    "The lawsuit will allege that these distributors failed in their duty to report and stop suspicious orders of opioids that flooded every community in our nation", according to a press release. 

    In Tippecanoe County, opioid prescriptions peaked at a point that 91 prescriptions were written per 100 residents, according to a press release. 

    Return to headline | Return to top

18. WEST LAFAYETTE WILL SUE OPIOID MANUFACTURERS AND DISTRIBUTORS

    Mar 1, 2018 | WLFI (IN)

    By Staff

    The city of West Lafayette announce on Thursday it plans to pursue litigation against ten opioid manufacturers and three distributors. Lafayette filed a similar lawsuit on November 29 of last year against opioid manufacturers and distributors for their part in causing the opioid crisis in Tippecanoe County.

    According to a press release, West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis has hired Cohen & Malad, LLP to pursue litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors for their part in causing the opioid crisis.

    The lawsuit will seek to recover funds to address the financial burden that the opioid crisis has placed on the city. The press release states from 2011 to 2015, emergency room treatments for non-fatal opioid overdoses jumped nearly 75 percent in Tippecanoe County.

    “Those that have perpetrated this crisis have used their profits to expand their market and buy protection and influence at the highest levels. All the while, families, schools, cities, counties and states have been made into victims and forced to pay the price of this scourge,” said West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis. “This crisis, which was a major topic of conversation in DC, has led to an overprescription of drugs, which has itself led directly to the drastic increase of heroin use throughout the nation.”

    The manufacturer defendants of the lawsuit will be Cephalon, Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Noramco, Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt PLC, Allergan PLC, Watson Pharmaceuticals and Purdue Pharma (no relation to Purdue University).

    The opioid distributor defendants named in the lawsuit will be AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., and McKesson Corporation.

    “West Lafayette is responding to the urgent needs of its community by pursuing legal action to hold opioid manufacturers and distributors accountable for their roles in creating this epidemic and rebuilding much-needed resources for its residents,” said Lynn Toops of Cohen & Malad, LLP.

    Return to headline | Return to top

19. Lawsuit filed against pharmaceutical companies over newborns addicted to opioids

    Mar 1, 2018 | KMOV (IL)

    By Rachel Sudduth

    A Class Action lawsuit was filed Wednesday in East St. Louis suing several pharmaceutical companies for their manufacturing of opioids.

    The lawsuit blames the manufacturing of this prescription drug for leading to several babies being born addicted to opioids.

    Within the lawsuit, details highlight one child born in March 2017. The baby’s mother was prescribed opioids for a broken ankle.

    This prescription lead to an addiction to opioids and then heroin, according to the lawsuit.

    The woman’s baby was born March 2017 at Alton Memorial Hospital with opioid withdrawals including excessive crying, refusing to feed, tremors and seizures. The condition is known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.

    Illinois Majority Senate Leader James Clayborne is backing this lawsuit.

    “Healthy babies spend 1-2 days in the hospital, these babies, innocent victims, spend at least 28 days in the hospital for treatment,” said St. Sen. James Clayborne Jr.

    Clayborne says the goal of this lawsuit is to hold the pharmaceutical companies responsible for the treatment and recovery of these babies.

    He does not want taxpayers to take on the treatment bills for these incidents.

    Return to headline | Return to top

20. Sanilac considers joining federal opioid lawsuit

    Mar 1, 2018 | The Times Herald (MI)

    By Jackie Smith

    Sanilac County may join more than two dozen other Michigan counties in ongoing federal opioid litigation.

    County board members got a rundown at their last meeting from a representative from one of three law firms working on the issue.

    Next Tuesday, county commissioners will consider paying to join the lawsuit to recoup past and future damages “caused by the culpable conduct of any and all pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and/or retailers of opioid” products.

    County Administrator Tara Griffith didn’t respond to questions via email or over the phone on the proposed action Thursday.

    Board Chairman Daniel Dean said the county had been approached by legal representatives about the lawsuit. Although he didn't think the impact of the opioid crisis may be too different from other areas, he said they thought it was important to see where it leads. 

    "The decision making of any liabilities that exist will come through the lawsuit itself," Dean said. "But if there's any liabilities determined, we want to seek out any expenses that have (been) incurred related to this epidemic."

    Mike Behm, of the Flint-based Behm and Behm Law Firm, told commissioners Feb. 20 that they had attained 26 counties so far, including Macomb, Saginaw and Genesee counties, as well as multiple smaller counties across the state and in the Upper Peninsula. 

    He cited origins of the opioid issue — namely Purdue Pharma, which began to produce and market OxyContin in 1999 — and traced it forward to the opioid crisis nationwide.

    Behm said Purdue has made billions by targeting several areas around the country. Michigan, he told Sanilac commissioners, is one of the top 10 states “where this influx of these drugs came.”

    For Sanilac County, the attorney also recounted prepared statistics — such as that from 2009 to 2015, opioids prescription per 100 Sanilac residents increased from 75 to 115.

    That meant, he said, there were 1.15 prescriptions per person in the county in 2015.

    Dean said he wouldn't be surprised if what was a 54 percent increase in that seven-year period has continued to rise. He also pointed to what they hear from first responders about the issue, as well as the number of related deaths as other examples of the impact.

    Jim Johnson, director of Sanilac County's Drug Task Force, said last month, that there was an increase in drug overdoses in 2017 at 13, including six deaths primarily from heroin, an opioid substance. 

    “It’s very effective, it does what everyone says it’s supposed to do. What they didn’t tell people is it’s extremely addictive,” Behm said of the opiates in OxyContin. “Many of us know if you have a knee surgery, or a tooth out or a back surgery … they give everyone 30 of them because that’s the prescription. Well, you don’t need 30.

    “One of the statistics that’s out there that’s very alarming is if someone takes one of these medications, namely OxyContin, for eight days — there’s 13 percent of the people that (if they) take it for eight days in a row, you can become severely addicted. So that’s the problem that we’ve seen.”

    In addition to Behm and Behm, the firms also involved are Michigan’s Sam Bernstein Law Firm and Weitz and Luxenberg P.C.

    There would be no cost to the county but a 30 percent contingency fee with all costs to be paid by the attorney and reimbursed if the litigation is successful, according to the retainer.

    Moving forward, Sanilac County officials have to figure out what costs have been incurred because of the opioid crisis.

    Behm said a good example was something as simple as the Narcan used by first responders to reverse the effects of an overdose.

    However, Dean said they may not need to get through that part of the "lengthy process" until any liability is determined. "It'll probably come down the road," he said. 

    In St. Clair County, Administrator Karry Hepting said a few board members had received a communication about the opioid litigation, which was forwarded to the county's corporate counsel for review.

    "At this point, our board is not taking any action," she said. 

    The Sanilac County board meets at 1 p.m. Tuesday. at 60 W. Sanilac Road in Sandusky.

    Return to headline | Return to top

Northeast (NY, PA)

21. Warren County files lawsuit against opioid makers

    Mar 1, 2018 | The Post Star (NY)

    By Don Lehman

    Warren County has filed a lawsuit against companies and people its lawyers blame for the opioid addiction epidemic, claiming that the county and local businesses have paid millions of dollars to counteract the crisis and that the county should be compensated.

    The 260-page lawsuit was filed last month in state Supreme Court in Warren County, naming 26 companies involved with the manufacture, distribution and marketing of prescription painkillers as well as four physicians who were on their payrolls as the drugs were developed.

    Some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, including Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Cephalon Inc., were named, but none of the defendants are based locally.

    The lawsuit does not cite specific losses for the county, but argues that the county paid for drugs that it shouldn’t have through Medicaid, and those drugs had wide-ranging addiction consequences, including criminal activity. The national medical industry alone has lost an estimated $72.5 billion to treat opioid addiction, according to the lawsuit.

    The increased use of opioid pankillers like Oxycontin, Fentanyl, hydrocodone and oxycodone has been blamed for heroin addiction, as pain-pill users moved to the illicit opioids when they couldn’t get, or afford, pills. The lawsuit claims heroin use doubled between 2007 and 2012 nationally, and overdose deaths rose accordingly.

    “Increased opioid use has fueled an illegal secondary market for narcotics and the criminals who support it,” the lawsuit reads.

    The lawsuit claims there was “deceptive” marketing that ignored reports of deaths and addiction as the number of opioid drug prescriptions rose by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2009, while use of over-the-counter medication declined.

    “Opioid prescriptions increased even as the percentage of patients visiting doctors for pain remained constant,” the lawsuit states.

    The lawsuit cites seven claims of actions, including deceptive marketing, false advertising, public nuisance, fraud, unjust enrichment, negligence and a violation of state Social Services law by concealing facts about opioids.

    No court date had been set, and the electronic court file did not show the case assigned yet to a specific judge.

    The companies and doctors linked to the opioid painkiller industry have been sued around the country in recent years. The New York City law firm the county hired, Napoli Shkolnick PLLC, told county supervisors last fall that it has won settlements in other parts of the country.

    The law firm will get 25 percent of whatever settlement it can negotiate, and will not get paid if it doesn’t win.

    Some county supervisors were reluctant to file the lawsuit, questioning what affect it will have on addiction issues. But proponents say the settlement can be used to help agencies that are interacting with addicts, including those involved in rehabilitation.

    Saratoga County filed a similar lawsuit last fall, while Washington County supervisors have been mulling litigation as well.

    Return to headline | Return to top

22. Cattaraugus County lawmakers set hearing on law declaring opioid epidemic a public nuisance

    Mar 1, 2018 | Olean Times Herald (NY)

    By Rick Miller

    Cattaraugus County lawmakers took the first step Wednesday toward joining a class-action lawsuit against drug companies for the marketing and overprescribing of opioid pain relievers.

    The County Legislature was unanimous in setting a public hearing on a proposed local law declaring the manufacturer, distribution and overprescribing of opioid drugs a public nuisance in Cattaraugus County.

    An amendment suggested by Legislator Joseph Snyder, R-Ischua, to add the word “overprescribing” to the local law was approved without comment.

    Snyder said in the Human Services Committee last week there were some cases in which opioid pain medication is appropriate. What has helped create the opioid addiction and caused opioid/heroin overdoses to climb was the misrepresentation of opioid drugs by drug companies.

    County Attorney Eric Firkel previously announced that a New York City firm, Napoli Scholnik, has been retained as outside counsel. The firm is also representing Niagara County and several other New York counties in a class-action lawsuit against the drug companies.

    The county’s measure is called “Local Law Declaring the Opioid Epidemic and Its Effects on Cattaraugus County A Public Nuisance and Establishing a Cost Recovery Procedure for the County’s Expenditures Incurred in Providing Services Related to the Opioid Epidemic.”

    The proposed law states: “This crisis has devastated families, wreaked havoc on our economy, and produced a generation of narcotic dependence. As a result of the opioid epidemic, costs related to healthcare, family and social services, criminal justice, addiction and rehabilitation and many other areas have significantly increased.”

    Prime sponsors are Majority Leader Donna Vickman, R-Farmersville, who is chairman of the Human Services Committee; vice chairman Joseph Snyder, R-Ischua; and Minority Leader John Padlo, D-Olean.

    The public hearing is scheduled for 4 p.m. March 14 in the legislative chambers on the third floor of the County Center here.

    Legislators also approved a four-year contract with more than 600 CSEA Local 805 employees with raises of $1 per hour in each of the first two years and 25 cents per hour in each of the final two years of the contract.

    The previous four-year contract expired Dec. 31, 2017. There were also negotiated changes in the county-provided health insurance plans.

    Legislators appointed Kathleen Ellis to the vacant public works commissioner post. Ellis was deputy commissioner when the commissioner, Joseph Pillittere, resigned to take a post in the private sector. Ellis served as interim commissioner since Pillittere left in October.

    Return to headline | Return to top

23. Clarion joins suit against 14 drug companies

    Mar 2, 2018 | TheDerrick (PA)

    By William Stevens

    Clarion County commissioners have announced that the county has filed suit against 14 pharmaceutical companies in an effort to recoup costs related to the opioid crisis that has affected the county.

    A press release issued this week from the commissioners said the goal is to recover all costs, including payment for health care, pharmaceutical care and other services.

    The remainder of this article is under paywall at: http://www.thederrick.com/news/front_page/clarion-joins-suit-against-drug-companies/article_702c6e7a-1843-5b95-94db-02525a1b4370.html

    Return to headline | Return to top

Southeast (FL, WV)

24. Miami-Dade County Hires Legal Team To Launch Opioid Suit

    Mar 1, 2018 | Law360

    By Carolina Bolado

    Miami-Dade County has hired a team of litigators led by Podhurst Orseck PA to prepare legal action against drug manufacturers and distributors for enabling the opioid addiction crisis that has cost the county millions in increased law enforcement and health care costs.

    The objective is to investigate claims against drugmakers and distributors, calculate how much the county has suffered in damages, and file a suit that will eventually be consolidated in the multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Ohio, where dozens of opioid lawsuits filed by local governments are pending.
    
    “Miami-Dade County has suffered enormous costs fighting the opioid epidemic, costs that ultimately fall on the backs of our taxpayers,” Peter Prieto, a partner at Podhurst Orseck and lead counsel for the county, said. “Our job now will be to investigate and bring claims against the drug manufacturers and distributors, while working with the county to assess the amount of damages it has incurred.”
    
    In addition to Podhurst Orseck, the county will be represented by six other firms: Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor PA; Baron & Budd PC; Greene Ketchum Farrell Bailey & Tweel LLP; McHugh Fuller Law Group PLLC; Hill Peterson Carper Bee & Deitzler PLLC; and Powell & Majestro PLLC.
    
    Prieto said that the county does not yet have a deadline or timeline for filing the suit, but said that they want to file “sooner rather than later.”
    
    The first part of the mission, he said, is to capture exactly how much Miami-Dade has had to spend to combat the opioid crisis. The team will take into account law enforcement and first responder expenses for responding to overdoses, and medical and hospital expenses for the treatment of overdoses, according to Prieto.
    
    Miami-Dade had 228 drug-related overdose deaths in 2016, and statewide, Florida hospitals are spending almost $1 billion per year to treat opioid-related illnesses.
    
    “The defendants have privatized all the profits from the opioid epidemic while pushing the costs on the county,” Levin Papantonio partner Peter Mougey said. “This lawsuit will hold the defendants accountable for the continuing and mounting costs shouldered by the county.”
    
    The wave of lawsuits filed by local governments in the wake of the opioid addiction crisis were consolidated in December in the Northern District of Ohio. At the time of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s consolidation order, at least 115 lawsuits across the country had been filed, although the JPML’s order acknowledged there will likely be far more with a wide variety of plaintiffs and defendants.
    
    Prieto said that a few other counties in central and northern Florida have also retained the same litigation team to investigate potential claims against drug makers.
    

    Return to headline | Return to top

25. Miami-Dade County Retains Legal Team for Opioid Litigation

    Mar 1, 2018 | Daily Business Review (Law.com)

    By Celia Ampel

    Miami-Dade County signed a retainer agreement with seven law firms led by Miami’s Podhurst Orseck to file litigation against Big Pharma over the opioid epidemic.

    The contract was signed Wednesday after the County Commission voted to accept County Attorney Abigail Price-Williams’ recommendation of the Podhurst group over nine other prospective legal teams.

    The winning team offered the county a structured contingency fee arrangement ranging from 4 percent to 15 percent of the recovery, increasing as the litigation advances.

    The other firms on the chosen team are Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor; Baron & Budd; Greene, Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweel; McHugh Fuller Law Group; Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee & Deitzler; and Powell & Majestro.

    “Miami-Dade County has suffered enormous costs fighting the opioid epidemic, costs that ultimately fall on the backs of our taxpayers,” Podhurst Orseck partner Peter Prieto, lead counsel for the county, said in a statement. “Our job now will be to investigate and bring claims against the drug manufacturers and distributors while working with the county to assess the amount of damages it has incurred.”

    The county will likely file litigation in federal court to join the opioid multidistrict litigation consolidated in Ohio, a Podhurst spokesman said.

    The runner-up for the county contract was a team consisting of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. Those firms are part of the team representing Broward County and the city of Fort Lauderdale in opioid litigation.

    Both of the final two teams had impressive experience, local ties and leadership positions in the Ohio MDL, Price-Williams wrote in a memo to the County Commission. The firms selected are involved in more than 200 government lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors.

    Team member Paul Farrell of West Virginia’s Greene Ketchum is one of three lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in the MDL. Baron & Budd’s Roland Tellis, McHugh Fuller’s Michael Fuller and Levin Papantonio’s Peter Mougey are on the plaintiffs executive committee. Troy Rafferty of Levin Papantanio is liaison counsel coordinating attorneys in the MDL.

    The heavyweight legal team has “taken on and defeated Big Tobacco, asbestos, BP and DuPont as well as numerous pharmaceutical and medical device giants,” the group wrote in its proposal. Prieto is also lead plaintiffs counsel in the Takata air bag litigation.

    The 10 teams offered contingency fee rates ranging from 18 percent to 33 percent of the total recovery, according to Price-Williams’ memo. The Podhurst team and the Robbins team were both at the low end.

    The Podhurst team agreed to reduce its rate and cap the combined fees and costs at 5 percent to 25 percent of the total recovery.

    Three of the firms — Greene Ketchum, Hill Peterson and Powell & Majestro — are based in West Virginia; Levin Papantonio is based in Pensacola; Baron & Budd in Dallas; and McHugh Fuller in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

    The potential defendants will be the same players facing claims in the MDL, including Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson, McKesmson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp., according to the county.

    “The defendants have privatized all the profits from the opioid epideic while pushing the costs on the county,” Mougey said in a statement. “This lawsuit will hold the defendants accountable for the continuing and mounting costs shouldered by the county.”

    Return to headline | Return to top

26. Law firms pitch lawsuits to Wood County Commission

    Mar 2, 2018 | Parkersburg News & Sentinel (WV)

    By Brett Dunlap

    The Wood County Commission heard from more law firms Thursday on whether it should join lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications.

    Two law firms appeared before the commission to give presentations on why the county should sign with them to represent the county in lawsuits against the manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications which they allege have brought in a far larger number of pills into the state than is needed for its population, which has led to the large number of addictions, overdose deaths and has led to the state’s opioid crisis.

    The commission is expected to review the information over the weekend and take action Monday.

    Ed Hill of the law firm of Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee & Deitzler in Charleston represents a “consortium of law firms,” including Baron & Budd of Dallas, Texas, and Levin Papantonio of Pensacola, Fla. Anthony Majestro of Powell & Majestro of Charleston also appeared with them as part of the consortium.

    “The consortium is important because of what we bring to the table in terms of resources, both financial and professional,” Hill said. “This is a big undertaking.”

    “Why are we here? West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky have been the epicenter of this opioid crisis. Opioid addiction is very serious. There is hardly a person that has not been affected, either directly or indirectly by this addiction.”

    U.S. lawmakers have recognized that opioids are highly addictive leading to the use of these medications for non-medical reasons leading to abuse.

    Laws and measures were put in place that were supposed to prevent the abuse of these medications by having registered distributors for these medications. These people were supposed to inform the Drug Enforcement Agency of suspicious orders of pain medications so they can be investigated, including large orders and the frequency of the orders, officials said.

    “They never did that,” Hill said.

    There are around 800 such distributors, of which three have 85 percent of the marketshare. Those are Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen where each grosses over $100 billion a year, Hill said.

    “We are seeking to hold the manufacturers and distributors for their conduct in this,” he said. “This has been a huge moneymaker for these companies, both manufacturers and distributors.”

    Through court action brought by former state Attorney General Darrell McGraw and media reports, it was determined that over six years 780 million opioid pills were poured into West Virginia, a state with a population of around 1.8 million.

    “It was determined these distributors failed to adhere to their responsibilities and report these to the DEA,” Hill said.

    These companies were making so much money, they “softpeddled” the pills addictive nature which led to the addiction crisis the state is now seeing, he said.

    Some of these lawsuits are being moved to federal court where all cases dealing with alleged opioid abuse are being overseen by a federal judge in Cleveland.

    Hill said their firm has the experience in multi-district litigation in which these cases are being handled. They have the experts who can provide the insight into these issues, he said.

    The firm would collect a 25 percent fee plus expenses if it is successful.

    The other firm making a presentation was the Ford Law Office of Clarksburg, which is working with Marc J. Bern & Partners of New York.

    Attorney Lisa Furbee Ford talked about her family having the Furbee Pharmacy for many years.

    “If (her father) could see what is going on in this state, he would be horrified,” she said. “I have personally watched the deterioration of my community from the opioid epidemic.”

    Drug companies have hooked entire communities on their medications while enriching themselves, Ford said.

    “It touches the lives of everyone in a myriad of ways,” she said.

    Bern and attorney Bob White, practicing in Charleston, talked about losing their sons to drug overdoses.

    “My son got addicted because the pharmaceutical companies started pumping into this state at an astonishing rate,” White said.

    With the number of pills coming in compared to the population of the state, the industry had to know something was wrong, he said.

    “Because they were addicted themselves to the almighty dollar, they kept it up,” White said. “I would personally like to drive the nail in the head of big pharma and hang on that nail all of the death and misery they have reigned on this state over the last 10 years.”

    Bern talked about how personal the fight is for him.

    He lost his oldest son to an overdose of heroin and Fentanyl in 2010.

    “This started with prescription opioids, just as 97 percent of individuals in this country have through long-term use of opioids, because of recreational use,” Bern said. “This covers every socioeconomic class. Our country is the biggest in the world who uses these drugs.”

    U.S. officials have said for 2015 where the economic cost directly tied to the opioid crisis was $504 billion nationwide, Bern said.

    “The economic cost can bankrupt counties like this one,” he said. “We can’t go on like this.”

    Bern said they would work to keep the cases in state courts and not have them moved to federal court.

    Their fee is a straight fee of 25 percent of any judgment or settlement, including expenses.

    The commission heard from the Fitzsimmons Law Firm in Wheeling last week about joining a possible suit in regard to opioid manufacturers and distributors.

    Return to headline | Return to top

Broadcast Media Coverage

27. Shepard Smith Reporting

    Mar 1, 2018 | National Programming

    By Fox News

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179372?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1

    Rough Transcript: 

    excuse me. the president has come to the microphone. an opioid conference at the white house. we knew the opioid conference was going on. the president on our schedule or the white house schedule was no scheduled to speak but alast he is. let's listen. >> it's an honor to be with you. i said i was going to stop over and say hello to great families and friends. some friends that have had some incredible difficulty. 3:11 PMi know what you're going through. melania is here someplace. where is our first lady? where is she? where is melania? hello, darling. she feels so strongly about it. kel kellyann feels so strongly about it. a friend of mine, steve -- steve had some big difficulty. he went through -- come on up here. steve has been one of my great friends over the years. tremendously successful man. would you want to discuss this? we're among friends here. you know? it's a tough thing to discuss. i was there when he was going through something with a very special boy, right? >> yes. >> go ahead. >> i remember the hug you gave me when i felt always lost. 3:12 PMi listened to eric's story. i lost my son in 2011. he didn't buy drugs on dark net. he bought drugs on the internet. a website owned by three of the largest u.s. corporations in the country today. so it's not just the dark net. he was a great kid. he detoxed the first night with me. he was my special child. if i lost him -- i always felt hopeless before you were elected. i have never lobbied my friend about anything. i just supported you. i so believe in you. if my son knew that you were going to take up this battle, oh, my gosh, he must be upstairs applauding every day. i'm so grateful. >> thank you. 3:13 PM[applause] >> and steve went through something that he thought everything was perfect. he thought he was recovered. out of nowhere, he got very bad news. the administration will be rolling out policy the next three weeks and it will be very, very strong. i've always spoken with jeff about bringing a lawsuit against some of these opioid companies. what they're doing and the way the distribution. you have people that go to the hospital with a broken arm and they come out and they're addicted. they're addicted to painkillers and they don't know what happened. they go in for something minor and they come out and they're in serious shape. so we're going to very much, as you know -- i think we've been involved more than any administration by far. 3:14 PMit's a problem that is growing. drugs are similar but different problem in the sense that we have pushers and we have drug dealers that don't -- they kill behinds and hundreds of people. most of them don't go to jail. if you shoot one person, they give you life, the death penalty. these people can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them. we need strength with respect to the pushers and to the drug dealers. if we don't do that, you'll never solve the problem. if you want to be weak, talk about blue ribbon committees, that's not the answer. the answer is to have strength and toughness. the drug dealers, the drug pushers are -- they're really doing damage. really doing damage. some countries have a very, very tough penalty, the ultimate penalty. by the way, they've have much less of a drug problem than we do. 3:15 PMso we're going to have to be very strong on penalties. hopefully we can do some litigation against the opioid companies. i think it's very important. because a lot of states are doing it. i keep saying if the states are doing it, why isn't the federal government doing it? so that will happen. so that will happen. and meantime, i just want to pay my respects to everybody. some of you have gone through a lot. many of you in this room have gone through a lot. more than anyone can imagine. we're with you 100%. we're fighting for you and water going to win. thank you very much. thank you, everybody. [applause] >> shepard: he said he would make opioids a focus. there's nothing to bring something more than anything than the president of the united 3:16 PMstates walking in a room and talk about it. he's done that. to the degree that this opioid crisis needs attention across our nation, this president just brought a lot there. an important conference at the white house. he said he's going to make opioids a focus. he talked about talking to jeff, talking about jeff sessions, the attorney general. the discussion at this moment of bringing some sort of lawsuit against those that created these products and then according to testimony, at least, may have not been straight up with doctors ant what was going on there. let's bring in nicholas johnson, editor and chief at axios. he's talked about this to some degree. what action has there been? >> two things that jumped out. what is interesting is he talked about tougher penalty on drug dealing. president the president talks privately, he talks about having the death penalty for drug dealers taking a very hard line. very closely flicked at that. saying a lot of countries are much harder on drug dealers. that was note worthy saying that publicly. the lawsuit is a huge deal. going after -- using the justice department to go after opioid manufacturers same already the way the government went after the tobacco industry in the 90s. that's ramping up the pressure. two i think big things that the administration will be doing. we saw the president just talk about them right now. >> mississippi attorney general that got the tobacco lawsuit that is in on this.
    

    Return to headline | Return to top

28. Mornings With Maria Bartiromo

    Mar 2, 2018 | National Programming

    By Fox

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179048?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1

    Rough Transcript: u.s., tackle opiod president trump offering details on how he wants to address some key issues in this epidemic. >> you have to have strength and you have to have toughness drug dealers drug pushers -- they really doing damage, some countries have a very, very tough penalty ultimately penalty, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem. >> we are going to have to be very strong on penalties hopefully, we can do litigation, against this opioid companies. i think that is very important.

    Return to headline | Return to top

29. necn THIS MORNING

    Mar 2, 2018 | Boston, MA

    By NECN (NEWSENG)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179057?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1

    Rough Transcript: turning to the ongoing opioid crisis gripping america.. president trump is calling for more aggressive federal action against drug manufacturers.. and people he calls "pushers" .. to he combat america's opioid crisis. making the claim during yesterday's white house summit on the opioid crisis. he also claimed federal penalties against drug dealers are weak. going as far as to sa... countries that execute suspected drug dealers effectively reduce their drug crises. meanwhile in massachusetts... the city of worcester is taking a big step to combat the opioid epidemic. the city is looking for reimbursment for all costs associated with the opioid crisis by suing both manufacturers and distributors of opioid products. worcester has hired a nationally- recognized law firm based in connecticut to file the lawsuit in superior court.

    Return to headline | Return to top

30. Fox 5 News at 5

    Mar 2, 2018 | New York, NY

    By WNYW (Fox)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179136?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1

    Rough Transcript: the white house hosting summit and the two hour discussion was attended by cabinet members including jeff sessions and president trump made a surprise appearance saying it might be time for the federal government to go after pharmaceutical companies. >> we have to be strong on penalties hopefully we can do some litigation against the opioid companies it is important has a lot of states are doing it but if the states are doing it why isn't the federal government? spee17 the president declare that opioid crisis a health emergency.

    Return to headline | Return to top

31. News 4 at Noon

    Mar 2, 2018 | St. Louis, MO

    By KMOV (CBS)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33179387?token=86dc97d3-aed2-4358-965f-8e69371591a1

    Rough Transcript: a class-action lawsuit filed in east st. louis says thousands of babies are born addicted to opioids. the lawsuit highlights one child's born last year. the baby's mother was prescribed opioids for a broken ankle. the claims this preparation led to an addiction to opioids and heroin. her baby was worn last year with opioid withdrawals, including excessive crying, refusing to feed, tremors, as well as seizures. illinois majority senate leader james calhorn is backing the lawsuit. >> healthy babies spend one as to two dayin the -- spend one to two days in the hospital. these innocent victims spend at least 28 days in the hospital for treatment. >> clayborn says the goal of this lawsuit is to hold the pharmaceutical companies responsible for the treatment and the recovery of these babies. he does not want taxpayers to take on the treatment bills.

    Return to headline | Return to top