Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 3/16/18

Commentary and FYIs

1. Exclusive: Trump finalizing opioid plan that includes death penalty for dealers

   Mar 15, 2018 | Politico

   By Dan Diamond
   
   
   The Trump administration is finalizing a long-awaited plan that it says will solve the opioid crisis, but it also calls for law enforcement measures — like the death penalty for some drug dealers — that public health advocates and congressional Republicans warn will detract from efforts to reverse the epidemic.
2. New York judge won't put opioid lawsuits on hold pending FDA review

   Mar 15, 2018 | WestlawNext Practitioner Insights

   By Nate Raymond
   
   
   A New York state court judge has declined to put on hold lawsuits by 12 counties against opioid manufacturers while the Food and Drug Administration reviews the benefits and risks of using the addictive drugs to treat chronic pain.
3. How ER Doctors Are Fighting The Opioid Crisis

   Mar 16, 2018 | Forbes

   By Robert Gladder, MD
   
   
   According to a recent CDC Vital Signs analysis of near real-time data from ERs, emergency department (ED) visits due to suspected opioid overdoses increased nearly 30% from the third quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2017, despite data from a 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggesting that heroin use and opioid misuse was potentially stabilizing.
4. How Many Opioid Overdoses Are Suicides?

   Mar 15, 2018 | NPR

   By Martha Bebinger
   
   
   Mady Ohlman was 22 on the evening some years ago when she stood in a friend's bathroom looking down at the sink.
5. Pain, opioids and naloxone (Opinion)

   Mar 16, 2018 | The Washington Post

   By Michael Yaphe & Lindsey Vuolo
   
   
   The March 10 editorial “Another painful truth about opioids” cited a Veterans Affairs study showing that opioids are not effective for managing long-term back pain as evidence that “the opioid epidemic’s roots lie in a wave of permissive prescribing of opioids that turns out . . . to have been unjustified even as good pain management practice.”
6. Is the opioid lawsuit resolution just about money? (Opinion)

   Mar 15, 2018 | Deseret News (UT)

   By Desree Allred
   
   
   I find it interesting that pseudoephedrine, an allergy medication, is purchased from “behind the counter” and is limited to how many tablets are purchased monthly. This was part of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005. In contrast, opiates are only limited by the prescriber. Certain pharmacies and insurance companies are starting to implement a limit.

Southeast (VA, AL, WV, FL, GA, LA, TN)

7. Alexandria sues pharmaceutical companies over opioid crisis

   Mar 15, 2018 | Washington Post

   By Rachel Weiner & Shira Stein
   
   
   The city of Alexandria, Va., is suing sellers of prescription painkillers, saying drug addiction has killed scores of residents and overwhelmed city services.
8. City, county sue drugmakers for costs of fighting opioid crisis

   Mar 15, 2018 | Associated Press

   By Staff
   
   
   Two local governments in Virginia are filing civil lawsuits against drug manufacturers seeking to recover money spent fighting the nation's opioid crisis.
9. Lawsuit lays blame for opioid epidemic

   Mar 15, 2018 | The Coalfield Progress (VA)

   By Jenay Tate
   
   
   Dickenson County is seeking $30 million from Perdue Pharma and 20 other companies and their affiliates in a lawsuit claiming they "have caused an opioid epidemic that has resulted in economic, social and emotional damage to virtually every community in the United States and tens of thousands of Americans. It is indiscriminate and ruthless."
10. JeffCo Sheriff announces lawsuit against opioid producers

    Mar 16, 2018 | Trussville Tribune (AL)

    By Staff
    
    
    Speaking from the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse, Sheriff Mike Hale announced that his office is in the process of filing a lawsuit against opioid manufacturer Purdu Pharma, joining Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall who, on Feb. 6, said that he would file a lawsuit against the company.
11. Jefferson County files lawsuit against opioid makers, suppliers

    Mar 16, 2018 | Alabama.com (AL)

    By Howard Koplowitz
    
    
    The Jefferson County Commission, the county sheriff and three municipalities filed a lawsuit Thursday against 27 opioid manufacturers and suppliers, claiming a "long-going conspiracy" that the makers knew their drugs were highly addictive and that they were prescribed much longer than necessary, leading to addiction.
12. JeffCo, others sue opioid drug companies

    Mar 15, 2018 | WBRC (AL)

    By Alan Collins
    
    
    Jefferson County, along with Sheriff Mike Hale and three cities, are suing opioid drug companies.
13. Limestone County files lawsuit against opioid makers, distributors

    Mar 15, 2018 | WHNT (19)

    By Brian Lawson
    
    
    With opioid-related deaths at record levels, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has found prescription opioids are a driving force in the 16-year increase in those deaths. A new federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Limestone County, taking aim at opioid manufacturers and distributors.
14. Two county commissions sue Purdue Pharma, others for opioid epidemic

    Mar 15, 2018 | West Virginia Record (WV)

    By Kyla Asbury
    
    
    Two more lawsuits have been filed against Purdue Pharma and others for the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the state.
15. Taylor County Commission joins other counties in opioid litigation

    Mar 15, 2018 | Mountain Statesman (WV)

    By Nicki Skinner
    
    
    To outsiders, West Virginia really seems like “almost heaven,” but to those living in the state, there are some major issues plaguing the communities. One of those is a nationwide drug epidemic that has swept the state, leaving almost every county reeling from its side effects.
16. Parkersburg files suit against drug distributors

    Mar 16, 2018 | Parkersburg News & Sentinel (WV)

    By Evan Bevins
    
    
    More than 7 million doses of prescription opioids were sold to retailers in Wood County from 2007 to 2012 by five distributors, according to a lawsuit filed this week against the companies on behalf of the City of Parkersburg.
17. Broward County Files Federal Lawsuit Against Opioid Drug Manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | WJCT (FL)

    By Caitlin Switalski
    
    
    Broward County filed a new lawsuit in federal court Monday against manufacturers of opioid drugs.
18. Broward sues manufacturers and pharmacies over opioids

    Mar 15, 2018 | Sun Sentinel (FL)

    By Larry Barzewski
    
    
    Broward County is going after opioid manufacturers it blames for the epidemic that has ravaged communities — and large pharmacy chains that it says were too ready to fill even questionable prescriptions for the drugs.
19. Hall among 12 Georgia counties suing opioid manufacturers

    Mar 16, 2018 | Gainsville Times (GA)

    By Nick Bowman
    
    
    At least 12 Georgia counties are now suing opioid manufacturers and distributors in federal court over damage caused by the opioid epidemic.
20. Madison joins other counties in opioids lawsuit

    Mar 16, 2018 | Athens Banner Herlald (GA)

    By Alexia Ridley
    
    
    An Athens law firm is representing another local community joining a multi-district lawsuit aimed at manufacturers of opioids.
21. Chatham County sues opioid makers

    Mar 15, 2018 | Savannah Now (GA)

    By Jan Skutch
    
    
    Chatham County has sued a group of opioid manufacturers and distributors for damages stemming from their allegedly misrepresenting their products and their addictive nature that caused economic hardships locally.
22. Bossier Parish files federal suit against opioid manufacturers, distributors

    Mar 15, 2018 | KTBS (LA)

    By Bia Roldan
    
    
    Bossier Parish, LA - Local governments are fighting the opioid epidemic in court.
23. Sumner County the latest to go after opioid distributors, manufacturers

    Mar 16, 2018 | WKRN (TN)

    By Brent Remadna
    
    
    The opioid epidemic is hitting communities hard.

Midwest (IL, IN, SD, WI)

24. Winnebago County, City of Rockford sue prescription opioid manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | Mystateline (IL)

    By Stasff
    
    
    Winnebago County, the Winnebago County State's Attorney and the City of Rockford announced on Thursday that they had filed lawsuits against 20 manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
25. Winnebago County, City of Rockford sue 20 opioid manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | WREX (IL)

    By Breane Lyga
    
    
    Winnebago County and the City of Rockford are taking legal action against a number of manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids, by filing a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court.
26. South Bend to file lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, distributors

    Mar 16, 2018 | WNDU (IN)

    By Staff
    
    
    South Bend is filing a federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
27. South Dakota Suing Major Prescription Drug Manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | KDLT News (SD)

    By Miranda Paige
    
    
    South Dakota is taking on the issue of addiction from all angles. Just announced today tobacco companies will pay the state nearly 30 million dollars as part of a lawsuit settlement.
28. Milwaukee County Sues Big Pharma

    Mar 15, 2018 | WSAU (WI)

    By Tom King
    
    
    Milwaukee County is going after pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis.

Northeast (NY, PA)

29. Ulster joins other counties in lawsuit against prescription opioid manufacturers

    Mar 16, 2018 | MidHudsonNews.com (NY)

    By Staff
    
    
    Ulster County has joined the legal battle against prescription pharmaceutical companies that counties maintain used deceptive marketing that misrepresents the safety and efficacy of long-term opioid use.
30. Morrisville might soon file opioid lawsuit as part of federal multidistrict case

    Mar 16, 2018 | Bucks County Courier Times (PA)

    By Thomas Friestad
    
    
    Council members will decide at their next meeting whether to work with a Philadelphia firm, assess the opioid crisis’ past and future impact on the borough, and sue multiple drug manufacturers and distributors for damages.

Southwest (OK)

31. Rogers County joins federal opioid lawsuit

    Mar 15, 2018 | The Claremore Daily Progress (OK)

    By Cydney Baron
    
    
    Rogers County commissioners have voted to hire a law firm to pursue federal opioid litigation.

Broadcast Media Coverage

32. FOX and Friends

    Mar 16, 2018 | National Programming

    By Fox News
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620912?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262
33. Eyewitness News More Local at 8:00 AM

    Mar 16, 2018 | Rockford, IL

    By WQRF (Fox)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620890?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262
34. Fox13 News- Good Day Utah 7AM

    Mar 16, 2018 | Salt Lake City, UT

    By KSTU (Fox)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620905?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262
35. WAAY 31 News Mornings

    Mar 16, 2018 | Huntsville, AL

    By WAAY (ABC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620913?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262
36. WSBT News First Thing in the Morning

    Mar 16, 2018 | South Bend, IN

    By WSBT (CBS)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620928?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262
37. News 2 at 6pm

    Mar 16, 2018 | Nashville, TN

    By WKRN (ABC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620934?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262
38. KTBS 3 News at Six

    Mar 16, 2018 | Shreveport, LA

    By KTBS (ABC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620944?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262
39. 13 News at 5:30PM

    Mar 15, 2018 | Norfolk, VA

    By WVEC (ABC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620951?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

Commentary and FYIs

1. Exclusive: Trump finalizing opioid plan that includes death penalty for dealers

   Mar 15, 2018 | Politico

   By Dan Diamond

   The Trump administration is finalizing a long-awaited plan that it says will solve the opioid crisis, but it also calls for law enforcement measures — like the death penalty for some drug dealers — that public health advocates and congressional Republicans warn will detract from efforts to reverse the epidemic.

   The ambitious plan, which the White House has quietly been circulating among political appointees this month, could be announced as soon as Monday when President Donald Trump visits New Hampshire, a state hard hit by the epidemic. It includes a mix of prevention and treatment measures that advocates have long endorsed, as well as beefed-up enforcement in line with the president’s frequent calls for a harsh crackdown on drug traffickers and dealers.

   The White House's most concrete proposal yet to address opioids comes after complaints from state health officials and advocates that Trump has moved too slowly to combat the epidemic after his bold campaign promises to wipe out the crisis touching all parts of the country.

   However, the plan could cost billions of dollars more than Trump budgeted — and likely far more than any funding package that Congress would approve — raising questions about how much of it can actually be put into practice. Trump's emphatic embrace of the death penalty for some drug dealers has also alarmed some advocates, who say the idea has been ineffective when tried in other countries and resurrects the nation’s unsuccessful war on drugs.

   Under the most recent version of the plan, which has gone through several revisions, the Trump administration proposes to change how the government pays for opioid prescriptions to limit access to powerful painkillers. It also calls on Congress to change how Medicaid pays for treatment, seeking to make it easier for patients with addictions to get inpatient care. It would also create a new Justice Department task force that more aggressively monitors internet sales.

   The administration claims its plan will reduce opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years and that the initiative will fulfill Trump's campaign promise to "stop opioid abuse."

   However, that will be a tall order. There were more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, mostly involving opioids, according to the most recent federal mortality data. The CDC last week reported that emergency rooms recorded a 30 percent spike in opioid overdoses last summer, indicating that the devastating crisis is worsening.

   POLITICO obtained two versions of the White House plan and spoke with four individuals who have reviewed it. The White House confirmed that a plan was in development but didn’t respond to multiple requests for further comment.

   Many of the measures in the plan were recommended by the president’s opioids commission last fall or discussed at a March 1 White House opioid summit. For instance, it endorses a long-promised priority: greatly expanding first responders' access to naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses. It also calls on states to adopt a prescription drug monitoring database that health care providers can access nationwide to flag patients seeking out numerous opioid prescriptions.

   On the policing side, the plan would ramp up prosecution and punishment, underscoring the tension in how public health advocates and law enforcement officials approach the crisis. Public health advocates say the nation's opioid epidemic should be treated as a disease, with emphasis on boosting underfunded treatment and prevention programs. But some law enforcement officials back tougher punishments as a deterrent, especially for drug dealers. The two camps don’t always see eye-to-eye, at times pitting HHS and DOJ officials against each other.

   “There is a lot of internal dissension between the health folks and the enforcement folks,” said an official involved in the crafting of the plan.

   While Trump this month repeatedly suggested using the death penalty to deter drug dealers and traffickers — an idea roundly opposed by public health advocates — many lawmakers have said they weren’t sure whether to take the idea seriously.

   “I would have to strongly evaluate and look at any proposal like that,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) on Wednesday. “I don’t know if the president was serious or just said it off the cuff. … It’s a big issue when you decide to bring a capital case or pass a law that allows for capital punishment.”

   According to language circulating this week, the Trump administration will call for the death penalty as an option in "certain cases where opioid, including Fentanyl-related, drug dealing and trafficking are directly responsible for death."

   Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), whose home state is one of the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, said she doesn't support the death penalty for drug cases.

   “I mean, I get the message he’s delivering: We’ve got to treat it seriously,” she said. “I don’t see that that’s going to solve the problem.”

   The White House plan also calls for making it easier to invoke the mandatory minimum sentence for drug traffickers who knowingly distribute illegal opioids that can be lethal, like fentanyl. It also proposes a new Justice Department task force known as “Prescription Interdiction and Litigation,” or PIL, which would be empowered to step up prosecutions of criminally negligent doctors, pharmacies and other providers.

   The White House is also backing new health ideas, such as calling for 75 percent of opioid prescriptions reimbursed by government health programs like Medicare and Medicaid to be issued by using “best practices” within three years. That would be scaled up to 95 percent of prescriptions in five years.

   It also calls on Congress to formally repeal a rule barring Medicaid payment to residential treatment for opioid addiction at large facilities, which could cost tens of billions of dollars. The rule, implemented about 50 years ago, was meant to discourage mass institutionalization of people with mental illness, but states say it has been a barrier to addiction treatment. Some states under the Obama and Trump administrations have received federal permission to waive the rule for substance abuse treatment.

   The plan also includes measures favored by progressive drug policy reformers like changing the nation's prison system so all federal inmates would be screened for opioid use upon arrival and steered toward treatment at residential re-entry centers as necessary. It also calls for improving tracking systems to rapidly steer resources to areas struggling with the opioid epidemic.

   Trump could announce the plan, or aspects of it, on Monday, when he is scheduled to return to New Hampshire with HHS Secretary Alex Azar. It will be Trump's first trip to New Hampshire as president after numerous campaign trips to the state to highlight the opioid epidemic.

   Some administration officials hoped to announce the long-developing opioid plan — including the death penalty for drug dealers — at the March 1 opioid summit, but it wasn't ready in time. However, Trump still riffed that day about the need to use the death penalty to fight the opioid epidemic.

   "If you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty," Trump said at the time. "These people can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them."

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2. New York judge won't put opioid lawsuits on hold pending FDA review

   Mar 15, 2018 | WestlawNext Practitioner Insights

   By Nate Raymond

   A New York state court judge has declined to put on hold lawsuits by 12 counties against opioid manufacturers while the Food and Drug Administration reviews the benefits and risks of using the addictive drugs to treat chronic pain.

   Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo in a ruling on Wednesday acknowledged that the FDA is generically responsible for ensuring that drugs marketed to the public are safe and effective.

   The remainder of the article is under paywall:https://www.reuters.com/article/health-opioids/new-york-judge-wont-put-opioid-lawsuits-on-hold-pending-fda-review-idUSL1N1QX2FX

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3. How ER Doctors Are Fighting The Opioid Crisis

   Mar 16, 2018 | Forbes

   By Robert Gladder, MD

   According to a recent CDC Vital Signs analysis of near real-time data from ERs, emergency department (ED) visits due to suspected opioid overdoses increased nearly 30% from the third quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2017, despite data from a 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggesting that heroin use and opioid misuse was potentially stabilizing.

   This noted increase was seen among the majority of demographic groups and regions of the U.S., according to the report, and portends a worsening of the crisis that may be ultimately linked to increased potency of fentanyl-laced heroin which increases risk of overdose and death.

   This timely data support both the need and importance of having “enhanced prevention and treatment efforts in the ED, and access to evidence-based opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment, including medication-assisted treatment and harm reduction services,” as described in the CDC report.

   Debra Houry, MD, MPH, Director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC, writing in an editorial published in Annals of Emergency Medicine, stated that emergency physicians have a “unique opportunity to engage in prevention of a future overdose, particularly for patients who may not have had other contact with the health care system.”

   Houry emphasized that “ EDs are a critical entry point for prevention of overdose , with opportunities to improve opioid prescribing, respond to overdoses with overdose education and naloxone distribution, engage in motivational interviewing of patients, initiate treatment for opioid use disorder, and improve surveillance efforts in collaboration with health departments. EDs and physicians who engage in these efforts can save patient lives and reduce health care costs.”

   While ED interventions for OUD at the state-level have been met with success, it’s important to highlight that previous research has also shown that the emergency departments’ share of opioid prescribing is already small and continues to decline . 

   In Washington state, prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) integration with electronic health records resulted in more than 2 million queries which can help flag patients at risk for misuse or overdose. In Rhode Island, EDs are partnering with state public health agencies, and community organizations to distribute naloxone kits that include overdose prevention education, counseling resources, treatment referrals and other support tools that extend after discharge and through recovery. 

   “ Emergency departments are vital partners in opioid overdose prevention, treatment and recovery --our physicians are working to appropriately prescribe, enhance available data, increase education and encourage more collaborative care models,” said Paul Kivela, M.D., MBA, FACEP, President of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). “These initiatives can make a difference by saving lives and lowering costs – but we have much further to go.”

   ACEP supports two recently introduced bills in Congress that would improve patient access to appropriate treatment.

   The “Alternatives to Opioids in the Emergency Department Act”( ALTO) (H.R. 5197), sponsored by Reps. Bill Pascrell, David McKinley, Diana DeGette, and Scott Tipton, would provide $30 million over three years to develop an initiative to test alternative pain management protocols to reduce and curb the use of opioids in the ED. The Senate version (S.2516) was also introduced by Sens. Cory Booker, Shelley Moore Capito, Michael Bennet, and Cory Gardner.

   ALTO has been a success thus far, with favorable results seen in Colorado. One ALTO initiative there involving 10 EDs reduced overall opioid prescribing by 36% on average. 

   “ The number one reason people seek emergency care is because of legitimate pain ,” said Kivela. “This legislation will help ensure the ALTO program is made available to more patients, in more hospitals, in more states and will help prevent opioid addiction from starting, while still insuring patients’ pain is managed.”

   ACEP also supports another key bill that can help emergency physicians begin medication for people in acute withdrawal in the ED. The bill, “Preventing Overdoses While in Emergency Rooms Act of 2018” (H.R. 5176), and sponsored by Reps. David McKinley and Mike Doyle, would provide grants to establish policies and procedures for administering Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) while also helping to develop best practices for coordination of continuing care after a patient is seen and discharged from the ED. 

   “ The MAT protocol helps close gaps in opioid overdose treatment , especially for patients who cannot or do not access addiction resources in their community. Administering the initial dose of medication in the emergency department gives patients a much greater chance of successfully completing their treatment and getting their lives back, which is good for them, their families and their communities,” said Kivela.

   Ali Raja, M.D., MBA, Executive Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, is encouraged by the ability to now offer MAT to eligible patients who seek care in his ED, but explained that ensuring timely follow-up and consistency is equally important.

   “We just began our program last week, but communication with the bridge clinic was the key step,” explained Raja. “Without a 7-day-a-week bridge clinic, I would never have started this program.”

   It’s clearly integrated teamwork to ensure that patients receive the necessary care, Raja emphasized. “A big part of it is telling patients that ‘tomorrow morning, come back here at 9 am, and we’ll see you and begin your long term MAT in the bridge clinic’, no matter what day of the year it is. Even if the bridge clinic is open just a few hours a day, having that consistency allows for the ED to be able to begin MAT with a dose of two and go from there.”

   While ongoing care after discharge relies upon bridging clinics, one startup, Boulder Care, offers a new spin on how such follow-up care can be delivered.

   It capitalizes on the “accessibility and privacy of mobile technology to deliver a proven approach for treating opioid addiction,” according to its website. It supports the premise that “digital solutions power compassionate, team-based care, capable of scaling to meet unprecedented need.”

   Still in beta testing, Bouldercare’s plan is to harness the power of telemedicine to enhance and augment care after ED discharge. Its longer term goal is to revolutionize and expand the current model of care that is based upon bridging clinics for follow-up, in an effort to improve population health outcomes.

   Stephanie Papes, CEO and Co-Founder of Boulder Care, and a former venture capital investor with Apple Tree Partners, has her sights set on advancing high-impact digital solutions for healthcare with a specific focus on the opiate crisis.

   “Technology is uniquely capable of bridging gaps among providers, as no individual organization has the ability or incentive to link patients to every healthcare and social services provider,” offered Papes. “ A digital solution that follows the patient can offer them the right type of care for their needs, and bring disparate sources along the continuum together, while generating data for insights that benefit the entire ecosystem.”

   Papes explains that one of her primary goals is to deploy her platform, with a focus on MAT, in rural and underserved communities.

   “Specialized addiction treatment centers can be great, but they are slow to scale,” she explained. “Rural communities (where disease is rampant) may not have sufficient population density to support a profitable one, and they have limited catchment areas.”

   Along with socioeconomic factors, addressing follow-up and patient care preferences are crucial in setting the stage for success of MAT after discharge from the ED.

   “Most patients report they’d prefer to get MAT in a primary care setting,” explained Papes. “Integrating medical and behavioral care leads to better health outcomes; the only way to meet escalating demand is to expand the supply of treating clinicians which involves much more than getting a waiver and opening the door.”

   “Boulder seeks to equip community clinics with the necessary supports to open their practices to patients with opioid use disorder, reducing the burden by providing an extra layer of patient support, but also helping solo clinics achieve team-based care through telemedicine--providing virtual access to peers, addiction specialists, and counselors,” added Papes.

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4. How Many Opioid Overdoses Are Suicides?

   Mar 15, 2018 | NPR

   By Martha Bebinger

   Mady Ohlman was 22 on the evening some years ago when she stood in a friend's bathroom looking down at the sink.

   "I had set up a bunch of needles filled with heroin because I wanted to just do them back-to-back-to-back," Ohlman recalls. She doesn't remember how many she injected before collapsing, or how long she lay drugged-out on the floor.

   "But I remember being pissed because I could still get up, you know?"

   She wanted to be dead, she says, glancing down. A wisp of straight brown hair slips from behind an ear across her thin face.

   At that point, says Ohlman, she'd been addicted to opioids — controlled by the drugs, she says — for more than three years.

   "And doing all these things you don't want to do that are horrible — you know, selling my body, stealing from my mom, sleeping in my car," Ohlman says. "How could I not be suicidal?"

   For this young woman, whose weight had dropped to about 90 pounds, who was shooting heroin just to avoid feeling violently ill, suicide seemed a painless way out.

   "You realize getting clean would be a lot of work," Ohlman says, her voice rising. "And you realize dying would be a lot less painful. You also feel like you'll be doing everyone else a favor if you die."

   Ohlman, who has now been sober for more than four years, says many drug users hit the same point, when the disease and the pursuit of illegal drugs crushes their will to live. Ohlman is among at least 40 percent of active drug users who wrestle with depression, anxiety or another mental health issue that increases the risk of suicide.

   Measuring suicide among patients addicted to opioids

   Massachusetts, where Ohlman lives, began formally recognizing in May 2017 that some opioid overdose deaths are suicides. The state says confirmed suicides are only about 2 percent of all overdose deaths, but Dr. Monica Bharel, head of Massachussett's department of public health, says it's very difficult to determine the person's true intent.

   "For one thing, medical examiners use different criteria for whether suicide was involved or not," Bharel says, and the "tremendous amount of stigma surrounding both overdose deaths and suicide sometimes makes it extremely challenging to piece everything together and figure out unintentional and intentional."

   Research on drug addiction and suicide suggests much higher numbers.

   "[Based on the literature that's available] it looks like it's anywhere between 25 and 45 percent of deaths by overdose that may be actual suicides," says Dr. Maria Oquendo, immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association.

   Oquendo points to one study of overdoses from prescription opioids that found 54 percent were unintentional. The rest were either suicide attempts or undetermined.

   Several large studies show an increased risk of suicide among drug users addicted to opioids, especially women. In a study of 5 million veterans, women were eight times as likely as others to be at risk for suicide, while men faced a twofold risk.

   The opioid epidemic is occurring at the same time suicides have hit a 30-year high, but Oquendo says few doctors look for a connection.

   "They are not monitoring it," says Oquendo, who chairs the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. "They are probably not assessing it in the kinds of depths they would need to prevent some of the deaths."

   That's starting to change. A few hospitals in Boston, for example, aim to ask every patient admitted about substance use, as well as about whether they've considered hurting themselves.

   "No one has answered the chicken and egg [question]," says Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, a family physician who runs the Lynn Community Health Center in Lynn, Mass. Is it that patients "have mental health issues that lead to addiction, or did a life of addiction then trigger mental health problems?"

   With so little data to go on, "it's so important to provide treatment that covers all those bases," Mahaniah says.

   'Deaths of despair'

   When doctors do look deeper into the reasons patients addicted to opioids become suicidal, some economists predict they'll find deep reservoirs of depression and pain.

   In a seminal paper published in 2015, Princeton economists Angus Deaton and Anne Case tracked falling marriages rates, the loss of stable middle-class jobs and rising rates of self-reported pain. The authors say opioid overdoses, suicides and diseases related to alcoholism are all often "deaths of despair."

   "We think of opioids as something that's thrown petrol on the flames and made things infinitely worse," Deaton says, "but the underlying deep malaise would be there even without the opioids."

   Many economists agree on remedies for that deep malaise. Harvard economics professor David Cutler says solutions include a good education, a steady job that pays a decent wage, secure housing, food and health care.

   "And also thinking about a sense of purpose in life," Cutler says. "That is, even if one is doing well financially, is there a sense that one is contributing in a meaningful way?"

   Tackling despair in the addiction community

   "I know firsthand the sense of hopelessness that people can feel in the throes of addiction," says Michael Botticelli, director of the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center; he is in recovery for an addiction to alcohol.

   Botticelli says recovery programs must help patients come out of isolation and create or recreate bonds with family and friends.

   "The vast majority of people I know who are in recovery often talk about this profound sense of reestablishing — and sometimes establishing for the first time — a connection to a much larger community," Botticelli says.

   Ohlman says she isn't sure why her attempted suicide, with multiple injections of heroin, didn't work.

   "I just got really lucky," Ohlman says. "I don't know how."

   A big part of her recovery strategy involves building a supportive community, she says.

   "Meetings; 12-step; sponsorship and networking; being involved with people doing what I'm doing," says Ohlman, ticking through a list of her priorities.

   There's a fatal overdose at least once a week within her Cape Cod community, she says. Some are accidental, others not. Ohlman is convinced that telling her story, of losing and then finding hope, will help bring those numbers down.

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5. Pain, opioids and naloxone (Opinion)

   Mar 16, 2018 | The Washington Post

   By Michael Yaphe & Lindsey Vuolo

   The March 10 editorial “Another painful truth about opioids” cited a Veterans Affairs study showing that opioids are not effective for managing long-term back pain as evidence that “the opioid epidemic’s roots lie in a wave of permissive prescribing of opioids that turns out . . . to have been unjustified even as good pain management practice.” 

   Such a broad inference was challenged by Anne Fuqua’s March 11 Outlook essay, “Which is the bigger crisis: Addiction or pain?” Ms. Fuqua, a former nurse who was diagnosed with a severe neurological disorder that responded only to opioids, saw her doctor increasingly frightened by the anti-opioid campaign to the point that he left pain management altogether. It was extremely hard for her to find another doctor willing to prescribe opioids for her pain. She keeps track of reports of pain sufferers who have killed themselves because they were not able to tolerate their pain, now more than 100: “Just a few years ago, discussion of suicide was rare in the community of pain patients. Now I see it on online bulletin boards, in article comments and in online groups dedicated to the subject.”

   Perhaps there are two crises: addiction and pain. Trading fewer addicts for more pain patients or trading fewer pain patients for more addicts are false choices. We should advocate solutions that address both crises. 

   Michael Yaphe, Vienna
   

   Regarding Megan McArdle’s March 9 Washington Forum essay, “The ‘moral hazard’ in the opioid crisis”:

   Naloxone saves lives, but it does not treat addiction. On its own, it cannot prevent overdoses or addiction-related crime, nor can it resolve the opioid epidemic. The problem highlighted by the working paper Ms. McArdle mentioned is not that naloxone encourages people suffering from addiction to take risks; it is the lack of good treatment options available to individuals with opioid addiction. Medication-assisted treatment is lifesaving for opioid addiction, yet few receive it following an overdose. Most are simply released upon revival and medical stabilization.

   Pervasive stigma against addiction is responsible for the lack of available treatment. As a society, we continually fail to treat addiction as we treat other diseases. Naloxone is akin to a defibrillator, which can restart a patient’s heart but won’t cure underlying heart disease. It is difficult to imagine that defibrillators would be described as a moral hazard for individuals who do not make lifestyle changes to reduce their risk of heart disease.

   We must stop searching for a “silver bullet” to address this crisis and recognize that a comprehensive approach is needed. If we don’t provide effective treatment to individuals who suffer an overdose, we are not using naloxone to its full potential.

   Lindsey Vuolo, New York

   The writer is associate director of 
   health law and policy at the 
   National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

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6. Is the opioid lawsuit resolution just about money? (Opinion)

   Mar 15, 2018 | Deseret News (UT)

   By Desree Allred

   I find it interesting that pseudoephedrine, an allergy medication, is purchased from “behind the counter” and is limited to how many tablets are purchased monthly. This was part of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005. In contrast, opiates are only limited by the prescriber. Certain pharmacies and insurance companies are starting to implement a limit.

   Meanwhile, state lawmakers advanced a resolution, HJR 12, requesting the attorney general to directly file a lawsuit against manufacturers who make prescription opioids. The lawmakers claim that these manufacturers need to be held accountable for the “destruction and devastation they have inflicted upon the citizens of the state" (Deseret News, Feb. 21). The lawsuit may be joined with other states but would give some leverage to directly file at a later time and would result in the state getting more money. This leads me to ask, Is it really about finding a solution, or is it about the money?

   Opioids have been manufactured to improve the quality of life. Most people throughout their lifetime have used opioids for some type of pain management. Opioid addiction is a complicated issue. Society needs to come together to understand and create solutions to this complex problem.

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Southeast (VA, AL, WV, FL, GA, LA, TN)

7. Alexandria sues pharmaceutical companies over opioid crisis

   Mar 15, 2018 | Washington Post

   By Rachel Weiner & Shira Stein

   The city of Alexandria, Va., is suing sellers of prescription painkillers, saying drug addiction has killed scores of residents and overwhelmed city services.

   Alexandria is asking $100 million from the companies, which include manufacturers, distributors and pharmaceutical providers.

   The city joins dozens of state, county and city governments across the country that have taken opioid providers to court to argue that the companies that profited so much from the drugs should help pay for their destructive effects. Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland are among those who have sued opioid manufacturers and distributors.

   Hundreds of federal lawsuits have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Ohio, who is trying to reach a settlement between the two sides. The Department of Justice recently intervened, demanding its own reimbursement for the money the federal government has spent dealing with opioid abuse.

   But many more suits, including Alexandria’s and another filed on behalf of Dickenson County in rural Southwest Virginia, are being pursued in local courts. It’s one of two lawsuits against pharmaceutical firms filed in Virginia on Wednesday, the first ones in a state where overdose deaths have been on the rise. In 2016, 1,138 people died of opioid overdoses in Virginia, and 1,217 deaths are estimated in 2017.

   The Alexandria lawsuit argues that pharmaceutical companies lied about the addictiveness of prescription narcotics while distributors ignored the flow of pain pills onto the black market. It also alleges that managers of health-care benefits encouraged cheap opioid prescriptions while discouraging addiction treatment or the sale of drugs that are harder to misuse.

   Several companies named as defendants denied the allegations and said they have worked closely with the Drug Enforcement Administration, doctors and prosecutors to combat opioid abuse.

   The flood of prescription opioids across the country led to an increase in illegal heroin use, the lawsuit alleges, that has put a burden on police, courts, jails and social services.

   There were nine fatal overdoses in Alexandria last year in a city of about 160,000 people, according to officials. At least 44 city residents died of opioid overdoses in the previous four years.

   Alexandria has one of only four drug treatment programs run by a local government in Virginia, according to officials, and is now struggling to keep it running. The city is also considering forming a Drug Treatment Court to deal with addicts but it says such a move would be costly.

   The companies are accused in Alexandria Circuit Court of fraud, negligence, conspiracy and causing a public nuisance.

   “We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense,” a spokesman for OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma said in a statement.

   In 2007, Purdue and three of its executives pleaded guilty to falsely marketing OxyContin as less addictive than other opioids and paid more than $600 million in fines.

   Kentucky’s attorney general sued Purdue in 2007 on similar grounds; the company settled in 2015 for $24 million.

   Purdue announced last month that it is no longer promoting opioids to doctors and has cut its sales force in half.

   John Parker, senior vice president at the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, another defendant, said in a statement that “ the idea that distributors are responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written defies common sense and lacks understanding of how the pharmaceutical supply chain actually works.”

   Allergan, another defendant, said the company stopped promoting opioids in 2013.

   ut Kevin Sharp, one of the attorneys representing Alexandria, said these companies have yet to fully come to terms with and pay for their role in a devastating wave of addiction.

   Sharp, along with the Cicala Law Firm, is also suing on behalf of Dickenson County, for $30 million in damages. Home to about 16,000 people on the Kentucky border, Dickenson is among the places in Virginia hardest hit by the opioid crisis and at high risk of an HIV or hepatitis C outbreak because of shared needle use, according to the CDC.

   “It’s in everybody’s interest to find a solution here,” Sharp said. “The country can’t go on like this.”

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8. City, county sue drugmakers for costs of fighting opioid crisis

   Mar 15, 2018 | Associated Press

   By Staff

   Two local governments in Virginia are filing civil lawsuits against drug manufacturers seeking to recover money spent fighting the nation's opioid crisis.

   The city of Alexandria in northern Virginia and Dickenson County in southwest Virginia filed the lawsuits Wednesday in state court.

    Local governments across the country have been filing similar lawsuits, but lawyers representing Alexandria and Dickenson County say they are the first such lawsuits in Virginia.

    The lawsuits seek at least $100 million in damages for Alexandria and $30 million for Dickenson County. Numerous drugmakers are named as defendants.

    Civil firms Sanford Heisler Sharp and The Cicala Law Firm are representing the local governments.

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9. Lawsuit lays blame for opioid epidemic

   Mar 15, 2018 | The Coalfield Progress (VA)

   By Jenay Tate

   Dickenson County is seeking $30 million from Perdue Pharma and 20 other companies and their affiliates in a lawsuit claiming they "have caused an opioid epidemic that has resulted in economic, social and emotional damage to virtually every community in the United States and tens of thousands of Americans. It is indiscriminate and ruthless."

   The first of their kind in Virginia, suits were filed Wednesday afternoon in Dickenson County Circuit Court and in the city of Alexandria, alleging prescription drug manufacturers, wholesalers/distributors and pharmacy benefit managers, known as PBMs, have created the epidemic and reaped huge profits while the localities have paid the price.

   "The manufacturers make the opioids and misrepresent the truth about their efficacy and addictive properties. The wholesalers distribute the opioids from the point of manufacture to the point of delivery to the patient. And the PBMs control, through their formularies, which drugs go where and how they are paid for," according to the suit.

   Each of the groups "profits enormously from the movement of the opioid products" and "has incentives to move certain drugs over others," the suits claim.

   "Defendants themselves create the incentives and share in their perversity — usually without disclosure to those who reasonably rely on (them) to abide by their federal, state and common law duties." They do so at the expense of Dickenson County and communities like it nationwide, the suit says.

   The suit says each defendant group "bears culpability in the crisis" and should address the damage it has wreaked, "including the costs of abatement. The drug manufacturers’ lies would matter not, if the drugs themselves were not distributed. And no drug would reach any community were it not on a PBM formulary, which specifies which drugs will be covered and, in turn, paid for by private or public insurers."

   Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50, the suit relates. "The number of Americans who died of drug overdose deaths in 2017 was roughly equal the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars combined," it says, noting that Dickenson County has been hit particularly hard by the opioid epidemic.

   Despite a population of less than 16,000 people, there were 465 deaths in Dickenson County due to opioid overdoses in 2016, according to the suit. It ranks first in the state and sixth in the nation in overdose deaths per capita.

   As in neighboring Wise, Lee and Scott counties, the suit says, as much as 85 percent of all drug cases in Dickenson County involve prescription drugs.

   "The opioid problem in Dickenson reflects the overwhelming epidemic affecting the entire Commonwealth," according to the suit. "In 2016, Virginia’s state health commissioner declared the state’s opioid addiction problem a public health emergency. On average, three Virginians die of a drug overdose and over two dozen are treated in emergency departments for drug overdoses each day. Fatal drug overdoses in the first half of 2016 increased by 35 percent compared to the same period in 2015.

   "Dickenson is now having to allocate substantial taxpayer dollars, resources, staff, energy and time to address the damage the opioid scourge has left in its wake and to address its many casualties," according to the suit. "Fire and emergency medical services are over-utilized because of an increased number of opioid-related overdoses. The burden on law enforcement is substantially increased by opioid-related crimes related to prescription opioid theft, diversion, and sales on the black market.

   "Courts, social workers, schools treatment centers, intervention programs, clinics, employee benefit plans and others directly spending on opioids and opioid antagonists have all been harmed. Nearly every aspect of the county’s services and budget has been significantly and negatively impacted by this defendant-made epidemic."

   Meantime, "efforts to deceive and make opioids widely accessible have also resulted in windfall profits" to drug manufacturers, wholesalers/distributors and pharmacy benefit managers, the suit says. Opioids are now the most prescribed class of drugs, the suit says, generating $11 billion in revenue for drug companies in 2014 alone.

   The misconduct, the suit alleges, begins with the manufacturers "who deliberately polluted the national marketplace, including in Dickenson County, with falsehoods regarding the efficacy of opioids to treat chronic pain and the risks of addiction."

   The suit says wholesale distributors "could have and should have been able to stem the excess flow of opioids into Virginia and Dickenson, but they did not."

   Wholesale drug distributors are required by federal and state law to control and report unlawful drug diversions but, instead, "purposefully ignored these responsibilities, lobbied for higher reporting thresholds and pocketed profits at the expense of Dickenson," the suit charges.

   PBMs are the gatekeepers to the vast majority of opioid prescriptions filled in the United States, the suit notes. Efforts by manufacturers and distributers "to promote their scheme to distribute unnecessary opioids would not have succeeded had the opioids not been paid for, reimbursed, or covered by public and private pharmacy benefit plans."

   Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx, all named as defendants, manage the drug benefits for 95 percent of the U.S. population, according to the suit.

   Doctors concerned about addiction had prescribed opioid pain relievers sparingly, the suit says, until the pharmaceutical industry "acted to dramatically expand the marketplace for opioids."

   First, the suit says, "pharmaceutical manufacturers engaged in a misinformation campaign which altered public perception of opioids, and deceived doctors, federal regulators, and the general public about their addictive qualities.”

   Then, PBMs "ensured that opioids were widely available, regularly prescribed and reimbursed." Finally, opioid manufacturers and wholesalers/distributors didn't report suspicious opioid orders as required, facilitating "an explosion in the illegitimate marketplace for prescription opioids."

   So, while the defendants "were reaping billions of dollars in profits off their wrongful conduct," Dickenson County has been required to allocate substantial public monies and resources to combat the opioid crisis and deal with its fallout.

   COUNTS

   The lawsuit is 108 pages and lays out 11 counts against drug manufacturers, wholesalers/distributors and pharmacy benefit managers.

   See the full lawsuit online at www.coalfield.com.

   Following are the identified counts along with the remedy requested.

   • Count I, public nuisance, against all defendants, alleging they have "created a condition that was and continues to be dangerous to the public" and have injured residents of Dickenson County.

   • Count II, common law public nuisance, against all defendants, claiming "the oversaturation, unlawful availability, and abuse of opioids in Dickenson County as well as the adverse social and environmental outcomes associated with widespread and/or illegal opioid use."

   • Count III, violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, against manufacturer defendants, claiming each "violated the CPA by representing that opioids have uses or benefits in treating chronic (pain) that they do not have, and by representing that opioids do not have the characteristic of being dangerously addictive."

   • Count IV, fraud, against manufacturer defendants, claiming they "made misrepresentations and omissions of facts material to (Dickenson County) and its residents to induce them to purchase, administer, and consume opioids."

   • Count V, common law civil conspiracy, against all defendants, claiming they "acted in concert for the purpose of increasing the use of opioids and fraudulently selling and distributing as many opioids as possible, causing significant harm to Dickenson County."

   • Count VI, negligence per se against manufacturer defendants, claiming they "continually violated their duty" to Dickenson County and its residents "by making and/or disseminating false advertisements about opioids."

   • Count VII, negligence per se against distributor defendants, claiming they "failed or refused to disclose suspicious orders to the DEA, the Board of Pharmacy, and boards whose licensees have prescribing authority."

   • Count VIII, negligence against all defendants.

   • Count IX, gross negligence against all defendants.

   • County X, willful and wanton negligence against all defendants.

   • Count XI, unjust enrichment against all defendants.

   RELIEF

   The county seeks judgment, jointly and severally, as follows:

   • Awarding compensatory damages in an amount not less than $30 million;

   • Awarding punitive damages in the amount of $350,000 per defendant;

   • Awarding treble damages, as well as all costs and expenses of maintaining this action, including reasonable attorneys’ fees;

   • Awarding pre- and post-judgment interest; and

   • Compelling the defendants to "abate and remove the public nuisance they have caused" by immediately ceasing the unlawful conduct described in the suit.

   Dickenson County demands a trial by jury.

   The suit was filed by Dickenson County attorney Stephen Mullins along with Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP, Nashville, Tenn., The Cicala Law Firm PLLC, Dripping Springs, Texas, and Kaufman Canoles P.C,. Norfolk.

   DEFENDANTS

   Named as defendants in the opioid lawsuit are the following:

   Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Co. Inc.; Abbott Laboratories; Abbott Laboratories Inc.; Mallinckrodt PLC; Mallinckrodt LLC; Endo Health Solutions Inc; Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Cephalon Inc.; Barr Laboratories Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Ortho­Mcneil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.; Watson Laboratories Inc.; Allergan PLC; Actavis Pharma Inc.; Actavis LLC; Insys Therapeutics Inc.; Mckesson Corp.; Mckesson Medical­Surgical Inc.; Cardinal Health Inc.; Amerisourcebergen Drug Corp.; Express Scripts Holding Co.; Express Scripts Inc.; CVS Health Corp.; Caremark Rx LLC; Caremarkpcs Health LLC; Caremark LLC; Unitedhealth Group Inc.; Optum Inc.; Optumrx Inc.; and Does I- 100.

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10. JeffCo Sheriff announces lawsuit against opioid producers

    Mar 16, 2018 | Trussville Tribune (AL)

    By Staff

    Speaking from the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse, Sheriff Mike Hale announced that his office is in the process of filing a lawsuit against opioid manufacturer Purdu Pharma, joining Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall who, on Feb. 6, said that he would file a lawsuit against the company.

    “As sheriff I see the devastating impact of this opioid crisis everyday,” Hale said. “Deputies respond to calls, opioid addicts are coming into our jails and families are ripped apart as they watch our loved ones succumb to addiction. This growing crisis has forced my office to spend deputies’ time, jail resources and other tax payer dollars to address the fallout.”

    Hale was with a “task force” made up of officials from the sheriff’s office, the Jefferson County Commission, the county’s attorney and others involved in the lawsuit.

    “Behind me, we have our task force that’s going to once and for all put an end to this opioid crisis that’s plaguing our area,” said commission president Jimmie Stephens. “Together we can make a difference. The Jefferson County Commission and the Jefferson management staff is 100 percent these actions.

    We will work together and coordinate our efforts through every legal means possible to stop this dreaded menace to our areas.”

    During the press conference Hale said that he has directed the county attorney to begin filing the lawsuit, which he said will be joined by several other municipalities, including Hueytown, Pleasant Grove and Mountain Brook.

    “This file is a part of our ongoing fight to put an end to this crisis and to put tax payer dollars back to where they should be.”

    He cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relating to opioid use in Jefferson County, saying that fatal overdoses have doubled in Alabama have doubled over the last few years. He said that addiction to opioids usually begins with a prescription. But if opioids become medically unavailable they can be bought on the streets “in the form of fentanyl and heroin.”

    Hale said that opioid-related deaths have increased more than 450 percent in the county over the last ten years. He also said that heroin-related deaths have increased by more than 700 percent over the past six years in the county and that fentanyl-related deaths have increased over 3,000 percent.

    Hale said that his office is working with healthcare experts at UAB on helping prisoners with opioid addictions.

    “The deaths are only part of the story,” he said. “These addictions lead to crimes that are being committed everyday. Everyday my deputies respond to calls related to opioids all over the county.”

    County Attorney Theodore Lawson said that he believes the opioid-producing companies have known that their painkiller medications are addictive in a “long going conspiracy” and that they prescribe these medications for longer than normal. Hale stressed that the lawsuit will bring financial relief to people.

    “We want to put a stop to this and shift the financial burden where it belongs: with these companies that are profiting from it,” Hale said. “I don’t know how they sleep at night knowing their product is leading to death, destruction and heartache for so many families.”

    Hale stated that more cities may join in the lawsuit. At a meeting of the Trussville City Council on Feb. 13, the city confirmed that it would be joining in the lawsuit along with other municipalities.

    “It’s our way of saying that there is definitely a crisis here and that we’re addressing it the best way that we can to eliminate some of the problems,” he had said at that meeting.

    The sheriff’s office has recently conducted several drug raids in the Birmingham Metro Area, including Center Point, Palmerdale and Huffman where heroin and fentanyl, along with weapons and cash were seized.

    “I think it’s huge that these three cities had seen that this was important,” Hale told the Tribune after the press conference. “I think the other cities will look at the leadership of these cities and I really look for more to be a part of it.”

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11. Jefferson County files lawsuit against opioid makers, suppliers

    Mar 16, 2018 | Alabama.com (AL)

    By Howard Koplowitz

    The Jefferson County Commission, the county sheriff and three municipalities filed a lawsuit Thursday against 27 opioid manufacturers and suppliers, claiming a "long-going conspiracy" that the makers knew their drugs were highly addictive and that they were prescribed much longer than necessary, leading to addiction.

    It was immediately unclear exactly what legal claims the plaintiffs are making in the suit, but the county is seeking a portion of the drug companies' profits to reimburse the county for jail, sheriff's office and other costs related to the opioid crisis.

    "What we're finding is that there's a long-going conspiracy with the drug manufacturers that have known that these painkillers are addictive," county attorney Theo Lawson told reporters outside the Jefferson County courthouse in Birmingham.

    Among the drug companies named in the lawsuit were Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon and Purdue Pharma.

    Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale said the opioid crisis is "continuing to grow and become more expensive" for the county to manage. He noted that fatal opioid doses in the county increased more than 450 percent in the last 10 years. In the last six years, heroin deaths have jumped 700 percent and fentanyl deaths have spiked 3,000 percent, according to the sheriff.

    "Good families in Jefferson County ... have suffered. Every hardworking, taxpaying American has carried the financial burden of this destruction while the drug companies have gotten richer and richer," Hale said. "We want to put a stop to this and shift the financial burden where it belongs with these companies that are profiting from it. I don't know how they can sleep at night knowing their product is leading to death, destruction and heartache for so many families."

    Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens said members the county's task force on the opioid epidemic were all in agreement to file the suit.

    "We want the opioid crisis to end. We want responsible prescriptions. We want a limit to the amount of opioids that people can purchase. We want to have an alternative to where our people will not get addicted to heroin or fentanyl," he said. "This is a cost on society. This is a cost on your government and we're looking to put that burden on those that cost it."

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12. JeffCo, others sue opioid drug companies

    Mar 15, 2018 | WBRC (AL)

    By Alan Collins

    Jefferson County, along with Sheriff Mike Hale and three cities, are suing opioid drug companies.

    The massive lawsuit names nearly 30 companies and individuals and is just short of 300 pages long. And there might be more added. County leaders say the opioid crisis is putting an undue burden on them to combat the deadly addiction.

    "Arrests, cost of incarcerations, the personal cost to families to get loved ones to kick the habit addicted to opioids," Hale said.

    The cities of Pleasant Grove, Hueytown and Mountain Brook are joining the lawsuit. Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens said he believes the legal action will help in the war against addictions.

    "We want to limit the amount of opioids people can purchase. We want to have an alternative to where people won't get hooked on heroin and fentanyl," Stephens said.

    Theo Lawson, the county attorney, said drug companies are making billions of dollars by over producing the drug.

    "There is along going conspiracy with the drug manufacturers that have known their pain killers are addictive," Lawson said.

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13. Limestone County files lawsuit against opioid makers, distributors

    Mar 15, 2018 | WHNT (19)

    By Brian Lawson

    With opioid-related deaths at record levels, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has found prescription opioids are a driving force in the 16-year increase in those deaths. A new federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Limestone County, taking aim at opioid manufacturers and distributors.

    The CDC reports, “We now know that overdoses from prescription opioids are a driving factor in the 16-year increase in opioid overdose deaths. The amount of prescription opioids sold to pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors’ offices nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2010, yet there had not been an overall change in the amount of pain that Americans reported.

    “Deaths from prescription opioids—drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone—have more than quadrupled since 1999.”

    Alabama ranks near the top in prescription opioid use nationally, and the highly addictive drugs bring with them a slew of consequences that state and local governments are coping with, lawyers for Limestone County say.

    Ryan Kral, an attorney for Montgomery-based Beasley Allen is among the firm’s lawyers representing Limestone County. The firm has filed a number of opioid-related lawsuits in recent months on behalf of local governments and the state of Alabama.

    Kral said the aim is to help Limestone County recoup costs associated with the widespread use and abuse of opioids and also to correct drug maker and drug distributor behavior.

    Kral said the costs to local governments like Limestone are still being tallied up, but where the costs occur are well known.

    “Increased law enforcement, increased court costs, increased rehabilitation and treatment costs,” Kral said. “We are seeking recoupment of those costs.”

    Kral said the powerful opioids were carefully administered up until about 1999.

    “Prescriptions were limited to short-term, end of life-care use,” Kral said.

    But that changed, the lawsuit argues, and drug makers began making the case for wider use.

    The lawsuits claim doctors relied on company representations about the drugs and patients have been paying the price.

    The drugs in the lawsuit are legal and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

    Kral sees similarities between the new lawsuits and suits against big tobacco.

    “The marketing tactics used by these companies had deceptively put forth both the benefits of opioids prescriptions as well as underplaying the risks,” he said.

    The companies named in the lawsuit include, Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, LTD.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Noramco, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Allergan PLC f/k/a Actavis PLS; Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Actavis, Inc.; Watson Laboratories, Inc.; Actavis, LLC; Actavis Pharm a, Inc. f/k/a Watson Pharma, Inc.; Mallinckrodt plc; Mallinckrodt LLC; McKesson Corporation; Cardinal Health, Inc.; and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation.

    The case is being heard in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Alabama, but similar lawsuits have been filed across the U.S. The Limestone County lawsuit is among those expected to be transferred during the pre-trial phase to a federal court in Cleveland.

    Kral said the normal procedure is if the case is going to trial, rather than settled or dismissed, it will be sent back to the jurisdiction where the lawsuit was filed.

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14. Two county commissions sue Purdue Pharma, others for opioid epidemic

    Mar 15, 2018 | West Virginia Record (WV)

    By Kyla Asbury

    Two more lawsuits have been filed against Purdue Pharma and others for the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the state.

    Barbour County Commission and Taylor County Commission filed their lawsuits in their respective circuit courts earlier this week.

    Between 2007 and 2012, the defendants sold 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia—5.1 million of which was to Barbour County and 3.1 million of which was to Taylor County, according to the suits.

    The counties claim the defendants also distributed high quantities of several other scheduled narcotics to pharmacies throughout the state, including formulations of fentanyl and suboxone, which have quickly became centerpieces in the opioid epidemic.

    “This is more than a marginal amount of excess medication,” the complaints state. “This is the concoction and proliferation of a plan by Manufacturer Defendants and Distributors to maximize profits by manipulating medical judgment of prescribers and saturate towns too small to fight back with a dangerous product that would affect the entire community.”

    The counties claim for years, these opioids were pushed on Taylor and Barbour counties.

    The Board of Pharmacy also neglected to protect its citizens, according to the suits.

    The counties are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a restraining order to prevent the defendants from continuing to violate state laws. They are represented by H. Truman Chafin and Letitia N. Chafin of The Chafin Law Firm; Hunter B. Mullens and Catherine A. Mullens of Mullens & Mullens; Mark E. Troy of Troy Law Firm; Harry F. Bell Jr. of The Bell Law Firm; and John Yanchunis, Patrick Barthle and James D. Young of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group.

    The defendants in the suits are Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma Inc.;  The Purdue Frederick Company Inc.; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd;  Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Cephalon Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals  Inc.; Ortho-Mcneil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Noramco Inc.;  Mallinckrodt PLC; Mallinckrodt LLC; Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC;  Johnson & Johnson; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals  Inc.; Insys Therapeutics Inc.; Allergan PLC; Actavis PLC; Actavis Inc.;  Actavis LLC; Actavis Pharma Inc.; Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Watson  Pharma Inc.; Watson Laboratories Inc.; McKesson Corporation; Cardinal  Health 110 LLC; AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation; Miami-Luken Inc.;  Rite Aid of Maryland Inc., doing business as Rite Aid Mid-Atlantic  Customer Support Center Inc.; and West Virginia Board of Pharmacy.

    In January, U.S. District Judge Dan Polster was assigned to oversee the opioid lawsuits that were filed in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, as there have been nearly 200 filed against the drug wholesalers in at least five states. Dozens of West Virginia counties and cities have filed lawsuits against the drug companies, most of which were filed in federal court.
    

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15. Taylor County Commission joins other counties in opioid litigation

    Mar 15, 2018 | Mountain Statesman (WV)

    By Nicki Skinner

    To outsiders, West Virginia really seems like “almost heaven,” but to those living in the state, there are some major issues plaguing the communities. One of those is a nationwide drug epidemic that has swept the state, leaving almost every county reeling from its side effects.

    In a continuing effort to fight against the ravages and destruction that the drug crisis has created, the Taylor County Commission has decided to join with other counties to take legal action against some of the culprits.

    “Personally, I am happy to join in with the litigation,” shared Taylor County Commission President Orville Wright. “Anytime we can do something that will benefit the county and the people in it is always a good thing.”

    According to a press release from the Mullens and Mullens, PLLC, the litigation will be focused on taking on some of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and wholesalers, that have been blamed for flooding the state’s counties with millions of prescription pills.

    “As a result of the large drug distributors intentional actions, West Virginia has the highest overdose rate in the nation, leads the county in fatal drug overdoses and is the most medicated state,” remarked H. Truman Chafin, Esq, of The Chafin Law Firm. “Approximately 90 percent of Circuit Court criminal dockets involve drug abuse.”

    He went on to reveal that the defendants in the case have distributed 2,543,400 doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone in Taylor County from 2007 to 2012.

    “With a population of 16,977, per the 2013 census, this equals some 150 highly addictive and deadly pills for every man, woman and child in Taylor County,” Chafin reported.

    He went on to disclose that the defendants made hundreds of billions of dollars in profits, with $17 billion in revenue made by shipping over 423 million doses of opioids to the state during that time.

    Wright explained that deciding to join with the other counties to take action was an easy one.

    “Basically, this class action type of suit is a no lose for us,” he said. “If the case doesn’t go in our favor, we aren’t out anything, because we don’t have to pay the lawyers unless there’s a settlement issued.”

    According to Chafin, Taylor County will seek not only compensatory, but punitive damages, from the multi-national drug distributors for their intentional and reckless acts.

    “Any settlement that we get will be used to benefit the county,” shared Wright. “It is my hopes to take the money and apply it to programs that are used to help combat the issue, as well as some that help those who have been affected.”

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16. Parkersburg files suit against drug distributors

    Mar 16, 2018 | Parkersburg News & Sentinel (WV)

    By Evan Bevins

    More than 7 million doses of prescription opioids were sold to retailers in Wood County from 2007 to 2012 by five distributors, according to a lawsuit filed this week against the companies on behalf of the City of Parkersburg.

    Though no amount is specified, the suit seeks “compensatory and punitive damages from the Defendant Wholesale Distributors for the creation and continuation of a public nuisance,”namely the drug abuse epidemic. It was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia by attorneys Rusty Webb of Charleston and John D. Hurst of Morgantown.

    “The end goal is to pay back the political subdivisions the damages they’ve incurred for the opioids dumped in their districts,” Webb said in a previous interview.

    AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., McKesson Corporation, Wal-Mart Stores East LP and Miami-Luken Inc. are named as defendants.

    “The repeated filling of suspicious orders, over an extended period of time, in violation of public safety statutes by the Defendant Wholesale Distributors demonstrates wanton, willful, or reckless conduct and/or criminal indifference to civil obligations affecting the rights of others and justifies an award of punitive damages,” the suit says.

    Responses by the defendants have yet to be filed.

    The suit claims the companies in question have ignored requirements under federal law to inform authorities of suspicious orders, which could include orders of unusual size or frequency or deviating from a normal pattern, and address them. It cites a 2007 letter from the Drug Enforcement Agency to distributors stating that “their responsibility does not end merely with the filing of a suspicious order report” and instructing them to conduct an independent analysis to determine whether the drugs are “likely to be diverted from legitimate channels.”

    “The sheer volume of prescription opioids distributed to pharmacies in Parkersburg and surrounding areas (Wood County) is excessive for the medical need of the community and facially suspicious,” the suit says. “Some red flags are so obvious that no one who engages in the legitimate distribution of controlled substances can reasonably claim ignorance of them.”

    According to statistics from a DEA database included in the suit, the defendant companies sold more than 1 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone to retailers in Wood County each year between 2007 and 2012. The county had a population of 86,596 in the 2010 census.

    The suit goes on to claim that the defendant distributors “have refused to recognize any duty beyond reporting only some types of suspicious orders,” citing amicus briefs filed in a 2016 case by the Healthcare Distribution Management Association and National Association of Chain Drug Stores, challenging the requirement to investigate and halt suspicious orders and calling them “intrusive obligations on distributors.”

    The suit notes the United States consumes opioid pain relievers “at a greater rate than any other nation” and West Virginia has an opioid pain reliever prescription rate of 137.6 per 100 persons, third highest in the country, with the national average being 82.5.

    The state also had the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the country in 2011, 2014 and 2015, the suit says.

    Parkersburg City Council in February voted unanimously to declare the unlawful distribution of prescription medication a public nuisance and encourage Mayor Tom Joyce’s administration to pursue the lawsuit.

    It’s one of multiple suits filed by West Virginia municipalities and counties against drug distributors. More than 300 lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies and distributors are being overseen by a federal judge in Cleveland, and Webb has said he anticipates the Parkersburg case ending up there as well.

    Wood County recently engaged the services of a Clarksburg law firm to join in another suit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

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17. Broward County Files Federal Lawsuit Against Opioid Drug Manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | WJCT (FL)

    By Caitlin Switalski

    Broward County filed a new lawsuit in federal court Monday against manufacturers of opioid drugs.

    Walmart, Walgreens, the McKesson Corp. and CVS Health are just some of the drug makers and distributors Broward County is suing.  

    Others include Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health Inc., Health Mart Systems, Mallinckrodt, Amerisourcebergen Corp., as well as Endo Janssen, Purdue, Cephalon and Teva Pharmaceuticals. 
    

    The county accused the companies in the complaint of violating rhe Racketeer Influenced and and Corrupt Organizations Act, as well as the Florida Deceptive And Unfair Trade Practices Act, and others.  

    Citing the opioid crisis as the reasoning for the suit, the county is also alleging other federal laws were violated by making and distributing opioid drugs like Fentanyl and OxyContin. 
    

    In Broward County alone, there were more than 580 deaths due to opioid overdoses in 2017, which breaks down to more than 11 a week.
    

    Broward County announced in the lawsuit that officials are seeking a jury trial.
    
    

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18. Broward sues manufacturers and pharmacies over opioids

    Mar 15, 2018 | Sun Sentinel (FL)

    By Larry Barzewski

    Broward County is going after opioid manufacturers it blames for the epidemic that has ravaged communities — and large pharmacy chains that it says were too ready to fill even questionable prescriptions for the drugs.

    The county filed suit Monday in federal court against 19 companies in the opioid suit, including manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma, Cephalon and Teva Pharmaceuticals and pharmacies such as Walgreens, Walmart and CVS.

    The complaint alleges deceptive and unfair trade practices, public nuisance, negligence, unjust enrichment and racketeering.

    Broward, like many other local governments across the country, is suing or considering suing the companies because of the large costs incurred as the opioid epidemic taxes local police and emergency medical services. About 200 suits, including one by Delray Beach, have been filed nationally.

    Palm Beach County this week selected a legal team to pursue its suit.

    The prescriptions are for brand-name medications like OxyContin, Opana, Subsys, Fentora and Duragesic. Generic versions included oxycodone, methadone and fentanyl.

    Overdose deaths have skyrocketed with the popularity of opioids, including heroin and super-potent synthetic versions of the drug.

    “The overdose epidemic is estimated to have claimed more than 900 lives in South Florida in 2016 alone, including 582 drug deaths in Broward County,” the suit said. By the end of 2016, 10 people a week were losing their lives in Broward County to overdoses and another 17 a week had non-fatal overdoses, with most related to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids, according to the suit.

    As for the pharmacies, they “regularly filled opioid prescriptions that would have been deemed questionable” and they “have not adequately trained or supervised their employees at point of sale to investigate or report invalid prescriptions,” it says.

    The suit says the opioid manufacturers misled the public for more than 20 years about the dangers of opioid addiction and problems with its long-term use. It alleges fraudulent activity on their part, saying they paid “front organizations” that published false and misleading marketing materials.

    The suit seeks to stop the manufacturers from making any further false or misleading statements regarding opioids and to assure that pharmacies will report suspicious prescriptions. The county is seeking more than $75,000 in damages — including punitive damages — for injuries it sustained because of the epidemic.

    Drug makers have denied wrongdoing. With the onslaught of legal action against them, they say they have made efforts to stem diversion of their pain medications into the black market.

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19. Hall among 12 Georgia counties suing opioid manufacturers

    Mar 16, 2018 | Gainsville Times (GA)

    By Nick Bowman

    At least 12 Georgia counties are now suing opioid manufacturers and distributors in federal court over damage caused by the opioid epidemic.

    Hall County and five others, Cook, Madison, Irwin and Walton, have joined Athens-Clarke, Candler, Oconee, Crisp, Jeff Davis, Sumter and Oglethorpe counties in filing lawsuits in the federal multidistrict process established in U.S. District Judge Dan Polster’s Ohio court.

    Athens law firm Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley is representing the counties, and Gainesville law firm Hasty Pope is assisting with the lawsuit and also representing Hall County.

    “When you’re talking about the epidemic in Georgia, Northeast Georgia is one of the most affected areas,” Jon Pope, of Hasty Pope, said on Wednesday, March 14. “Hall County through 2016 had prescription rate of … 94.5 prescriptions of opioids for every 100 people in Hall County. In Habersham County, by contrast, it was 122 (prescriptions).”

    In addition to Candler County in Southeast Georgia, the Candler County Hospital Authority has signed onto the suit, according to the Athens firm.

    “We’ve made presentations to dozens of local governments across Georgia and anticipate presenting to many more,” BBGA partner Jim Matthews said in an announcement. “We have extensive experience in multidistrict litigation (MDL) and are pleased to continue filing for counties.”

    With Hall County, the law firm negotiated a 30 percent cut of any settlement that takes place in exchange for not charging the county for any of the legal work and research required to make the case.

    The county, meanwhile, will be able to show the financial damage caused by the opioid crisis in hospital costs, jail costs, law enforcement and through other aspects of local government and potentially recoup those costs through a settlement with drug manufacturers.

    The Gainesville City Council has not yet decided whether the city will join the suit, City Manager Bryan Lackey told The Times on Thursday, March 15, but a decision could be made as early as Tuesday. Likewise, the Northeast Georgia Health System is not involved in the lawsuit, according to spokesman Sean Couch, and he noted the system doesn’t have enough information at this time to make a statement on whether it would join the suit in the future.

    Pope said the problems of the opioid crisis have become so dire that life expectancy is falling in certain middle class populations for the first time in decades. In figures previously reported by The Times, the Northeast Georgia Medical Center emergency room handled 280 cases of opiate overdoses in 2015. In 2016, that figure jumped to 700.

    Lawyers around the United States are laying the blame on the pharmaceutical industry, which they say either encouraged opioids to be over-prescribed in the past 20 years or outright deceived doctors and the public about how addictive the drugs were.

    “We believe it will be established that these drug companies deliberately set out to addict millions of people to opioids,” Matthews said in the announcement. “This is a crisis with a profound impact in the state of Georgia.”

    In Judge Polster’s view, the entire nation shares in the blame of what he said was clearly an epidemic.

    “In my humble opinion, everyone shares some of the responsibility, and no one has done enough to abate it. That includes the manufacturers, the distributors, the pharmacies, the doctors, the federal government and state government, local governments, hospitals, third-party payers and individuals. Just about everyone we’ve got on both sides of the equation in this case,” Polster said in a transcript reported by Cleveland.com. “The federal court is probably the least likely branch of government to try and tackle this, but candidly, the other branches of government, federal and state, have punted. So it’s here.”

    Polster hopes to have the cases resolved in 2019 and has encouraged both plaintiffs and defendants to reach a settlement before the lawsuits go to trial.

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20. Madison joins other counties in opioids lawsuit

    Mar 16, 2018 | Athens Banner Herlald (GA)

    By Alexia Ridley

    An Athens law firm is representing another local community joining a multi-district lawsuit aimed at manufacturers of opioids.

    Madison, Hall, Cook, Irwin, and Walton counties are now joining forces with Athens-Clarke, Oconee, Oglethorpe, and several others in the lawsuit. They are being represented by Athens law firm Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley.

     Attorney Patrick Garrard says the local governments are trying to recover a wide range of expenses caused by the opioid epidemic.

     “They’re seeking costs related to the opioid issues that each county is facing within its community: law enforcement costs, treatment-type costs and hopefully future resources to deal with the epidemic that a lot of our communities are facing in the state,” Garrard said.

     Others involved in the suit are Candler County, The Candler Hospital Authority, Crisp County, Jeff Davis County, and Sumter County.

     The firm expects to file similar lawsuits on behalf or more Georgia cities, counties, and hospitals.

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21. Chatham County sues opioid makers

    Mar 15, 2018 | Savannah Now (GA)

    By Jan Skutch

    Chatham County has sued a group of opioid manufacturers and distributors for damages stemming from their allegedly misrepresenting their products and their addictive nature that caused economic hardships locally.

    The 44-page suit was filed March 6 by attorney Mark Tate in U.S. District Court in Savannah for Chatham County and three regional plaintiffs as part of a growing national effort to recoup damages and control the opioid epidemic.

    Tate, who was hired by the Chatham County Commission to represent the county’s interests, said he is seeking damages, including punitive damages, to cover the economic costs of dealing with the opioid epidemic he said goes back 20 years.

    “Those damages will be developed but could run into the tens of millions of dollars,” he said.

    The suit contends Chatham County has sustained economic damages because of wrongful conduct such as having to provide medical care to patients suffering from opioid-related addiction and injury, increased costs of law enforcement related to the opioid epidemic, and costs of providing care for children whose parents suffer from opioid-related disabilities.

    Meanwhile, the local litigation has been conditionally transferred to federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, where U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is trying to either settle the cases or bring them to trial by year’s end.

    The Chatham County suit, along with similar suits Tate filed for Richmond Hill, the city of Brunswick and the Bacon County Hospital Foundation, were among 62 civil actions moved to Polster’s court since Dec. 5, 2017.

    “We are familiar with practicing before Judge Polster and are familiar with his style and demands,” Tate said. “We work well with him and his court. ... From a judicial perspective, we could not be in a better place to work through these cases.”

    The local suit names 23 defendants, including Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson, charging that manufacturers and distributors overstated the drugs’ benefits and downplaying the risks.

    It alleges violations of Georgia’s Controlled Substance Act, Georgia’s Pharmacy Practice Act, Deceptive Trade Practices Act along with negligence and public nuisance.

    The defendants “made false and misleading claims contrary to the language on their drugs’ labels, regarding risks of using their drugs, and have spread their false and deceptive statements by marketing opioids directly to doctors and patients in Chatham County,” the suit said.

    Further, the manufacturers “disseminated information to pervert medical understanding of opioids and risks of opioid use,” the suit said.

    “The unlawful diversion of prescription opioids is a direct and proximate cause of the opioid epidemic, prescription drug abuse, addiction, morbidity and mortality in Chatham County.”

    The suit also contends the defendants were “repeatedly warned by law enforcement of the unlawfulness and consequences of their actions and omissions.”

    “The sheer volume of prescription opioids distributed in Chatham County are excessive for the medical need of the community,” the suit said.

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22. Bossier Parish files federal suit against opioid manufacturers, distributors

    Mar 15, 2018 | KTBS (LA)

    By Bia Roldan

    Bossier Parish, LA - Local governments are fighting the opioid epidemic in court.

    Bossier is the first parish in Louisiana to file a lawsuit in federal court against opioid manufacturers and distributors 

    "What the evidence is revealing is there was a mismarkleting campaign by these manufacturers to dupe pharmacists and physicians into prescribing this medication for almost every medical ailment," Bossier Parish Attorney, Patrick Jackson said.

    The lawsuit was filed back in December and has now been moved to Ohio where similar suits against drug companies are being consolidated.

    Jackson said data shows the opioid epidemic trancends all walks of life and is costing tax payers, the lawsuit aims to get that money back.

    "We've had a need for a drug court. It has taxed both our law enforcement our parish jails, our public health systems, to millions of dollars."

    Atty. John Young and Atty. Rico Alvendia are also on the case.

    Young said they have filed a similar lawsuit for their client, Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office.

    Webster Parish, Jefferson-Davis Parish, and Beauregard Parish have also retained their services and are working on their own lawsuits.

    The Caddo Parish Commission is set to talk about it at their next meeting.

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23. Sumner County the latest to go after opioid distributors, manufacturers

    Mar 16, 2018 | WKRN (TN)

    By Brent Remadna

    The opioid epidemic is hitting communities hard.

    No matter your race, religion or economic standing anyone can be affected, and Tennessee is one of the hardest hit states. Sumner County, like many counties in Middle Tennessee, is no stranger to the crisis.

    “I believe that it is a growing problem in Sumner County that is getting worse,” Sumner County Deputy Larry Burke said.

    According to Burke, over the last four to five years, the county has seen an increase in overdoses.

    “If we establish that there may be opioid effect on that individual then we are directed and trained in Sumner County to be able to administer the Narcan,” explained Burke.

    According to the Tennessee Department of Health, the number of opioid related deaths nationwide has increased year-to-year. In 2013, there were 754 opioid related deaths. That number rose to 1,186 in 2016.

    “These are not safe drugs. We are here to tell you it has been proven in our county and across the state and across the nation,” said Sumner County Executive, Anthony Holt. “We are involved in litigation with pharmaceutical companies.”

    The law firm Beasley Allen has filed a lawsuit against some of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and distribute opioids.

    The complaint, which was filed on behalf of Sumner County, alleges the marketing of these drugs contributed to the creation of the opioid epidemic.

    “What we are seeking is any kind of compensation to reimburse increased law enforcement costs [and] treatment rehabilitation that are currently falling on the taxpayers,” said Ryan Kral

    This lawsuit will be grouped with many more from around the nation with a hearing in Ohio.

    “When lawyers sought the consolidation of all these law firms nationwide there were roughly 60 to 70 filed and since then, there are over 150 that have filed over the last few months,” said Kral. “We believe they have a good shot, whether it is a city or county in court to try to get these companies to try to be accountable and to compensate them for those who have been hurt by their product.”

    Kral said the lawsuits are becoming more common and it is likely there will be more filed in the future.

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Midwest (IL, IN, SD, WI)

24. Winnebago County, City of Rockford sue prescription opioid manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | Mystateline (IL)

    By Stasff

    Winnebago County, the Winnebago County State's Attorney and the City of Rockford announced on Thursday that they had filed lawsuits against 20 manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.

    In January, all three announced their intention to file suit against pharmaceutical companies to hold them accountable for the opioid crisis in Rockford and Winnebago County. They say manufacturers and distributors not only failed to report over prescriptions, they also chose to "abuse their position by continuing to ship massive quantities of drugs to local pharmacies" without performing or reporting any checks.

    The lawsuits also allege that wholesale distributors and manufacturers have worked cooperatively to maximize the amount of drugs flowing into communities rather than implementing effective controls.

    The County and City argue that the end result is opioids flooding into the community leading to the epidemic of addiction to both prescription opioids and controlled substances like heroin. They're looking for compensation after being forced to use taxpayers dollars to deal with the fallout of the epidemic.

    They will not pay for legal representation services in this case, however; legal fees will be paid from any recovery from the defendants.

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25. Winnebago County, City of Rockford sue 20 opioid manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | WREX (IL)

    By Breane Lyga

    Winnebago County and the City of Rockford are taking legal action against a number of manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids, by filing a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court.

    The lawsuit was against 20 opioid manufacturers. Winnebago County and the City of Rockford allege opioid manufacturers not only failed to report over-prescribing addictive medication, but also abused their position by continuing to ship massive amounts of medication to the area. As a result, the state's attorney's office said this has lead to a public health crisis with an epidemic of addiction of both prescription medication and heroin.

    The county and city are represented by former judge Ann Callis, now a partner at Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C., and Peter Mougey, a shareholder with Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor in Pensacola, Florida.

    No taxpayer money is paying for legal fees. The state's attorney's office says  the defendants will pay for the legal fees.

    The county and city announced the intent to file the lawsuit in January. 

    According to Winnebago County Coroner Bill Hintz, in 2017, 124 people died from opioid overdoses, compared to 96 in 2016. Hintz says 63 people died from Fentanyl or a combination of it and other drugs. Heroin contributed to 55 overdose deaths.

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26. South Bend to file lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, distributors

    Mar 16, 2018 | WNDU (IN)

    By Staff

    South Bend is filing a federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

    They're joining a growing list of Indiana cities and counties that have accused the opioid companies of racketeering, deceptive trade practices, fraud and conspiracy to market and distribute opioids unlawfully in their communities.

    Mayor Pete Buttigieg discussed the lawsuit Thursday afternoon, and Maria Catanzarite will bring you a full report during our evening newscasts. This web story will be updated as well.

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27. South Dakota Suing Major Prescription Drug Manufacturers

    Mar 15, 2018 | KDLT News (SD)

    By Miranda Paige

    South Dakota is taking on the issue of addiction from all angles. Just announced today tobacco companies will pay the state nearly 30 million dollars as part of a lawsuit settlement.

    Attorney General Marty Jackley says there’s another important fight that’s beginning. The state is going after the makers and sellers of prescription painkillers.

    “I believe that these particular manufacturers knew exactly what they were doing,” said Jackley.

    Last summer Attorneys General from around the U.S. including Marty Jackley, investigated opioid prescription drug manufacturers and distributors.

    From the information gathered, Jackley has decided to file a civil lawsuit against three makers of painkillers, Purdue Pharma, Janssen, and Endo.

    “For their misrepresentations regarding the risks and the benefits of opioid use and their actions to conceal those risks and benefits,” said Jackley.

    He alleges they were deceptive in their marketing tactics. Last year around 600,000 opioid prescriptions were written in South Dakota. Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd, who’s also a doctor, says this rise in prescription drug use is due to a misconception.

    “It’s really become a challenge because people have been told by pharmaceutical manufacturers that they should be able to live pain free and those of us who prescribe narcotics on a daily basis know that really what narcotics are suppose to do is alter your perception of pain, not make you pain free,” said Dr. Curd.

    He says it’s a dangerous misunderstanding. Some people become addicted and when they can no longer get prescription drugs they turn to the black market. The drugs can also be lethal. Dozens of people die every year in South Dakota from opioid overdoses.

    “Everyday people are suffering from this opioid crisis and we can’t continue to wait,” said Jackley.

    We reached out to the three pharmaceutical companies named in the lawsuit.

    We heard back from Janssen Pharmaceuticals who says the state’s claims are “baseless and unsubstantiated.”

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28. Milwaukee County Sues Big Pharma

    Mar 15, 2018 | WSAU (WI)

    By Tom King

    Milwaukee County is going after pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis.

    The county sued several drug makers and distributors in federal court yesterday alleging violation of federal racketeering laws and the creation of a public nuisance.  County Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun released a statement saying the pharmaceutical industry has engaged in "intentional lies and misdeeds" that are the "primary driver of one of the worst addiction epidemics this country has ever seen." 

    The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office says of the 401 drug-related deaths last year in the county, most were opioid-related, and over two-thousand people were sent to hospital emergency rooms for opioid overdoses last year. 

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Northeast (NY, PA)

29. Ulster joins other counties in lawsuit against prescription opioid manufacturers

    Mar 16, 2018 | MidHudsonNews.com (NY)

    By Staff

    Ulster County has joined the legal battle against prescription pharmaceutical companies that counties maintain used deceptive marketing that misrepresents the safety and efficacy of long-term opioid use.

    Ulster’s lawsuit was filed on Thursday by the law firm of Simmons Hanly Conroy, which is also representing Dutchess, Greene, Orange and Sullivan counties.

    Ulster Executive Michael Hein said his county has witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of opioid abuse.

    “If you stood in my shoes and been to funerals and held mothers and fathers in your arms because they are putting their child in the ground then you would know fully that what is happening here with opioids and the next progression that moves onto heroin that is directly tied to this kind of tragedy,” Hein said. “It is specifically and a direct result of large pharmaceutical companies turning a blind eye to science and to what they knew was going to be the end result of flooding the market with a huge amount of opioid-based pain medication.”

    The lawsuit alleges the defendant companies sought to create a false perception in the minds of physicians, patients, health care providers and health care payors that using opioids to treat chronic pain was safe for most patients and that the drugs’ benefits outweighed the risks.”

     

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30. Morrisville might soon file opioid lawsuit as part of federal multidistrict case

    Mar 16, 2018 | Bucks County Courier Times (PA)

    By Thomas Friestad

    Council members will decide at their next meeting whether to work with a Philadelphia firm, assess the opioid crisis’ past and future impact on the borough, and sue multiple drug manufacturers and distributors for damages.

    Morrisville could join the hundreds of parties currently participating in federal legislation against major pharmaceutical companies.

    Council members will vote Monday on whether to hire Philadelphia firm Feldman & Pinto to “take action” in the opioid crisis. This would include forming a “damage profile” based on how excessive opioid prescription and marketing has affected and will continue to affect the borough. Then, officials could sue to recoup the money the borough has spent on emergency services, drug awareness and disposal programs.

    Morrisville would pay the firm only if it wins in court; then, it would pay 20 percent of any damages it is awarded.

    Borough Solicitor Randy Flager, who suggested the litigation to council members, compared the opioid lawsuits to the ones filed en masse against tobacco companies in the late 1990s, and said he expects this case to eventually become even bigger.

    “This is the best mechanism to get (the pharmaceutical companies) to change their behavior,” said Flager, who described the companies’ handling of opioid prescriptions as “giving them away like candy.”

    Council members heard a presentation this week from attorney Rosemary Pinto, of Feldman & Pinto, about what an opioid lawsuit would mean for Morrisville.

    Pinto told council members the goal of a lawsuit is not just to recoup money but to put an end to the pharmaceutical company practices that resulted in damages in the first place.

    “We want them to be responsible, follow the federal laws, stop the fake marketing and only prescribe these drugs to seriously ill people that have serious pain syndromes when needed,” she said.

    An individual borough lawsuit would be consolidated with about 500 other cases filed by cities and counties across the country against a host of manufacturers, including Teva, Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson, and distributors, like Cardinal Health and McKesson. The cases all are being heard by U.S. Judge Dan Aaron Polster, of the Northern District of Ohio.

    All the cases address similar questions, including whether the companies had knowledge of widespread opioid diversion and improper marketing, and entail charges ranging from violations of consumer protection and controlled substance laws to fraud and unjust enrichment.

    Feldman & Pinto would partner with San Francisco-based firm Skikos, Crawford, Skikos, Joseph & Millican, which is coordinating the opioid cases and settlements as the plaintiffs’ liaison counsel.

    In filing a lawsuit, Morrisville would join Bucks County, Bensalem and Bristol Township in pursuing legal action against pharmaceutical companies.

    Data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration shows Bucks’ 625,249 residents experienced a 43-percent increase in overdose deaths from 2015 to 2016, or 168 deaths — up from 117 deaths. Ninety of the 168 deaths in 2016, or 53 percent, implicated fentanyl, according to county coroner reports.

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Southwest (OK)

31. Rogers County joins federal opioid lawsuit

    Mar 15, 2018 | The Claremore Daily Progress (OK)

    By Cydney Baron

    Rogers County commissioners have voted to hire a law firm to pursue federal opioid litigation.

    The possibility has been discussed for several weeks as the commissioners have worked to gather more information.

    "We have had more conversations with individuals from the Barron firm and Morgan & Morgan. I reached out to the attorney general's office and the law firm they have retained in their litigation and did not hear back from them. My main question was—if we pursue these claims in federal court, are we foreclosing on our opportunity in the state case? Is there any conflict there?" said attorney Ben Lepak, who added that he determined that he does not believe there will be any conflict.

    "So I would be comfortable with you all moving forward with the federal case. I brought the Barron Firm's agreement with me. The county would not incur any expense unless we recover money, in which case the firm would get a percentage."

    He said the lawsuit will be filed in federal court, then "there will be quite a bit of activity after that."

    Commissioner Steve Hendrix asked, "Are we going to be asked for time, information or participation?"

    "A big part of this will be figuring out all the ways the opioid epidemic has cost the county money—law enforcement, health related etc," Lepak said.

    With no further discussion, the commissioners voted to hire outside counsel.

    The litigation

    The litigation involves opioid manufacturers and was presented to the commissioners by Brad Barron of Barron & Barron law firm in Claremore, who got details from Morgan & Morgan.

    “As proud as I am to be from this area, there is a significant problem with the abuse of painkillers,” Baron said. “It has affected many counties, many families. It has affected many people who are upstanding responsible people who get addicted to this and it has absolutely caused havoc on their lives and the lives of their loved ones,” said Barron.

    Young told the county commissioners that over the past 15 to 20 years manufacturers have “grossly oversupplied opioids.”

    “They over-shipped drugs to Rogers County,” Young said, adding that this oversupply is in violation of federal controlled substance guidelines.

    No specific manufacturers were named during the commissioners discussion.

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Broadcast Media Coverage

32. FOX and Friends

    Mar 16, 2018 | National Programming

    By Fox News

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620912?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: welcome back. well, milwaukee is taking on 13 drug companies in the opioid fight. the county's top attorney suing them from the damages of the devastating tool opioids have had there. prosecutors say 336 people died from opioids in milwaukee county last year. that number doubled from five years ago. joining us now is milwaukee county corporation council margaret dawn. margaret, thank you very much for being here. tell us about the approach you are taking, it's not just about drug dealers on the street. you are going to the source, tell us about it. >> right. >> we think that if you are a drug pusher on the street or fortune 50 company if you are taking the lives of milwaukee county residents and citizens, we are going to come after you. on wednesday we filed a civil lawsuit against 13 of this nation's largest opioid manufacturers and distributers to seek injunctive relief as well as 7:48 AMmonetary damages and assistance in repairing our communities from the devastation that these businesses intentionally have reaped on milwaukee county. pete: margaret, let me make a comparison here. >> sure. pete: as a layperson i say okay, is this similar to suing a gun manufacturer if the pinner selling it or giving it was doing something improper like a doctor overprescribing. why is it the fault of the drugmaker if it is used improperly? because there are reasons why these drugs are out there for legitimate purposes. >> well, let me start with the analogy to a gun manufacturer. if a gun manufacturer sold you a gun and told you don't worry, it won't harm you, then you might have a claim. that's the actual analogy here. these manufacturers knew that they were making inherently very addictive, very dangerous drug. and instead of being trifle truthful about that they 7:49 AMintentionally lied and created shell industry groups and paid off physicians to tell other physicians that these drugs, even if used long term, did not pose a significant risk of addiction. and that was simply false. and that's truly the ground of our claims. pete: we will read a statement briefly from the healthcare distribution alliance, which represents the drug distributers. they say this in response: those bringing lawsuits would be better served addressing the root causes, rather than trying to redirect blame through litigation. so they are saying we make a drug. we put it out there. and people misuse it or abuse it. that's not necessarily our fault. but your claim is they are misrepresenting the effects of the drug. formally or informally? >> formally. in industry statements, in their education for doctors and physicians, in studies that they have published they claim that these drugs were simply not addictive. 7:50 AMand as many of your viewers, i'm sure, well know that have families, friends, co-workers, that are struggling with addictions with these medications, that was simply false. let me further say to the gentleman that provided the industry commentary, i find that surprising since his clients have already accepted blame for this epidemic. in fact, mccommittees son, the largest drug distributer in the united states paid over $150 million in a settlement in 2017. i think the bigger picture here is that we wouldn't be sitting here. we wouldn't be having this discussion if the drug distributers and manufacturers obeyed the law. pete: sure. >> specifically the controlled substances act. they didn't. these drugs have poured into our community. and when congress relaxed the regulatory structure in 2016 after significant lobbying by these companies, we have had no choice but to seek justice in the courts and every american should take some hope in that that we can hold even the largest companies accountable for their wrongdoing. pete: margaret daun we have to leave it right there. big problem we are tackling it.

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33. Eyewitness News More Local at 8:00 AM

    Mar 16, 2018 | Rockford, IL

    By WQRF (Fox)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620890?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: the city of rockford and winnebago county announce they're suing more than 20 opioid manufacturers and distributers. it's a response to the ongoing opioid cris. they claim the companies they're suing failed to report over- prescriptions... and continue to ship mass quanties of opioids to local pharmacies without following proper procedure.

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34. Fox13 News- Good Day Utah 7AM

    Mar 16, 2018 | Salt Lake City, UT

    By KSTU (Fox)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620905?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: it's a legal challenge states are taking on, suing drug manufacturers for their role in the opioid crisis, the summit county attorney said drug makers began to flood the market with pain dillers two decades ago without accountability. >> there are careers ruined families destroyed and babies born addicted. a >> according to the utah department of health, 30 people die every month in utah due tod heroin or opioid overdose.

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35. WAAY 31 News Mornings

    Mar 16, 2018 | Huntsville, AL

    By WAAY (ABC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620913?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: a montgomery law firm has filed a lawsuit on behalf of limestone county regarding the country's opioidepidemic.. beasley allen has filed its fourth lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors on behalf of an alabama city or county .... the complaint filed on behalf of limestone county is targeting drug distributors contributing to the opioid epidemic. county commissioners tell waay 31 they're hoping this lawsuit provides relief for the county.

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36. WSBT News First Thing in the Morning

    Mar 16, 2018 | South Bend, IN

    By WSBT (CBS)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620928?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: this morning.. we're hearing from city leaders taking legal action ... in the fight against opioids. south bend's mayor pete buttigieg says... the city is in the process of filing a federal lawsuit against manufacturers in the next few days. buttigieg says... there's an obvious effect on the people in the city of south bend. but... there's also a big effect on the city's budget. he says ems calls have gone up... and first responders have given out around 500 doses of naloxone... the drug used to treat overdoses. buttigieg says.. he hopes a settlement will bring solutions. <00:29 mayor pete buttigieg "we can put the resources that might come out of a settlement here to use right away in benefitting people who are dealing with addiction issues or medical issues or even loss 00:40> the mayor says... it may be a year or more before the lawsuit reaches any conclusion.

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37. News 2 at 6pm

    Mar 16, 2018 | Nashville, TN

    By WKRN (ABC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620934?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: if you coul describe this opioid epidemic in a few words. how would you describe it? definitely growing." "deputies here in sumner county are 7:10 PMnow not only tasked with pulling people over for speeding, responding to domestic disrubances or burglaries but now in the last 4-5 years they have sen an increase in overdoses and they are now saving lives." "if we establish that there may be opioid effect on that individual then we are directed and trained in sumner county to be able to administer the narcan. according to the department of health the number of opioid related deaths nationwide has increased year- to-year. in 2013 that number was 754 by 2016 that number had grown to more than 11 hundred. and some places like sumner county are getting hit harder than others. "these are not safe drugs we are here to tel you it has been proven in our county and across the state and acros the nation." county executive, anthony holt 7:11 PMtells me sumner county has had enough...and is now taking action against those who are making the opioids. "we are inv in litigation with pharmaceutical companies." the law firm beasley allen has filed a lawsuit against big pharma opioid manufacturers and distributors, the complaint which was filed on behalf of sumner county alleges the marketing of these drugs contributed to the creation of the opiod epidemic. "what we are seekin is any kind of compensation to reimburse increased law enforcement costs treatement rehabilitation that are currently falling on the taxpayers." this lawsuit wil be grouped with many more from around the nation with a hearing in ohio. ryan kral who is involved in the litigation says these lawsuits are popping up on a regular basis now. "when lawyers sought the consolidation of al these law firms nation wide there were roughtly 60 to 70 filed. since then there are over 150 that have filed over the last few months." his thoughts on how this case wil hold up in court? "we believe they have a good shot whether it is a city or county in court to try to get these companies to try to be accountable and to compensate them for those who have been hurt by their product." a growing battle to stop addiction and death from opioids, but one that many agencies, governments and everyday citizens have joined in and are ready to fight for those who are struggling. "i want the people to know that are hopeless to know that there is hope." in sumner county brent remadna news 2> bob: all day news 2 has been digging deeper into tennessee's opioid crisis . coming up tonight at ten = news 2's morgan hightower looks at how your money is being spent... to help end the crisis. hayley: and be sure to stay with us. news 2 is hosting a town hal further discussing the opioid epidemic.

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38. KTBS 3 News at Six

    Mar 16, 2018 | Shreveport, LA

    By KTBS (ABC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620944?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: local governments are fighting the opioid epidemic in court bossier is the first parish louisiana to file a lawsuit and federal court against opioidmanufacturers and distributors their lawsuit was filed in december and has now been moved to ohio where similar its against drug companies are being consolidated. the bossier parish attorney says data shows the opioid epidemic transcends all walks of life and is costing taxpayers and now they want their money back. what the evidence is revealingthat there was a miss marketing campaign by these manufacturers to dupe. pharmacists physicians and two prescribing this medication for almost every medical ailment we've had a need for a drug court. it has taxed both our law enforcement are parish jails our health systems. to millions of dollars. the orleans parish sheriff has already filed a similar lawsuit other parishes webster jefferson davis and beauregarde are working on their own suit the caddo parish commission is set to talk about it at their next meeting.

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39. 13 News at 5:30PM

    Mar 15, 2018 | Norfolk, VA

    By WVEC (ABC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33620951?token=aa4117c4-dfcf-45b1-99d1-348afca6a262

    Rough Transcript: to local governments in virginia are suing drug manufacturers because of the role they say they played in the opioid epidemic city of alexandria and dickinson county filed lawsuits in state court lawyers in the cases say these are the first lawsuits of their kind filed in virginia they're asking for at least a hundred and thirty million dollars in damages between the two suits and they say that's money that they use to fight the nation's opioid crisis

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