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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 3/20/18

President Trump Opioid Plan

Trump Offers Tough Talk but Few Details in Unveiling Plan to Combat Opioids
Mar 20, 2018 | New York Times
By Maggie Haberman, Abby Goodnough & Katherine Q. Seelye

President Trump made his first visit to New Hampshire since the 2016 campaign on Monday, unveiling a plan to combat the opioid epidemic that includes a push for the death penalty for drug dealers and a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
As U.S. opioid crisis grows, Trump calls for death penalty for dealers
Mar 19, 2018 | Reuters
By Roberta Rampton

President Donald Trump spelled out in new detail several steps he favors to fight a U.S. epidemic of opioid abuse, including the execution of drug dealers, a proposal that has gained little support from drug abuse and judicial experts.
Trump calls for death penalty to 'get tough' on drug pushers
Mar 20, 2018 | Associated Press
By Jonathan Lemire & Darlene Superville

Embracing the tough penalties favored by global strongmen, President Donald Trump on Monday brandished the death penalty as a fitting punishment for drug traffickers fueling the opioid epidemic.
Trump Calls for Death Penalty for Some Drug Dealers in Opioid Plan
Mar 19, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Justin Sink

President Donald Trump proposed seeking the death penalty for some drug dealers, complimented a Clinton Foundation program that provides free overdose drugs to schools, and pledged to boost research for non-addictive painkillers as he outlined his plan to combat the opioid-abuse epidemic.
DOJ weighing ‘major litigation’ against opioid makers, Trump says
Mar 19, 2018 | STAT News
By Lev Facher

President Trump spoke Monday of using federal prosecutors to pursue “major litigation” against drug manufacturers alleged to have played a role in creating a nationwide epidemic of opioid abuse.
Trump’s opioid plan: drug companies could face ‘major litigation’
Mar 19, 2018 | Fox Business
By Thomas Barrabi

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Justice Department will crack down on doctors and pharmaceutical companies to prevent the overprescribing of opioids as part of a multifaceted push to address a nationwide addiction epidemic.
President Trump Unveils Plan To Fight Opioid Crisis
Mar 19, 2018 | NPR
By Ryan Lucas

An estimated 64,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2016 — the vast majority of those were from heroin or synthetic opioids. New Hampshire is one of the states hardest hit by the epidemic and on Monday President Trump unveiled his plan to fight the crisis.
Trump talks up death penalty, border wall in opioid speech
Mar 19, 2018 | POLITICO
By Dan Diamond & Brianna Ehley

President Donald Trump on Monday formally called for using the death penalty to fight the nation’s opioid crisis, overshadowing dozens of other administration proposals that have bipartisan support.
Trump pushes death penalty for some drug dealers
Mar 19, 2018 | CNN
By Dan Merica

President Donald Trump officially proposed imposing the death penalty for certain drug dealers on Monday.
Trump calls for "toughness" on drug dealers, traffickers to fight opioid crisis
Mar 19, 2018 | CBS News
By Staff

President Trump found himself in New Hampshire for the first time since the 2016 presidential campaign to unveil the administration's newest efforts in combating the nation's ongoing opioid crisis.
President Trump Is Officially Proposing That We Give Drug Traffickers the Death Penalty
Mar 19, 2018 | TIME
By Maya Rhodan

President Donald Trump announced a new plan on Monday to combat the opioid crisis that includes sentencing some drug traffickers to the death penalty when appropriate under current law. During an afternoon speech in New Hampshire, in which he also placed some blame for the opioid crisis on immigrants, the president praised countries that “don’t play games” on drugs and called for changes. “We have to change the laws,” he said.
Trump’s opioid crisis plan: more death penalty, fewer prescriptions, more treatment (Opinion)
Mar 19, 2018 | Vox
By German Lopez

Here, in short, is President Donald Trump’s new plan to combat the opioid epidemic: more punishment, fewer prescriptions, and more treatment.
Trump Unveils 4-Point Plan For Easing Opioid Crisis
Mar 19, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff Overley

President Donald Trump unveiled a four-part plan Monday for curbing the opioid crisis with a wide-ranging mix of policies, including tougher criminal enforcement, stricter border security, expanded addiction treatment and a nationwide educational campaign.

Commentary and FYIs

Opioid makers ask Suffolk judge to dismiss municipalities’ suits
Mar 19, 2018 | Newsday
By Chau Lam

Lawyers for manufacturers and distributors of prescription painkillers on Monday asked a Suffolk judge to dismiss lawsuits that alleged the businesses fueled the opioid epidemic through a fraudulent marketing campaign that misrepresented the drugs’ safety and effectiveness.
New York City Boosts Funds to Fight Opioid Epidemic
Mar 19, 2018 | Wall Street Journal
By Mara Gay

New York City will add $22 million to its efforts to fight the opioid epidemic this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.
Opioid Solutions: Insurance, Legislation Or Litigation? (Opinion)
Mar 19, 2018 | Law360
By Adam Felischer

The past month has illustrated that while the opioid epidemic has worsened, solutions to the crisis have begun to emerge. Some solutions are rooted in legislation, while others derive from litigation. All solutions are destined to be very expensive and raise questions as to whether the cost of the opioid battle is more justifiably absorbed by public health legislation, the private pharmaceutical industry or the insurers whose policies were aimed at compensation of discrete injury and of course not wholesale societal repair. These issues are summarized below.
Drug stocks dive as Trump says he's considering suing drugmakers over opioid crisis
Mar 19, 2018 | CNBC
By Angelica LaVito

Trump: Considering suing drug firms in opioid crisis Trump: Considering suing drug firms in opioid crisis 17 Hours Ago | 00:48 President Donald Trump said he's considering suing drugmakers for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic, sending pharma stocks tumbling Monday.
Gov. Rick Scott signs major bill to combat opioid epidemic in Florida
Mar 20, 2018 | Associated Press
By Joe Reedy

Gov. Rick Scott on Monday signed Florida's opioid legislation into law, a move seen by many as a good first step in combating a crisis that has claimed at least 16 lives a day in the Sunshine State.

Midwest (SD, MI, IN)

Oglala Sioux Tribe Targets Drug Cos. With Opioid Suit
Mar 19, 2018 | Law360
By Andrew Westney

The Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe on Friday hit two dozen drug makers and distributors with a suit in South Dakota federal court, adding to the torrent of litigation over the companies’ alleged roles in contributing to the abuse of opioids among tribe members and others.
Oglala Sioux latest SD tribe to sue opioid industry groups
Mar 19, 2018 | Associated Press
By Staff

The Oglala Sioux Tribe is the latest South Dakota American Indian tribe to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Oglala Sioux Tribe joins legal fight against opioid industry
Mar 19, 2018 | Bismarck Tribune (SD)
By Staff

National law firm Robins Kaplan announced Monday it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of South Dakota’s Oglala Sioux Tribe against the opioid industry, joining other tribes that have filed suits alleging devastating public health effects from opioids.
Traverse City Commissioners Vote to Join Lawsuit Against Pharmaceutical Companies
Mar 19, 2018 | WWTV (MI)
By Harrison Light

“This is about changing the system that’s out there right now that’s allowed this to happen.”
Martinsville Joining Growing List Of Cities Filing Suit Against Pharmaceutical Companies
Mar 20, 2018 | WBIW (IN)
By Staff

Martinsville is joining a growing list of cities filing suit against pharmaceutical companies.

Southeast (WV, FL)

11 More West Virginia Towns, Counties Sue Over Opioid Crisis
Mar 20, 2018 | Associated Press
By Staff

Eleven additional local West Virginia governments are suing drug companies who they say failed to follow state and federal law to prevent the distribution and abuse of prescription pain medication that’s created the state’s opioid crisis.
Calhoun County, Panama City sue companies over opioid crisis
Mar 19, 2018 | Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
By Jeff Burlew

Calhoun County and Panama City are joining the legal fight against pharmaceutical companies to stem the opioid epidemic.

Northeast (PA)

Western Pa. Cities Latest To Strike At Opioid Manufacturers
Mar 19, 2018 | Law360
By Dan Packel

Three western Pennsylvania municipalities are joining the flood of litigation against opioid manufacturers, crossing the state Friday to file a class action in Philadelphia that accuses Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson and others of deceptive marketing.

Broadcast Media Coverage

Black Hills Fox News
Mar 20, 2018 | Rapid City, SD
By KEVNLD (Fox)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706451?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
KDLT News Today
Mar 20, 2018 | Sioux Falls, SD
By KDLT (NBC)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706467?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Fox Morning News
Mar 20, 2018 | Myrtle Beach, SC
By WFXB (Fox)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706443?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Michigan This Morning on FOX 32
Mar 20, 2018 | Traverse City, MI
By WFQX (Fox)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706457?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
THV11 This Morning at 6A
Mar 20, 2018 | Little Rock, AR
By KTHV (CBS)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706471?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
WCCB News Rising
Mar 20, 2018 | Charlotte, NC
By WCCB (CW)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706475?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Eyewitness News at 10:30pm
Mar 19, 2018 | Orlando, FL
By WRDQ (WRDQ)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706489?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi
Mar 19, 2018 | National Programming
By MSNBC (MSNBC)

Video Link 1: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706531?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932 Video Link 2: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706513?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
FOX and Friends First
Mar 20, 2018 | National Programming
By Fox News Channel

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706544?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
CNN Tonight With Don Lemon
Mar 20, 2018 | National Programming
By CNN (CNN)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706772?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Bloomberg Technology
Mar 19, 2018 | National Programming
By BLOOM (Bloomberg)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706776?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
S. E. Cupp Unfiltered
Mar 19, 2018 | National Programming
By HLN (CNNH)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706789?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932

President Trump Opioid Plan

Trump Offers Tough Talk but Few Details in Unveiling Plan to Combat Opioids

Mar 20, 2018 | New York Times

By Maggie Haberman, Abby Goodnough & Katherine Q. Seelye

President Trump made his first visit to New Hampshire since the 2016 campaign on Monday, unveiling a plan to combat the opioid epidemic that includes a push for the death penalty for drug dealers and a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Mr. Trump spoke in a state with the nation’s third-highest rate of deaths from overdoses and where opioids are a potent political issue. In a speech at a community college here, he offered up more tough talk than he did specifics about his plan, or how he would pay for it.
The president said that most of the heroin in the country comes in from the southern border, “where eventually the Democrats will agree with us and build the wall to keep the damn drugs out”; he denounced so-called sanctuary cities, which he blamed for an uptick in overdoses; and he called for harsher penalties for drug dealers.
“If we don’t get tougher on drug dealers, we are wasting our time,” Mr. Trump said, later adding, “That toughness includes the death penalty” — a position that was at odds with what White House officials told reporters on Sunday.
The president said that he had spoken to leaders of Asian countries “where they don’t play games,” an apparent reference to conversations he has described having with President Xi Jinping of China and President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who told him that the death penalties in their countries meant there was less of a drug problem.Continue reading the main story
White House officials would not answer what type of hypothetical case would involve the death penalty, referring questions to the Justice Department.
Mr. Trump also urged Congress to lower the threshold to use mandatory minimum sentences on opioid dealers, and said he will look for tougher criminal sentences on traffickers of certain drugs, such as fentanyl. He brought a series of people to the podium, including an ICE agent and parents whose eldest son died of a fentanyl overdose, to tell their stories.
The plan the president described, which was based on recommendations by an opioid commission the president appointed last year, has the goal of reducing the supply of illicit drugs with better interdiction and tougher penalties, reducing opioid prescriptions and overall demand for opioids, and expanding access to treatment and recovery tools like the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
The plan seeks to cut the number of opioid prescriptions filled by a third within three years, a restriction that will face opposition from critics who argue it could have unintended consequences for people with chronic and even acute pain, and that it instead could force some users to seek more dangerous drugs, like heroin and synthetic fentanyl.
Officials were vague about how the prescriptions would be reduced, saying only that a main goal would be for prescribers for Medicaid, Medicare and other federal health programs to follow guidelines that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published two years ago. Those guidelines recommended that doctors first try ibuprofen and aspirin to treat pain, and that opioid treatment for short-term pain last no more than a week.
The plan says little about how addiction treatment would be expanded besides a vague goal of expanding access to “evidence-based addiction treatment” in every state, particularly for members of the military, for veterans and their families and for people leaving jail or prison.
Drug overdoses killed roughly 64,000 people in the United States in 2016, according to initial estimates from the C.D.C., and have become the leading cause of death for Americans under 50.
Mr. Trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and in his budget plan last month proposed spending $10 billion on the epidemic over the next two fiscal years. But he did not put a specific price tag on the plan’s cost. Congress recently allotted $6 billion to address the epidemic over the next two years, which public health experts have described as a good start but not anywhere near enough.
The president also called for repealing the Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid to cover much of the addiction treatment provided around the United States over the past few years.
In his State of the State address last month, Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who was on hand for the president’s speech, called the opioid crisis the state’s “most serious challenge.”
Voters have agreed, with 53 percent saying in a Granite State poll last year that drugs were the biggest problem facing the state — the first time in the poll’s history that a majority labeled a single issue the most important.
Mr. Trump’s push for the death penalty for drug traffickers could play well with voters here, as New Hampshire is the only state in New England that still allows capital punishment, though it has not executed anyone since 1939.
In statements after Mr. Trump’s speech, the state’s two Democratic senators — Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan — said they generally supported many of Mr. Trump’s proposals. Neither senator’s statement directly addressed the president’s call for the death penalty for traffickers, but Ms. Hassan’s aides said that in comments earlier in the day, she had opposed the death penalty for traffickers.
“I think it reflects a lack of a broader understanding of the factors in this crisis,” Ms. Hassan told Fosters.com, a news site. “We have to go after demand as well as supply, and law enforcement have been the first people to tell us we can’t enforce our way out of this.”
Asked for clarification of her view on Monday, Ms. Shaheen — who, when she was governor of New Hampshire in 2000, vetoed a bill that would have repealed the state’s death penalty — said through her spokeswoman: “Frankly, whether a drug dealer, after exhausting all of their legal appeals, gets the death penalty 20 years from now has no impact on our immediate crisis.”
She said Mr. Trump should be providing more money for the police, emergency medical workers and families in need of treatment.
Civil liberties lawyers were highly critical of Mr. Trump’s endorsement of the death penalty for traffickers and said it would be unworkable.
“There has never been an execution under the one part of United States law that allows the death penalty as a punishment for traffickers,” said Ames Grawert, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York. “The Supreme Court has consistently refused to sanction the use of the death penalty in crimes other than homicide.”

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As U.S. opioid crisis grows, Trump calls for death penalty for dealers

Mar 19, 2018 | Reuters

By Roberta Rampton

President Donald Trump spelled out in new detail several steps he favors to fight a U.S. epidemic of opioid abuse, including the execution of drug dealers, a proposal that has gained little support from drug abuse and judicial experts.
At an event in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump unveiled an anti-opioid abuse plan, including his death penalty recommendation, new funding for other initiatives and stiffer sentencing laws for drug dealers.
He said the United States must “get tough” on opioids. “And that toughness includes the death penalty,” he said. Neither Trump nor the White House gave further details as to when it would be appropriate to seek the death penalty.
Trump said that he was working with Congress to find $6 billion in new funding for 2018 and 2019 to fight the opioid crisis. The plan will also seek to cut opioid prescriptions by a third over three years by changing federal programs, he said.
Addiction to opioids - mainly prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl - is a growing U.S. problem, especially in rural areas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016.
For Trump, the New Hampshire visit returned him to a state that gave him a key Republican primary election win when he was a political newcomer in 2016. Back then, he promised to tackle the opioid crisis, which is severe in the New England state.
In October, he declared the crisis a public health emergency, but without providing more money. Some critics, including Democratic lawmakers, said then that the declaration was meaningless without additional funds.
In Manchester, Trump stopped at a local fire station that helps addicts get treatment. He was greeted by roughly 200 protesters, some chanting “You talk, we die.”
Others carried signs, including one that read “Donald J. Duterte,” a reference to the Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, whose brutal crackdown on drugs has lead to thousands of deaths.FREE NARCAN
Trump said he wanted to give first responders access to life-saving drugs that can reverse overdoses. He said the nasal spray Narcan, which can block opioid effects in overdoses, would be provided free to U.S. schools.
He introduced Mike Kelly, an executive at Adapt Pharma, which makes Narcan, at the event. “We’ve provided, free-of-charge, four boxes to all colleges and universities in the United States. Two boxes free for every high school in the United States, as well as educational awareness,” Kelly said.
Shares in Narcan seller Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Adapt’s commercial partner, rose sharply after Trump’s comments.
Trump also said his plan would crack down on international and domestic illicit drug supply chains. Part of that would include requiring electronic data for 90 percent of international mail shipments with goods, he said.
He said the United States would “engage with China and expand cooperation with Mexico to reduce supplies of heroin, other illicit opioids, and precursor chemicals.”
The Justice Department will target negligent physicians and pharmacies, he said, adding that he was considering litigation against drug companies implicated in the opioid crisis.
“We will continue to aggressively prosecute drug traffickers and we will use federal law to seek the death penalty wherever appropriate,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. The death penalty is allowed in 31 states.

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Trump calls for death penalty to 'get tough' on drug pushers

Mar 20, 2018 | Associated Press

By Jonathan Lemire & Darlene Superville

Embracing the tough penalties favored by global strongmen, President Donald Trump on Monday brandished the death penalty as a fitting punishment for drug traffickers fueling the opioid epidemic.
The scourge has torn through the rural and working-class communities that in large numbers voted for Trump. And the president, though he has come under criticism for being slow to unveil his plan, has seized on harsh sentences as key to stopping the plague.
"Toughness is the thing that they most fear," Trump said.
The president made his announcement in New Hampshire, a state hit hard by opioids and an early marker for the re-election campaign he has already announced. Trump called for broadening education and awareness about drug addiction while expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts. But the backbone of his plan is to toughen punishments for those caught trafficking highly addictive drugs.
"This isn't about nice anymore," Trump said. "This is about winning a very, very tough problem and if we don't get very tough on these dealers it's not going to happen folks. ... I want to win this battle."
The president formalized what he had long mused about: that if a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, a similar punishment should be given to a drug dealer whose product potentially kills thousands.
Trump has long spoken approvingly about countries like Singapore that harshly punish dealers. During a trip to Asia last fall, he did not publicly rebuke Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who authorized extrajudicial killings of drug dealers.
Outside a local firehouse that Trump visited before Monday's speech, someone compared the two leaders with a sign that said: "Donald J. Duterte."
"Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year," Trump said. "That's why my Department of Justice will be seeking so many tougher penalties than we've ever had and we'll be focusing on the penalties that I talked about previously for big pushers, the ones that are killing so many people, and that penalty is going to be the death penalty."
He added: "Other countries don't play games ... But the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty."
The Justice Department said the federal death penalty is available for limited drug-related offenses, including violations of the "drug kingpin" provisions in federal law.
It is not clear if the death penalty, even for traffickers whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional. Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, predicted the issue would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
John Blume, a professor and director of Cornell Law School's death penalty program, said the federal drug kingpin law has yielded few "kingpins" or major dealers, mostly ensnaring mid- to low-level minorities involved in the drug trade.
The president's plan drew criticism from some Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who said "we can't arrest our way out of the opioid epidemic" and noted that "the war on drugs didn't work in the '80s."
Opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, killed more than 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2016, more than any other year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Much of what Trump highlighted Monday was largely repackaged ideas he's already endorsed.
He called for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which he announced in the fall, including broadcasting "great commercials" to scare kids away from dabbling in drugs. He announced a new website, www.crisisnextdoor.gov, where members of the public can share stories about the dangers of opioid addiction.
Trump said the administration will work to cut the number of opioid prescriptions that are filled by one-third within three years.
The president also discussed how his policies, including building a U.S.-Mexico border wall and punishing "sanctuary" cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities, will help reduce the flow of drugs.
Monday was Trump's first visit as president to New Hampshire, which has long occupied a special place in his political rise. He captured his first Republican presidential primary here in 2016, though he narrowly lost in the general election to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump drew criticism last year after leaked transcripts of a telephone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto showed he had described New Hampshire as a "drug-infested den." The Washington Post published the transcripts.
Though the 2020 election is more than 30 months away, early jockeying already is happening in states that play an outsized early role in choosing a party's nominee. Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a persistent Trump critic, visited New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first presidential primary, last week. He told Republicans someone needs to stop Trump — and it could be him if no one steps up.
Meanwhile, the president's daughter, White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump, spent Monday discussing infrastructure and workplace development in Iowa, which traditionally holds the first presidential nominating caucus.

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Trump Calls for Death Penalty for Some Drug Dealers in Opioid Plan

Mar 19, 2018 | Bloomberg

By Justin Sink

President Donald Trump proposed seeking the death penalty for some drug dealers, complimented a Clinton Foundation program that provides free overdose drugs to schools, and pledged to boost research for non-addictive painkillers as he outlined his plan to combat the opioid-abuse epidemic.
“Some of these drug dealers will kill thousands of people during their lifetimes,” Trump said Monday at a community college in Manchester, New Hampshire. “This is about winning a very, very tough problem, and if we don’t get tough on these dealers, it’s not going to happen.”
Trump also praised closely held Adapt Pharma Inc. for providing Narcan -- a nasal spray that can reverse overdoses -- for free to universities and high schools. That company partnered with the Clinton Foundation last year to give 40,000 doses of Narcan to colleges throughout the U.S.
Opiant Pharmaceuticals Inc., which makes Narcan and licenses it to Adapt Pharma, surged as much as 56 percent after Trump invited an Adapt executive to join him on stage and discuss the charitable program.
Trump has vowed since his 2016 campaign to curb drug abuse, which caused more than 64,000 overdose deaths last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The president has attached the effort to his call for a wall along the southern U.S. border, saying it would cut the illegal flow of drugs and people who sell them.
“Eventually the Democrats will agree with us” to build the wall and “to keep the damn drugs out,” Trump said.
The president’s plan calls for the Justice Department to seek the death penalty against drug traffickers “where appropriate under current law.” The president argues that drug dealers are responsible for more fatalities than murderers sentenced to death.Potentially Unconstitutional
Critics have warned that the president’s effort might be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, which in 2008 limited the death penalty to crimes that result in a victim’s death or crimes against the state, like treason, espionage or terrorism. Death penalty cases also cost the government substantially more to prosecute.
“The draconian law enforcement provisions included in this proposal are unconstitutional and absurd,” Jesselyn McCurdy, the deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington legislative office, said in a statement.
Separately, the president called on Congress to pass laws lowering the drug-possession threshold to trigger mandatory minimum sentences. Trump, who last year declared the opioid crisis a national health emergency, said he would start a public awareness campaign to reduce Americans’ dependence on the drugs. But he has stopped short of declaring a national state of emergency as suggested by the presidential commission he empaneled to study the issue.
Trump was quoted last year by the Washington Post as having called New Hampshire “a drug-infested den” in a call soon after his inauguration with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The president also said the Justice Department is “looking very seriously at bringing major litigation” against some drug companies that produce opioids. He said he wants to address the problem of over-prescribing and boost research of non-addictive painkillers. The administration also plans on “spending a lot of money on great commercials” that show the ill effects of drug addiction.
“The best way to beat the drug crisis is to keep people from getting hooked in the first place,” Trump said.
Trump was joined on the trip by embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom the president has repeatedly and publicly criticized for having recused himself from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. Sessions has been subject to rumors that he could be among the next top-level administration officials to lose their jobs after the departure last week of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

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DOJ weighing ‘major litigation’ against opioid makers, Trump says

Mar 19, 2018 | STAT News

By Lev Facher

President Trump spoke Monday of using federal prosecutors to pursue “major litigation” against drug manufacturers alleged to have played a role in creating a nationwide epidemic of opioid abuse.
Speaking in New Hampshire at the White House’s rollout of a national opioids strategy, the president expanded upon a Department of Justice release last month in which Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged to “hold accountable those whose illegality has cost us billions of taxpayer dollars.”
“Our Department of Justice is looking very seriously into bringing major litigation against some of these drug companies,” Trump said. “We will bring it at a federal level. Some states are already bringing it, but we are thinking about bringing it at a very high federal level, and we will do a job.”
DOJ filed a statement of interest on March 1 in a federal court in Ohio, asking the judge collectively overseeing hundreds of opioid-related lawsuits to allow federal lawyers 30 days to decide whether the United States would participate in the legal proceedings.
Manufacturers, including Purdue, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Insys, Janssen, and Teva, have faced scrutiny and often aggressive legal action from state and local governments seeking compensation for what many plaintiffs allege are the costs resulting from the companies’ disingenuous marketing tactics. In 2006, Purdue and several high-ranking executives paid a collective $635 million in fines pertaining to the marketing of its opioid painkiller, OxyContin, which understated the drug’s addictiveness.
Sessions’ threat to add DOJ resources to existing legal actions against manufacturers and distributors comes after a year of enforcement-side actions from the Trump administration, including crackdowns on fentanyl importation and an increased focus on opioid dealer and distribution networks across the country and overseas.
The president also name-checked two drug companies that manufacture various forms of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone: Adapt Pharma, which makes the nasally administered Narcan, and Kaleo, which makes Evzio, an automatic injector that has drawn scrutiny for its price tag but drew congratulations from Trump for having distributed more than 300,000 units for free.
After inviting Mike Kelly, the president of Adapt’s U.S. operations, to join him on stage, Trump announced the company’s plan to provide four Narcan kits to each college campus in the U.S. and two to each high school.

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Trump’s opioid plan: drug companies could face ‘major litigation’

Mar 19, 2018 | Fox Business

By Thomas Barrabi

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Justice Department will crack down on doctors and pharmaceutical companies to prevent the overprescribing of opioids as part of a multifaceted push to address a nationwide addiction epidemic.
Speaking at an event in New Hampshire, Trump said federal authorities will work to ensure that doctors who are reimbursed by the U.S. government follow best practices in prescribing medication. The Justice Department will “aggressively deploy” criminal and civil litigation against opioid manufacturers that violate federal guidelines, the White House said in a statement outlining the anti-opioid initiative.
“We’re also taking action to prevent addiction by addressing the problem of overprescribing,” Trump said. “Our Department of Justice is looking very seriously into bringing major litigation against some of these drug companies. We’ll bring it at a federal level.”
The White House is aiming to reduce opioid prescriptions by one-third within the next three years, according to the plan. The Trump administration will also launch a public awareness campaign to alert the country to the dangers of overusing opioids. Federally employed healthcare providers will be pushed to adopt best practices aimed at preventing over-prescription.
Opioid-related stocks plunged in trading Monday ahead of Trump’s announcement. Endo International, Depomed and Mallinckrodt all posted losses of several percentage points.
The proposed action is part of a three-pronged effort to combat opioid addiction in the country. Besides the crackdown on pharmaceutical companies, Trump said the government will work to cut the supply of dangerous drugs from international sources and enact harsh penalties against drug dealers, including the possibility of the death penalty for drug traffickers.
Additionally, the government will take steps to aid addiction treatment options on both the state and local level, including treatment of federal inmates and ensuring the first responders are supplied with naloxone, which can help treat and reverse overdoses.

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President Trump Unveils Plan To Fight Opioid Crisis

Mar 19, 2018 | NPR

By Ryan Lucas

An estimated 64,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2016 — the vast majority of those were from heroin or synthetic opioids. New Hampshire is one of the states hardest hit by the epidemic and on Monday President Trump unveiled his plan to fight the crisis.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Opioids killed more than 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2016. To put that in perspective, that's more than the number of people who died of gun-related violence or motor vehicle accidents the same year. Today in New Hampshire, President Trump unveiled his plan to fight the opioid crisis.
NPR justice reporter Ryan Lucas joins us now with the details. Hey, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi there.
CHANG: So what is the new White House strategy for fighting opioid addiction?
LUCAS: Well, the administration's plan rests on kind of three pillars. One is to reduce the demand for opioids. Talked - the president talked about doing this through education about how dangerous these drugs are. He wants a public relations campaign to warn people of the risks of opioids. And he also wants to cut back on overprescription because some of this is abuse of prescription opioids.
CHANG: Right.
LUCAS: His administration has set a goal of cutting opioid prescription fills by one-third within three years. Another pillar is treatment and recovery support services for people who are struggling already with addiction. And then the third aspect is cracking down on the supply of illicit drugs, particularly things like fentanyl, which is this very dangerous synthetic opioid. And one aspect of this that Trump focuses on is seeking the death penalty for drug traffickers. He also talked about having Congress pass new legislation to reduce the amount of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences.
CHANG: I want to get to that last aspect, the criminal justice component of all of this. It's been very controversial since people have been talking about it. What more did the president say about that, especially about the death penalty component?
LUCAS: Well, the death penalty component is really one small part of this plan. But it has grabbed people's attention, and that really may be the point. The president talked about this at length in a speech today, and here's part of what he had to say.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We can have all the blue ribbon committees we want, but if we don't get tough on the drug dealers, we're wasting our time. Just remember that. We're wasting our time. And that toughness includes the death penalty.
(APPLAUSE)
LUCAS: Now, Attorney General Jeff Sessions put out a statement after the speech saying the Justice Department will aggressively prosecute drug traffickers and use federal law to seek the death penalty wherever appropriate. But under current federal law, experts say the death penalty can be used in drug cases in which a murder has been committed, but it does not mention the death penalty for someone who traffics in drugs that lead to accidental overdoses.
CHANG: Now, a lot of the opioids that are fueling this crisis comes from overseas. And the president - I mean, did he address any of that at all, that aspect of this problem?
LUCAS: He did. In fact, he called up both China and Mexico. He said he told them, don't send it, referring to opioids. A lot of the synthetic opioids are produced in labs in China, and then in many cases Americans just order them over the Internet by mail. Justice Department officials have said they're working with their Chinese counterparts to try to shut down these labs, but there hasn't been any kind of real public evidence so far that China is indeed cracking down. The U.S. indicted two Chinese nationals last year for allegedly manufacturing and distributing synthetic opioids. They remain in China.
But law enforcement is really just one side of this. A lot of addiction experts say prevention and treatment are just as important if not more so. They say the administration's strategy includes a lot of the priorities that states and addiction experts have been talking about for a while, so increasing access to treatment and recovery services, making sure hospitals are following the best practices when prescribing opioids. But there are questions about where the money is going to come from to pay for some of these things. And there are also questions about how the Trump - the Trump administration will actually implement all of this.
CHANG: All right, that's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Thank you.
LUCAS: Thank you.

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Trump talks up death penalty, border wall in opioid speech

Mar 19, 2018 | POLITICO

By Dan Diamond & Brianna Ehley

President Donald Trump on Monday formally called for using the death penalty to fight the nation’s opioid crisis, overshadowing dozens of other administration proposals that have bipartisan support.
“If we don’t get tougher on drug dealers, we are wasting our time … and that toughness includes the death penalty,” Trump said — one of six times he invoked the death penalty during remarks in New Hampshire, a state hit hard by the addiction crisis.
The president’s rhetoric was the administration’s latest pivot on how it would — or wouldn’t — seek the death penalty as part of its strategy to fight the opioid crisis. Earlier versions of Trump’s plan had explicitly called for seeking the death penalty for some drug dealers, although senior White House officials on Sunday night said it would apply only to drug traffickers in certain cases, in line with current law.
Trump also touted numerous public health measures that will require new spending from Congress, although it’s unclear whether lawmakers will provide the money — or if will be enough to reverse an epidemic that killed 42,000 Americans in 2016.
Democrats, who said Trump has been slow to respond to the epidemic, said they’re still waiting to see if the administration will aggressively push lawmakers to add new funding.
“On the one hand, I appreciate the attention to the epidemic,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), but “those recommendations aren’t going to do very much” to pay for treatment and build a workforce to care for patients.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters that the administration is seeking the full $13 billion requested in the president’s budget proposal earlier this year. One White House proposal, to expand Medicaid coverage for inpatient addiction treatment by lifting a decades-old restriction, could cost at least several billion dollars per year.
“All of this is nothing but words on paper if we can’t fund it,” added former Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.), co-founder of the Collaborative for Effective Prescription Opioid Policies.
Trump’s plan, when it comes to treatment and prevention, largely mirrors policies first developedduring the Obama administration. It advocates for a nationwide database to monitor for patients who seek multiple opioid prescriptions, as well as making overdose reversal drugs more available to first responders. The White House also announced a new website, CrisisNextDoor.gov, that encourages Americans to share their own personal experiences with addiction in hopes of lessening the stigma.
Those ideas were widely hailed on Monday by advocacy groups. The National Association of County and City Health Officials “supports a number of White House public health proposals,” the group told reporters, highlighting policies to expand access to evidence-based treatment and expand Medicaid coverage.
But public health experts and lawmakers worry Trump’s harsh immigration rhetoric and focus on law enforcement measures will overshadow treatment and prevention measures that have bipartisan support.
Trump reiterated his controversial calls to build a wall along the Mexico border and block funding for so-called sanctuary cities, framing them as key tactics to fight the nation’s opioid epidemic. However, studies have found limited connection between immigration policy and opioid abuse.
Even with a border wall, many law enforcement experts have said that traffickers would find other ways to get their drugs into the country.
Trump also called out MS-13, contending the drug gang's violent tactics justified his tougher law enforcement approach.
“They don't use guns,” he said. “They would rather use knives because it's more painful and it takes longer.”
“Ninety percent of the heroin in America comes from our southern border, where eventually the Democrats will agree with us and build the wall to keep the damn drugs out,” Trump said. He also called on Congress to make it easier to invoke the mandatory minimum sentence for drug traffickers who knowingly distribute illegal opioids that can be lethal, like fentanyl.
Public health experts seized on Trump’s harsh language around enforcement, contending the addiction crisis requires a focus on treatment and prevention.
“They are treating this like a criminal epidemic as opposed to a public health epidemic,” said former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who was a member of the president’s opioid commission last year. “He should be using his bully pulpit to send a clear message that the health system needs to change its stripes.”
Instead, Kennedy said, “It’s going to be a sideshow about who qualifies for the death penalty.”
Trump’s speech — his first visit to New Hampshire as president — carried undeniable political intrigue, coming three weeks after formally announcing his 2020 reelection bid and as Republican rivals also visit the state, fueling possible talk of a GOP primary.
“I want to win this [opioid] battle. I don’t want to leave at the end of seven years and have these problems, OK?” Trump said, alluding to his hope for a second term. “A lot of voters in the room, I see that,” he added.
Even as Trump’s remarks struck a partisan tone, the Hill’s work on the issue has largely been across party lines. Key congressional committees this week are reviewing proposals for addressing the epidemic. Congress, meanwhile, is expected to soon announce plans on how it will spend an additional $6 billion to fight opioids that was approved last month.
“The opioid crisis is viewed by us at the White House as a nonpartisan problem searching for bipartisan solutions,” Conway told reporters on Sunday. Conway is scheduled to have lunch with House Energy and Commerce Republicans on Wednesday to discuss the panel’s opioid legislation.
Trump on Monday was joined by HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, whose departments are largely responsible for executing the president’s ambitious plan. Conspicuously absent at Trump’s speech: Democrats. The state’s two Democratic senators needed to stay in Washington for votes, their offices told POLITICO.
Trump’s visit also sparked local protests, with some demonstrators seizing on reports that Trump called New Hampshire a “drug-infested den" in a conversation with Mexico's president last year.
There were more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, mostly involving opioids, according to the most recent federal mortality data. The CDC this month reported that emergency rooms recorded a 30 percent spike in opioid overdoses last summer, indicating that the devastating crisis is worsening.

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Trump pushes death penalty for some drug dealers

Mar 19, 2018 | CNN

By Dan Merica

President Donald Trump officially proposed imposing the death penalty for certain drug dealers on Monday.
Speaking at an event focused on the opioid epidemic in New Hampshire, Trump said it was critical to "get tough" on combating the epidemic.
"If we don't get tough on the drug dealers, we are wasting our time," Trump said. "And that toughness includes the death penalty."
Trump went on to say that dealers "will kill thousands of people during their lifetime" but won't be punished for the carnage they cause.
"This is about winning a very, very tough problem and if we don't get very tough on these dealers, it is not going to happen, folks," he said.
Monday's event marks Trump's first trip back to the first-in-the-nation primary state -- and the state that that introduced the businessman-turned-politician to the opioid scourge -- since he won the presidency.
The President, joined by first lady Melania Trump, laid out a plan that looks to balance increasing punitive measures to stop drug traffickers and broadening the federal government's involvement in combating the epidemic with a sweeping ad campaign about addiction and more funding for drug treatment programs, according to Trump administration officials briefed on the plans.
The plan will include stiffer penalties for high-intensity drug traffickers, including the death penalty for some, Trump said.
Though Trump has long advocated for sentencing certain drug traffickers to death, public policy experts have condemned the proposal even before Trump rolled it out, arguing that it misses the cause of the opioid epidemic.
White House officials told CNN that Trump's broader plan will focus on key areas: law enforcement and interdiction, prevention and education through a sizable advertising campaign, improving the ability to fund treatment through the federal government, and helping those impacted by the epidemic find jobs while fighting addiction.
Congress recently appropriated $6 billion to combat the opioid epidemic, and a senior administration official told CNN that Trump's plan will lay out how the White House believes that money should be spent. At the time, treatment advocates and drug policy experts were concerned the uptick in funding wouldn't be spent wisely and wasn't nearly enough.
Trump has credited voters in New Hampshire with introducing him to the opioid crisis during his 2016 campaign. He frequently referenced the scourge when campaigning in the state, which has been epicenter in the fight against opioids. But in a call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto shortly after his inauguration, Trump referred to the state as a "a drug-infested den," drawing fierce criticism from the state's leaders.
Days before Election Day in 2016 -- when time is a campaign's most precious commodity -- Trump even traveled to New Hampshire to discuss opioid addiction and pledge to make fighting the epidemic a focus.
His response as President, however, has been mixed, according to epidemic experts. The President has been accused of sidelining the Office of National Drug Policy Control, failing to heed the recommendations of his opioid council and focusing too much on the punitive measure to respond to the epidemic.
Trump in October declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency, telling an audience of experts and people in recovery that "we can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic."
Recently released numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that around 64,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2016. And since 1999, the number of American overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled.

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Trump calls for "toughness" on drug dealers, traffickers to fight opioid crisis

Mar 19, 2018 | CBS News

By Staff

President Trump found himself in New Hampshire for the first time since the 2016 presidential campaign to unveil the administration's newest efforts in combating the nation's ongoing opioid crisis.
The president once referred to New Hampshire as a "drug-infested den" but visited the Granite State to roll out his latest plan which focuses on reducing drug demand while also calling on Congress and the Department of Justice to seek harsher punishments for drug traffickers -- including the death penalty.
During his remarks at Manchester Community College on Monday, he delivered a stern warning to drug dealers: "If you break the law and illegally peddle these deadly poisons, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will hold you accountable."
He said the country needs to be tough on drug crimes, saying "If we don't get tough on the drug dealers we're wasting our time. That toughness includes the death penalty."
He conceded later however, "Maybe our country is not ready for that, I can understand that maybe, although personally I can't understand that."
Mr. Trump said the crisis will be solved with "brains, resolve and toughness" and that blue ribbon committees are not doing enough to curb the epidemic.
"This is about winning a very, very tough problem, if we don't get very tough on these dealers, it's not going to happen folks, and I want to win this battle," he added.
The president said he doesn't want to leave the White House and still "have this problem" gripping the much of the country.
He also announced a nationwide education campaign to raise awareness on the dangers of opioid misuse as well as support for research in identifying alternative therapies and expand treatment options for addicts.
As part of this education framework, the president said the administration would be looking to create "unsavory" commercials to "scare" kids from using drugs.
"Kids can see these commercials they can say 'I don't want any part of it', that's the least expensive thing we can do," he said.
He said the ads, similar to ones implemented in the 1980's, would "scare them from ending up like the people in the commercials."
Aside from program initiatives, the president's plan also doubles down on his calls to stop the flow of drugs across borders and expands upon the DOJ's ongoing efforts of prosecuting opioid manufactures, distributors and doctors.
"Eventually the Democrats will agree with us to build the wall to keep the damn drugs out," Mr. Trump exclaimed. He claimed Democrats were using issues like DACA and the border wall as political point.
"They're trying to tie the wall to DACA and DACA to the wall...which is ok with me. But both should get approved," he said.
On sanctuary cities, the president again slammed areas like Lawrence, Massachusetts as embracing immigrants and contributing to the nation's drug crisis.
He called on Congress to block funds for sanctuary cities and "close deadly loopholes that allow criminals back into our country."
The plan follows the administration's prior efforts in dealing with the opioid epidemic, including designating the crisis as a public health emergency and the White House Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission which produced its final report in November of last year.Trump closes with message to American people
"We will defeat this crisis, we will protect our beautiful children and we will ensure that tomorrow is better, brighter, stronger and greater than ever before because as long as we have trust in our citizens pride in our country and faith in our god, we will not fail.
He added, "We will end the scourge of drug addiction in America once and for all."Trump on treatment avenues
The president said the administration would be offering waivers to states to help those who need treatment immediately as well as opportunities for inmates leaving prison get treatment to get a "second chance to be productive law abiding citizens."
Mr. Trump also called for Congress to approve "right to try" programs so terminally ill patients can get access to drugs not yet approved, but might save lives.Trump teases announcement on drug prices
Mr. Trump said in an about a month, the administration would be making an announcement on prescription drug costs, saying the United States pays "so much more" for drugs than other countries "because of the drug lobbies and other reasons and the complexity of distribution."
He brought up HHS Secretary Alex Azar, the former head of drug company Eli Lilly, to explain the administration's efforts on focusing on reducing opioid prescriptions and reducing drug costs.
"You'll be seeing drug prices falling substantially in the not-too-distant future and it's going to be beautiful," the president said.Trump on death penalty
Mr. Trump said the death penalty would be used for certain cases like "big pushers."
He conceded of the controversial suggestion, "Maybe our country is not ready for that, I can understand that maybe, although personally I can't understand that."Trump reignites calls to "build the wall"
"Eventually the Democrats will agree with us to build the wall to keep the damn drugs out," Mr. Trump exclaimed. He claimed Democrats were using issues like DACA and the border wall as political point.
"They're trying to tie the wall to DACA and DACA to the wall...which is ok with me. But both should get approved," he said.
On sanctuary cities, the president again slammed areas like Lawrence, Massachusetts as embracing immigrants and contributing to the nation's drug crisis.
He called on Congress to block funds for sanctuary cities and "close deadly loopholes that allow criminals back into our country."
"We have to get a lot smarter, a lot tougher," he said.
He added, "We can be nice and soft and weak and you're not going to have a country left, so we have to strengthen up and strenghten up our laws so we can do what we have to do, we have to stop this from happening."Trump urges new non-addictive pain treatment, ad campaign
The president said new medication needs to be developed that offers non-addictive properties as well as preventing addiction through overprescribing.
He vowed that there will be a cut of nationwide opioid prescriptions by 1/3 over next 3 years. He also said the administration would be looking to create "bad commercials to "scare" kids from using drugs.
"Kids can see these commercials they can say 'I don't want any part of it', that's the least expensive thing we can do," he said.
He said the ads would "scare them from ending up like the people in the commercials."Trump says "toughness" includes the death penalty
Mr. Trump commends the DOJ's action in prosecuting drug trafficking crimes, saying "If you break the law and illegally peddle these deadly poisons, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will hold you accountable."
"If we don't get tough on the drug dealers we're wasting our time. That toughness includes the death penalty," he said of a more controversial measure to targeting drug traffickers
He added, "If we're not going to get tough on the drug dealers, we are just doing the wrong thing we have got to get tough."
Mr. Trump said the crisis will be solved with "brains, resolve and toughness" saying blue ribbon committees are not doing enough to battle the epidemic.
"This is about winning a very , very tough problem, if we don't get very tough on these dealers, it's not going to happen folks, and I want to win this battle," he added.
The president said he doesn't want to leave the White House and still "have this problem."Trump pledges to honor those lost to addiction with "action"
"We're pouring a lot of money and a lot of talent into this horrible problem," the president said. He added, "We will not rest until the end, this scourge of drug addiction in America will stop."
Mr. Trump vowed to that the nation "will raise a drug-free generation of American children. "
He says that Congress will allocated additional funds to combat the crisis, saying it will be "the most money spent ever on the opioid crisis."Trump takes podium for remarks
"It's great to be back in the beautiful state of New Hampshire," Mr. Trump said kicking off his remarks. He points out that he was last at the community college when he was on the campaign trail. He called New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu one of the "toughest on Trump" during the election.
He thanked first responders and law enforcement officials for saving "American lives" in the effort to curb the nation's drug crisis.First lady takes stage
First lady Melania Trump introduces her husband calling the opioid crisis a "major threat" to the country.
She said that much of her focus as first lady has been understanding the negative affects opioid epidemic has on children and young mothers.
"While this crisis is taking hold of our country, the American people have responded," Mrs. Trump said, pointing to research facilities across the country and treatment centers for those battling with addiction.
She added, "I'm honored to work alongside so many people across the country with the shared goal of ending this battle."Trump visits New Hampshire firehouse "safe station"
Ahead of delivering remarks in Manchester, the president stopped by a firehouse to see a "safe station" in Manchester for those suffering from addiction.
According to Manchester's city website, "Safe Stations" provide assistance or treatment without fear of arrest. Someone suffering from substance abuse problems can go to any Manchester Fire Department station to speak with firefighters on duty.
Mr. Trump and the first lady met with firefighters on duty and the fire chief in Manchester to recognize the work "safe stations" provide for addicts.
The "safe station" the president visited opened in May of 2016. Daniel Goonan, Manchester City Fire Chief told reporters at the visit that over 3,300 people have come through the station to seek an access point to treatment in a stigma-free environment.
"This is an all hands on deck program. This is an all hands on deck problem, for the most part everyone is on board," said Goonan.

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President Trump Is Officially Proposing That We Give Drug Traffickers the Death Penalty

Mar 19, 2018 | TIME

By Maya Rhodan

President Donald Trump announced a new plan on Monday to combat the opioid crisis that includes sentencing some drug traffickers to the death penalty when appropriate under current law. During an afternoon speech in New Hampshire, in which he also placed some blame for the opioid crisis on immigrants, the president praised countries that “don’t play games” on drugs and called for changes. “We have to change the laws,” he said.
New Hampshire has been hard hit by opioids, which have contributed to spikes in overdose deathsin recent years. The White House’s plan will also include calls for stricter enforcement, including the invocation of mandatory minimum sentences for lower levels of some opioids, more public awareness and expanded access to treatment and recovery programs.
The announcement to push executions fits with Trump’s previous statements on the death penalty and drug dealers.Trump has previously called for the death penalty for drug dealers
Last week, he said drug dealers “kill 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 people during the course of his or her life” and only go to jail for “30 days, 60 days, 90 days — you might get a year” during a rally for a Republican candidate in Pennsylvania. During that rally, the president said that China and Singapore don’t have drug problems because they have the death penalty for dealers.
“The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness,” he said. “When you catch a drug dealer, you’ve got to put him away for a long time.”
The president used similar language at White House summit on opioids earlier in March. “Some countries have a very tough penalty, the ultimate penalty, and they have much less of a drug problem than we do,” he said.He’s praised the president of the Philippines for his approach
Trump has also praised the approach of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, whose “war on drugs” has led to the killing of thousands of citizens, many at the hands of the Philippines National Police, according to Human Rights Watch. According to a transcript of a call he had with Duterte in April of last year, Trump appeared to congratulate the leader of the Philippines for the “unbelievable job” he is doing with the “drug problem.”
“Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that,” Trump said on the call, according to the Intercept. The two leaders have also showcased their friendly relationship in bilateral meetings despite the leader’s alleged human rights abuses.Trump has also promoted the death penalty more broadly
The U.S. and other nations have moved away from instituting capital punishment. Globally, 141 countries have abolished the practice and in 2016, 23 countries killed over 1,000 people with the most deaths occurring in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, according to Amnesty International.
But President Donald Trump has long called for the use of the death penalty in the U.S., typically framing it as a “law and order” issue.
“In order to bring law and order back into our cities, we need the death penalty and authority given back to the police,” Trump told Playboy in 1990.
He’s also called for the death penalty in a number of specific cases.
In the late-1980s, he placed full-paged ads in New York newspapers that called for the execution of black and Latino teens who were accused of assaulting and raping a white woman who went jogging in Central Park. (The teens, known as the Central Park Five, were later exonerated. Trump maintains they were guilty.)
He tweeted a call for the death penalty after a gunman opened fire at the Empire State Building in 2012:
After the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013:
And after a New York City terrorism incident which occurred while he was president, which experts said could cause problems for prosecutors:Experts are troubled by the policy he is set to propose
According to reports ahead of the President’s New Hampshire appearance, Trump is calling for tougher penalties for opioid-related trafficking, but he will call for the death penalty only when it is applicable under current law.
Under federal law, the death penalty can be applied in some drug trafficking cases when a death occurs, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Still, the president’s focus on enforcement has troubled some drug policy advocates.
“Threatening execution of drug dealers is doubling down on a ‘war on drugs’ that has been an abject failure and, in fact, led to the deaths of quite a lot of people both in the U.S. and other parts of the world,” Widney Brown of the Drug Policy Alliance tells TIME. “It hasn’t done anything to stop the supply of drugs. It hasn’t lessened drug use.”

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Trump’s opioid crisis plan: more death penalty, fewer prescriptions, more treatment (Opinion)

Mar 19, 2018 | Vox

By German Lopez

Here, in short, is President Donald Trump’s new plan to combat the opioid epidemic: more punishment, fewer prescriptions, and more treatment.
On Monday, Trump unveiled a new batch of policies for tackling the opioid epidemic in a speech in New Hampshire, one of the states hit hardest by the crisis. The plan is the most comprehensive agenda that the president has detailed since his administration declared the epidemic a public health emergency in 2017. But to the chagrin of many drug policy and public health experts, the plan largely focuses on “tough on crime” efforts that have proven ineffective in the past.
The plan can be broken down into three parts. A slew of law enforcement–focused policies aim to increase penalties for drug dealing and trafficking, including mandatory minimums and, in some cases, the death penalty. The White House is also taking steps to cut back on opioid prescriptions, hoping to reduce them by as much as one-third over three years. And there are some vague promises on increasing access to addiction treatment and adopting harm reduction approaches.
There’s a lot of uncertainty here. Will Congress approve some of the actions that the White House is calling for? Is more money coming to fund the proposals? Will federal prosecutors actually try to make greater use of the death penalty?
The opioid epidemic is now the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history. Nearly 64,000 people died of drug overdoses in the US in 2016, and at least two-thirds of those deaths were linked to opioids such as illicit fentanyl, heroin, and prescribed painkillers. The total drug overdose deaths were higher than the number of deaths linked to guns, car crashes, or HIV/AIDS during any single year in America. Based on preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2017 was even worse.
Experts have called for public health efforts to deal with the crisis, focused on boosting access to treatment, adopting harm reduction strategies, and curtailing prescriptions to opioid painkillers while keeping the drugs available to patients who truly need them. They have deemphasized punitive criminal justice approaches, which are, based on the research and past experiences, largely ineffective.
Trump’s new plan gives us a glimpse into what he is focused on in dealing with this issue — and much of it is about looking “tough” on the opioid crisis, even though the evidence and experts speak against several of the ideas involved.
Sarah Wakeman, medical director at the Massachusetts General Hospital Substance Use Disorder Initiative, echoed the consensus I’ve seen among experts: There are some good aspects to Trump’s plan, including potential efforts to boost access to treatment. But she cautioned, “We have already tried the experiment of mandatory minimums and harsh sentencing practices for drug charges during prior epidemics and the end result was surging prison populations and worsened racial disparities in the criminal justice system, not improved public health outcomes.”The plan focuses on “tough on crime” policies
Some of what’s in Trump’s plan is the same old stuff we’ve come to expect from him, such as his promises to get “tough” on the border to stop the flow of drugs into the US (much of which experts are deeply skeptical will have any meaningful effect) and crack down on illicit opioid prescribing and sales.
But Trump goes further in this plan by calling for much tougher penalties for drug offenses. Specifically, the White House calls on Congress to reduce the threshold required to impose mandatory minimum sentences for trafficking fentanyl and other opioids “that are lethal in trace amounts.” And Trump asks for invoking the death penalty for drug traffickers “where appropriate under current law,” although the White House has not cleared up what those circumstances might be.
It’s unclear just how much of an impact Trump’s plan will have here. Congress will have to approve the laxer use of mandatory minimums. And Keith Humphreys, a Stanford drug policy expert, pointed out that the “federal government is a small player in law enforcement and hasn’t executed anyone in 15 years.”
But the White House has argued that the tougher measures are necessary because, in Trump’s view, the people dealing these drugs are guilty of the deaths they cause. As Trump put it at a rally earlier this month, “If you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty. These [drug dealers] can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them.”
The idea behind this approach is to deter drug trafficking and crack down on the supply of drugs by pushing out traffickers and sellers, therefore making the substances more expensive and, as a result, less accessible.
But the US has tried this increasingly punitive approach over the years — and it simply has not worked. As Mark Kleiman, a drug policy expert at the Marron Institute at New York University, previously told me, “We did the experiment. In 1980, we had about 15,000 people behind bars for drug dealing. And now we have about 450,000 people behind bars for drug dealing. And the prices of all major drugs are down dramatically. So if the question is do longer sentences lead to a higher drug price and therefore less drug consumption, the answer is no.”
One of the best studies backing this is a 2014 review of the research by Peter Reuter at the University of Maryland and Harold Pollack at the University of Chicago. They found that while simply prohibiting drugs to some extent does raise their prices, there’s no good evidence that tougher punishments or harsher supply elimination efforts do a better job of driving down access to drugs and substance misuse than lighter penalties. So increasing the severity of the punishment doesn’t do much, if anything, to slow the flow of drugs.
In fact, harsher punishments can actually be counterproductive — by punishing people who need treatment, not incarceration. Although many of these efforts are framed as going after drug dealers and traffickers, the line between who is a dealer or trafficker versus a user is often blurry. A 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, for instance, found that “nearly a third of drug offenders (30 percent of state prisoners and 29 percent of jail inmates) said they committed the offense to get drugs or money for drugs.”
Despite the evidence, these kinds of policies are at the front and center of Trump’s new strategy for the opioid crisis.The plan makes some effort to reduce painkiller prescriptions
Trump’s plan also takes some steps to reduce the amount of opioid painkillers, with a goal of cutting down on prescriptions by one-third over the next three years.
The administration vowed to do this by, among other ideas, tying Medicaid and Medicare payments for opioid painkillers to “best practices” and setting up a national prescription drug monitoring program to track such prescriptions. But the White House proposal didn’t provide more specific details as to how these and similar policies will work.
The rise in opioid prescriptions over the past couple of decades has been a big contributor to the current drug overdose crisis. As doctors prescribed more of the drugs, the opioids ended up not just with legitimate patients, but also teens rummaging through parents’ medicine cabinets, other family members, friends of patients, and a black market where excess opioids can be sold for big profits.
The prescription side of the opioid epidemic has become less of a focus among some experts and advocates in recent years. For one, illicit fentanyl and heroin have overtaken conventional painkillers in terms of overdose deaths. And total prescriptions have been coming down since 2010 (although the amount of opioids prescribed per person in 2015 was more than triple what it was in 1999).
There are also concerns that overly aggressive enforcement against opioid prescriptions could cause more harm than good. Though there’s growing evidence that these drugs are generally not more effective than the alternatives for chronic or even some acute pain, the drugs do work better for some patients. And if you force people addicted to opioids off painkillers, they may turn to more dangerous opioids — such as heroin or fentanyl — if they can’t get access to treatment. So there’s a balancing act here.
Still, experts argue that cutting back on prescriptions can play a role in, at the very least, preventing the crisis from getting worse.
Humphreys of Stanford has explained the crisis as involving the dual problems of “stock” and “flow”: On one hand, you have the current stock of opioid users who are addicted; the people in this population need treatment or they will simply find other, potentially deadlier opioids to use if they lose access to painkillers. On the other hand, you have to stop new generations of people from potentially accessing and misusing opioids.
Cutting back on opioid painkillers will hopefully help reduce that flow of new generations getting access to the drugs. But it also requires ensuring that people who are addicted to painkillers get access to treatment — or they may end up seeking out heroin and fentanyl.Trump proposes some steps on treatment, but probably not enough
Trump’s plan includes some provisions dedicated to boosting treatment. But this is the most vague part of Trump’s proposal, failing to include major details — and even funding numbers — for how much of this will actually be accomplished.
Among the proposals, the administration said it wants to increase access to medications for opioid addiction, such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. These drugs are considered the gold standard for opioid addiction treatment, with studies showing that they reduce all-cause mortality among opioid addiction patients by half or more and do a far better job of keeping people in treatment than non-medication approaches.
The plan also asks Congress to repeal a rule that blocks Medicaid payments to larger treatment facilities, which could provide a boost in the billions to inpatient clinics. The administration has been hinting at this proposal for months — since it declared a public health emergency, and in accordance to the White House opioid commission’s separate proposals.
These ideas go after a huge problem in the US: a lack of access to adequate treatment. According to a 2016 report by the surgeon general, just 10 percent of Americans with a drug use disorder obtain specialty treatment, in large part due to a lack of supply in care. And other data shows that even when addiction treatment is available, fewer than half of facilities offer opioid addiction medications as an option.
The latter statistic is particularly pertinent: If the White House is allowing Medicaid to reimburse larger treatment facilities, there’s an open question about how effective that may be if many of these clinics aren’t providing the gold standard of care for opioid addiction.
It’s also unclear how many resources the administration is willing to commit here. Congress has already vowed an additional $6 billion over two years for the crisis, and Trump’s budget asks for another $7 billion on top of that. But experts say the crisis will likely require an additional commitment of tens of billions of dollars to boost treatment.
The White House’s plan, however, makes no mention of a specific funding number to match the new proposals. That’s still a big question mark.
The administration also vowed to increase access to the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, particularly for first responders. This lifesaving medication can be costly, and many local and state governments have struggled to pay for it as overdose deaths have mounted over the past several years.
And the administration said it wants to screen all federal inmates for drug use disorders — to help connect them with naltrexone treatment if necessary. This is a population that’s extremely vulnerable to drug addiction, with studies showing that prison inmates have a high risk of drug misuse, dependence, and overdose relative to the rest of the population. Naltrexone can help mitigate all of these problems, although experts argue that methadone and buprenorphine need to be made more available to this population as well.
Generally, it’s these kinds of public health measures that drug policy experts have said that a response to the opioid crisis should focus on.
Earlier this year, the New York Times asked 30 experts how they’d spend $100 billion over five years on the opioid epidemic. On average, experts said that 47 percent of the money should go to treatment, 15 percent to harm reduction, and 27 percent to demand (with a focus on “community development” to address the root causes of addiction, from mental illness to bad socioeconomic conditions).
Experts said that only 11 percent should go to supply, which can include the kind of punitive criminal justice efforts that Trump focuses on in his new strategy.
This suggests that Trump’s priorities are exactly backward. Much of his speech focused on getting “tougher” on the opioid crisis, repeatedly emphasizing the death penalty and harsh prison sentences. Meanwhile, addiction treatment is buried at the bottom of the plan and got only a brief mention during the president’s speech, and the proposals are incredibly vague — offering no funding numbers or specific details as to how, exactly, treatment will be expanded.
So although experts widely agree that much more treatment and harm reduction policies are needed, and apparently the White House does too, we don’t know how the Trump administration plans to get much of that done. We do know, however, that Trump wants to make greater use of the death penalty for drug offenses.

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Trump Unveils 4-Point Plan For Easing Opioid Crisis

Mar 19, 2018 | Law360

By Jeff Overley

President Donald Trump unveiled a four-part plan Monday for curbing the opioid crisis with a wide-ranging mix of policies, including tougher criminal enforcement, stricter border security, expanded addiction treatment and a nationwide educational campaign.
The blueprint, which Trump outlined during a speech in New Hampshire, largely reflected recommendations advanced last year by a presidential commission. But it included some new ideas as well, including a controversial plan to seek the death penalty for certain drug traffickers.

“If we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we’re wasting our time … And that toughness includes the death penalty,” Trump said Monday.
The opioid crisis claimed an estimated 42,000 lives in 2016. Deaths have resulted from prescription painkillers, such as oxycodone, and illicit drugs, such as heroin.

One component of the four-part plan focuses on reducing the supply of opioids. In addition to wider use of capital punishment, the component includes a more aggressive posture by the U.S. Department of Justice toward opioid manufacturers and “criminally negligent doctors, pharmacies and distributors.”

“Our Department of Justice is looking very seriously into bringing major litigation against some of these drug companies,” Trump said, echoing remarks he made earlier this month.

Many observers have welcomed Trump’s interest in litigation against Big Pharma, but he’s received less support for the idea of imposing the death penalty on drug traffickers. In a statement Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union called the proposal “unconstitutional and absurd.”

Trump on Monday acknowledged the controversy, saying, “Maybe our country’s not ready for that.”

To reduce the opioid supply, Trump wants to require advance electronic information about 90 percent of international mail shipments with goods. He also proposed greater engagement and cooperation with China and Mexico to block shipments of heroin and other illicit narcotics.

During his speech, Trump veered to making remarks about immigration. He asserted that “ending sanctuary cities is crucial to stopping the drug addiction crisis," and he called for building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border "to keep the damn drugs out."

A second component of Trump’s plan focuses on reducing demand and improper prescribing. The president set a goal of reducing opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years and ensuring that 95 percent of government-reimbursed opioid prescriptions are prescribed in accordance with best practices within five years.

Trump also backed a public advertising campaign to “scare” Americans away from abusing opioids, and he rolled out a website — crisisnextdoor.gov — that invited Americans to share personal stories related to opioid abuse.

“When they see those commercials, hopefully they’re not going to be [using] drugs of any kind,” Trump said.

A third component of the president’s vision emphasized help for people struggling with addiction. Trump endorsed wider availability of overdose-reversal drug naloxone and more opportunities for drug offenders to enroll in treatment programs as alternatives to incarceration, among other initiatives.

During his visit to New Hampshire, the president visited a fire station that has been designated a “safe station” where residents can seek help for addiction without fear of arrest. Trump hailed the station as a “national model,” according to a White House pool report.

The plan’s fourth component, which overlapped with the other categories, is targeted at “the driving forces” of the opioid crisis. It includes various goals of reducing unnecessary prescribing, curtailing illicit drug supplies and expanding addiction treatment.

It remains unclear how much money Congress will allocate for various initiatives and whether congressional authorization can be obtained for certain policies. But some sort of action appears likely, and the House Energy & Commerce Committee is scheduled to consider more than 20 pieces of legislation related to the opioid crisis on Wednesday.

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Commentary and FYIs

Opioid makers ask Suffolk judge to dismiss municipalities’ suits

Mar 19, 2018 | Newsday

By Chau Lam

Lawyers for manufacturers and distributors of prescription painkillers on Monday asked a Suffolk judge to dismiss lawsuits that alleged the businesses fueled the opioid epidemic through a fraudulent marketing campaign that misrepresented the drugs’ safety and effectiveness.
The defendants, including Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of Oxycontin, argued that they can’t be held liable for selling a legal product that is regulated and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, a federal agency charged with protecting public health.
“The FDA has approved the ... opioids at issue in this case as safe and effective for long-term use in treating chronic, non-cancer pain,” according to the defendants’ motion asking state Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo in Central Islip to dismiss the lawsuits.
Garguilo, who listened to more than six hours of oral arguments from a parade of lawyers, said he will issue a decision at a later date.
The lawsuits - filed by Suffolk County, Nassau County New York City, and dozens of other municipalities - accused the opioids manufacturers and distributors of fraud, negligence, public nuisance and unjust enrichment.
In the lawsuits, the municipalities alleged that the defendants created an artificially high demand for the prescription drugs by misrepresenting the risks and benefits to doctors and patients.
The suits are consolidated into one for pre-trial proceedings, but each case will be trial separately in the municipality in which it was filed.
Like other municipalities, Suffolk said the county has been forced to spend “exorbitant amounts of money” to deal with the fallout of the opioid addiction, and is seeking reimbursements for those costs.
“Like polluters who have enriched themselves while dumping toxin into a public water supply for decades, the Manufacturers should now be required to pay the cost of cleaning up the mess they have made,” Suffolk said in its motion opposing the defendants’ request.
The plaintiffs, including Suffolk, urged the judge to allow the lawsuits to proceed to the discovery stage and let the parties gather facts about the case.
“We don’t close the courthouse door at the outset before the plaintiff has a chance to get more information, and that’s why it should be allowed to proceed now,” Andrea Bierstein, of Manhattan, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, said in an interview after the court proceeding.
The two dozen defendants named in the lawsuits are grouped into three categories: the opioids manufacturers, distributors and doctors.
The distributors of the prescription painkillers, according to their lawyers, do not market, promote or sale the opioids and urged the judge to dismiss the lawsuits against them.
Bierstein, however, said distributors along the supply chain were aware of the “suspiciously” large quantities of prescription painkiller pills “flooding” the various counties, and they had a duty to alert authorities.
“As the marketers put all of this stuff in the pipeline, the distributors saw it running through the pipeline, and they had the switches to shut it off,” said Bierstein. “And, they didn’t.

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New York City Boosts Funds to Fight Opioid Epidemic

Mar 19, 2018 | Wall Street Journal

By Mara Gay

New York City will add $22 million to its efforts to fight the opioid epidemic this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.
In the city last year, 1,068 people died from opioid overdoses compared with 1,012 in 2016, according to preliminary data for the city health department. The mayor said the data showed some progress because the increase was smaller than in recent years. There were 754 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2015.
“We’re all shocked by the intensity of this crisis,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference on Staten Island, which has been hard-hit by opioid abuse, along with the Bronx.
The new funding brings the city’s total investment in anti-opioid programs to $60 million this year. City officials said the money would go toward hiring 29 additional staff for a medical team that works with the city’s health and police departments responding to overdose calls, and to expand other health-based programs to address opioid abuse.
One such program connects patients at the city’s public hospitals with treatment for addiction. Another would allow the city’s fire department to distribute 5,000 naloxone kits, a drug that can reverse an otherwise fatal overdose when administered in time.
The mayor said the city is using “every tool” to fight the epidemic, but some critics refuted this, noting that he has yet to throw his support behind a proposal to create safe-injection sites, where drug users could administer heroin and other opioids under medical supervision.
Asked on Monday whether he supported the initiative, Mr. de Blasio said he would make a decision when the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issues a report about safe-injection sites in April.
“They are not using every tool at their disposal,” said Jeremy Saunders, co-director of VOCAL-NY, an advocacy group.
Mr. de Blasio said the epidemic was “fueled by corporate greed” from pharmaceutical companies that had too heavily pushed prescription drugs on patients.
In January, New York City filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors, accusing the companies of oversupplying the market and misrepresenting the safety of the drugs.
Five opioid manufacturers and their subsidiaries, including Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson , and Endo International , as well as distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. , were named in the lawsuit.
The companies have denied the allegations and said they are committed to working with communities to stem opioid abuse.
Mr. de Blasio was joined on Monday by his wife, Chirlane McCray, who said last week she is considering running for office. Though the mayor has long referred to her as his “closest adviser,” Ms. McCray has taken an increasingly public role in the administration. Recently, her name has appeared alongside her husband’s on official news releases, as it did on Monday.
“When the first lady is present, it’s because she’s worked on the effort,” Mr. de Blasio said, when asked about Ms. McCray’s role.

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Opioid Solutions: Insurance, Legislation Or Litigation? (Opinion)

Mar 19, 2018 | Law360

By Adam Felischer

The past month has illustrated that while the opioid epidemic has worsened, solutions to the crisis have begun to emerge. Some solutions are rooted in legislation, while others derive from litigation. All solutions are destined to be very expensive and raise questions as to whether the cost of the opioid battle is more justifiably absorbed by public health legislation, the private pharmaceutical industry or the insurers whose policies were aimed at compensation of discrete injury and of course not wholesale societal repair. These issues are summarized below.
The Epidemic Grows

In 2016, there were 42,249 deaths in the U.S. from opioids, a 28 percent increase from 2015. On March 6, 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new statistics to show where the epidemic is now. It is not good news. From 2016 to 2017, the number of opioid overdoses in hospital emergency rooms jumped by 30 percent. Emergency rooms in the Midwest saw a 69.7 percent increase, with Wisconsin being hardest hit. CDC Director Anne Schuchat commented that the increase may even be worse than the statistics show because many people who overdose do not ever end up at hospital emergency rooms. The CDC believes that while the number of people addicted to opioids may have leveled, the injuries continue to rise because the substances themselves are getting more dangerous. Illegal fentanyl flooding American streets may be 80-100 times stronger than morphine, and one analogue, Carfentaril, is up to 10,000 times stronger than morphine. The opioid epidemic is not slowing.

Legislative Solutions Emerge

Solutions to the epidemic are starting to be delineated, with billions of dollars needed for: 1) addiction treatment; 2) re-education of physician pain management training; 3) sharing of federal and state prescription databases to police proper prescription and distribution; 4) changes to the drug quotas manufacturers are required to produce; 5) changes to the marketing of opioids, and; 6) changes to the health industry’s funding of alternative pain management. In 2016, Congress passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), which sets forth general goals for battling the opioid epidemic, but with a yearly appropriation process necessary to earmark certain funds for certain prevention efforts.

Within the last month, a bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill dubbed CARA 2.0 that delineates specific programs to be the recipient of portions of the $6 billion in opioid funding that last month’s federal budget has committed over the next two years. The bill proposes $10 million to fund a national education campaign on opioids, $300 million to increase training for first responders, and $200 million for recovery support services. On the House side of the Capitol, the Energy and Commerce Committee is working to pass aggressive opioid legislation by Memorial Day. A key feature of the House plan will require a 3 day limit on the initial prescription of opioids for acute pain. The proposal will also call for funding of a nationwide system of “opioid courts.”

Yet another opioid bill was introduced in the Senate on March 12. This bill would allow the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to take into account overdose deaths and abuse rates when it sets quotas for how much of a certain drug manufacturers are required to produce each year. Currently, the DEA is required to set quotas on drugs based on the amounts used and sold in the previous year, with an added increase in case of emergency. In other words, under current law, because opioids are being overused and overprescribed, the DEA would be required to order manufacturers to produce the same inflated number of pills next year, with potentially even a higher cap. The application of this illogic led to the DEA approving increases in opioid production quotas each year from 1993 to 2015, with a 39-fold increase for oxycodone during that period.

Solutions Through The MDL?

While Congress has begun to appropriate billions of dollars toward solving the opioid crisis, lawyers bombard local and state governments with marketing materials to race to the courthouse to pursue funds to replace and replenish those spent on the epidemic. Approximately 300 such suits have been consolidated in a national multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Ohio before Judge Dan A. Polster. Upon receipt of this MDL, Judge Polster set his sights immediately on resolution, commenting at one preliminary hearing “It is [not] in anyone’s interests to have this dragging on for five or ten years. ... My objective is to do something meaningful to abate this crisis and to do it in 2018 ... We don’t need briefs and we don’t need trials. None of those are going to solve [the crisis] we’ve got.”

Therefore with the MDL having emerged as another force pushing for resolutions to the crisis, the last month has seen a potential breakthrough in information sharing that previously did not exist. The most comprehensive database monitoring opioid prescriptions from doctors and pharmacies across the country is the Automated Records and Consolidated Orders Systems database (ARCOS). That database is controlled by the DEA and U.S. Department of Justice and not shared with manufacturers or distributors. In order to understand which defendants had distributed how many opioids and where, the plaintiffs in the MDL subpoenaed information from the ARCOS database. On Feb. 26, 2018, the DOJ filed a notice of compliance in which it agreed to provide the MDL court information to help “identify non-party manufacturers whom (the Court) believes should be part of the settlement process and to identify possible fault by DEA registrants by comparing communities that received the most prescription opiates with CDC statistics.” The DOJ agreed to produce “the names of all manufacturers in each state who comprise 95% or more of the market share for certain opioids (and) a spreadsheet of data exported from the ARCOS database for each of the 50 states and Puerto Rico with transaction data for 2012 and 2013.” While this production on one hand allows the MDL to continue Judge Polster’s push toward settlement, it also highlights the difficulty in accessing important government data that some argue is the necessary foundation for solutions to solve the crisis.

Solutions Through “Opioid Courts”

Last November, a national opioid commission recommended nationwide drug courts to help opioid users break their addiction rather than sending them to prison where the addiction festers and grows. Currently, fewer than one third of federal districts have such drug courts. Buffalo City Court does operate the nation’s first opiate crisis intervention court. Opiate offenders appear before a judge who channels nonviolent offenders into recovery rather than jail. Through this system, an addict interested in treatment can get into a program within hours of the court hearing and the criminal process is on hold. The Buffalo program requires addicts to check in nightly with a court staffer, enter counseling, adhere to a curfew and attend a court hearing every weekday for a personal visit with the judge. If a hearing is missed, a warrant is issued for the defendant’s arrest. Such courts are thought to be an integral piece of getting help to those most in need, and decreasing the burden on the penal system, as well as decreasing the likelihood of losing an addict back into the chaotic commerce of opioids.

A New Litigation Focus?

On March 12, 2018, CNN and Harvard University released the results of an investigation concluding that physicians who prescribed large amounts of opioids in 2014 and 2015 received large speaking and consulting fees from opioid manufacturers. The study authors cross-checked one government database that tracks payments from drug companies to doctors, and a second database that details which doctors prescribed how many opioids to Medicare patients. The results showed that of those doctors who prescribed opioids, more than 54 percent, or over 200,000 doctors received payments from opioid manufacturers. CNN’s study also concluded that those doctors who prescribed more opioids were likely to have received larger payments, with doctors whose opioid prescription volume was in the top 5 percent nationally receiving twice as much money from opioid manufacturers than doctors whose prescription volume was in the median. While it is illegal for doctors to receive “kickbacks” for prescribing certain medications, it is indeed legal for doctors to receive fees from opioid manufacturers for speaking, training, education and consulting.

The link between such payments to doctors and the type and amounts of opioids they prescribe has already been the subject of at least one lawsuit against manufacturer Insys, as well as additional studies by the University of North Carolina and Boston University. As new lawsuits and legislation bring increased pressure to the industry, the manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, announced within the last month that it will stop marketing opioid drugs to doctors, and plans to cut its opioid salesforce by 50 percent. The exploration of the link between doctor payments and opioid prescriptions is sure to become a focus of continuing litigation against the manufacturers, as well as potentially bringing litigation focus to doctors who may need to justify the payments they have received from the manufacturers.

Liability Insurers In The Crosshairs?

The last month’s examples of emerging opioid solutions tell of a patchwork of causes and blame for the country’s predicament. With such varied causes and solutions, the proposals illuminate the different scope of funding responsibilities as between government gatekeepers versus corporate profiteers versus the liability insurers caught in the middle.

A manufacturer whose widget is defective, which then causes a user to break her leg, may typically seek insurance to fund the manufacturer’s liability for the unexpected and unintended harm to that user. In this manner, liability insurance serves an important societal purpose in spreading the risk of such unintended injuries, thereby allowing protection for both widget makers and widget users. However, insurance policy wording and case law have developed important safeguards and limitations that maintain the benefit of the bargain for the insured, the customer and the insurer. For example, if the manufacturer intentionally mismarkets the product to achieve maximum profit, then insurers typically do not cover the repercussions of such intentional business schemes. Instead, such damages typically are paid from the wrongfully gained profits. Furthermore, if a slip and fall injury results in changes to government flooring requirements or inspection protocol, these costs are not paid by the insurers, but are instead funded by the government agencies responsible for administering such obligations to the public.

Putting these fundamental concepts into the opioid context demonstrates why liability insurers of the pharmaceutical defendants are not the likely source to fund the billions of dollars being appropriated for new pain management training, addiction training or governmental changes in prescription monitoring, reporting or data sharing. Such societal changes have been the subject of government and administrative oversight, proposals and debate for almost a decade, and the costs of societal reforms must fall to those same governments that control the appropriation of such societal funds. Similarly, the costs of harm caused by companies who intentionally monitored and rewarded the doctors prescribing the most opioids are costs that are likely to be borne by the doctors and companies that intentionally profited from such arrangements and not borne by the liability insurers who contracted to compensate liability for unintentional conduct causing specific harm to individuals.

In fact, one piece of legislation best demonstrates that the opioid crisis is a societal problem to be balanced between government policymakers and those companies profiting from the government policies. A pending bill known as the Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment Act (LifeBOAT Act) seeks to establish a 1 cent fee on each milligram of active opioid ingredient in a prescription pain kill. The proceeds of this tax would be used to fund and expand opioid treatment programs across all states.

At the most fundamental level, the opioid epidemic is a societal injury caused by the interplay between for-profit companies who have produced, marketed and profited from a series of pills, and those multiple governmental entities responsible for monitoring, administering and coordinating the programs and procedures to ensure that these drugs are responsibly prescribed and used. While the defendants in the opioid litigation will continue their efforts to pass their financial responsibility to liability insurers, the fundamental nature of the insurance risk and the wording of the insurance contracts are expected to prevent such passing of financial responsibility to an insurance structure that was not created to bear this weight.

Adam H. Fleischer is a partner with the Chicago firm BatesCarey LLP. He is chairman of the firm’s opioid coverage task force.

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Drug stocks dive as Trump says he's considering suing drugmakers over opioid crisis

Mar 19, 2018 | CNBC

By Angelica LaVito

President Donald Trump said he's considering suing drugmakers for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic, sending pharma stocks tumbling Monday.
A number of cities, counties and states have already sued opioid manufacturers. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was creating a task force to examine companies' role in the epidemic and was ordering it "to examine existing state and local government lawsuits against opioid manufacturers to determine if we can be of assistance."
"Our Department of Justice is looking very seriously at bringing major litigation against some of these drug companies," Trump said Monday. "We'll bring it at a federal level. Some states are already bringing it, but we're thinking about bringing it at a very high federal level and we'll do a job."
Trump was speaking in New Hampshire, where he was introducing his administration's new plan to tackle the crisis. Shares of three opioid producers were hit especially hard. Endo International and Depomedshares both fell about 4 percent, while Mallinckrodt, dropped 5.5 percent.
Morgan Stanley identified the three companies as facing risk from the lawsuits because their branded opioid sales are, and were, significantly large relative to their portfolio and given their current high financial leverage.
In a note to clients, the analysts said that pharma companies who make branded drugs may be more exposed to lawsuits than those who make generics because the former are usually promoted, whereas the latter aren't.
"Companies must also be accountable," Trump said. "The Department of Justice recently created a task force to coordinate investigations and lawsuits against manufacturers and other bad actors that harm our citizens."

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Gov. Rick Scott signs major bill to combat opioid epidemic in Florida

Mar 20, 2018 | Associated Press

By Joe Reedy

Gov. Rick Scott on Monday signed Florida's opioid legislation into law, a move seen by many as a good first step in combating a crisis that has claimed at least 16 lives a day in the Sunshine State.
"What it does take is a pretty comprehensive approach to addressing the epidemic," said Mark Fontaine, Executive Director for the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association. "It has education programs and helps control the measures for availability."
The legislation includes tougher limits on most painkiller prescriptions, more money for treatment programs and requirements for physicians to check the state's prescription database. The Republican governor and the state Legislature had made passing opioid legislation a priority of the recently concluded session.
Opioid-related deaths across Florida have jumped 35 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Opioids were identified as either the cause of death or were present in the deceased person's body in 5,725 cases in 2016. The 2017 figures are still being compiled.
"I don't think anyone wakes up in the morning with the goal of becoming an addict. This will make a big difference in reducing the number of addicts," said Scott, who signed the bill at the Manatee County Sheriff's Office in Bradenton.
Manatee County suffered the highest ratio of deaths in Florida in 2016 from fentanyl analogs — synthetic versions of fentanyl that can be 5,000 times more lethal than heroin.
House speaker Richard Corcoran, who attended the signing, said the measure is one of the first in Florida that attempts to combat the opioids crisis at the front end by limiting supplies and by doctors' checks on the prescription database.
The new laws, which take effect July 1, also contains some of the nation's toughest mandates on initial prescriptions for Schedule II painkillers such as Oxycontin and Fentanyl. The initial limit would be three days, but doctors could prescribe up to seven days for acute pain exceptions. It does not place medication limits for trauma cases, chronic pain, cancer and terminal illnesses.
Florida is the 25th state since 2016 that has passed legislation that imposes some limits or guidelines on opioid prescriptions. Only two others — Kentucky and Minnesota — have statutory limits of three or four days.
Fraser Cobbe, who represents the Florida Orthopedic Society, said doctors would have liked to see the limit extended to 10 days for surgeries not related to traumatic injuries, like hip and other joint replacements.
"The concern is major surgery was not addressed or focused on the human element," Cobbe said.
Cobbe said his organization is putting most of its focus on informing members about the new regulations with checking the state's prescription database as well as the requirements for doctors to complete a 2-hour continuing education course on responsibly prescribing opioids.
The state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program will receive a software upgrade that should make it easier to integrate into a patient's medical file as well as making it easier to track medication history nationwide — a move designed to prevent someone near state lines from trying to doctor shop for multiple prescriptions.
There are some critics though who think the $65 million in the state budget signed by Scott last Friday does not go far enough in properly funding law enforcement and treatment programs.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham said in a statement that Scott and the Legislature must join other five other states in suing drug manufacturers and hold them more accountable.
Scott's signing came hours before President Donald Trump spoke Monday in New Hampshire about federal steps to combat opioid addiction. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was a member of the president's opioid commission.

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Midwest (SD, MI, IN)

Oglala Sioux Tribe Targets Drug Cos. With Opioid Suit

Mar 19, 2018 | Law360

By Andrew Westney

The Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe on Friday hit two dozen drug makers and distributors with a suit in South Dakota federal court, adding to the torrent of litigation over the companies’ alleged roles in contributing to the abuse of opioids among tribe members and others.
The Oglala Sioux tribe alleged in its complaint that the companies — including Purdue Pharma LP, McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen Corp., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and others — have marketed prescription opioids “in a manner that fraudulently concealed and minimized their addiction risk” and failed to comply with federal laws meant to keep opioids from being diverted, according to a statement on Monday from Robins Kaplan LLP, which represents the tribe.

The firm noted that this is the third such lawsuit over opioids it has filed on behalf of tribes so far this year, having also filed a suit for the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe, the Rosebud Sioux tibe and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate on Jan. 8 in South Dakota federal court and for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe on Feb. 12 in North Dakota federal court.

“The opioid epidemic affects nearly every tribal member in the state, and the impact on tribes in the South Dakota region has been devastating,” Robins Kaplan partner Brendan Johnson said in the firm's statement. “It is our hope that with these lawsuits, our firm can help bring justice to several tribes in the Dakotas.”

There are now hundreds of suits making allegations against drug manufacturers and distributors over opioids, which have since been consolidated into multidistrict litigation in Ohio.

The Cherokee Nation filed one of the early suits by a tribe last April and the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin and North Carolina’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have brought federal court actions in their respective states.

In January, the Flandreau Santee Sioux, the Rosebud Sioux and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate went after a slew of companies — including drugmakers such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Janssen and distributors such as Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen — in South Dakota district court, alleging that they have knowingly fueled the growing opioid epidemic to boost their own profits.

The suit alleged that distributors could have helped keep the market in check by properly monitoring the distribution of the drugs in order to prevent theft, misuse and diversion and by stopping suspicious orders. But they didn’t do so, further exacerbating the nationwide opioid crisis, according to the complaint.

The tribes contend that they have been left to pick up the pieces, shelling out money for things such as therapeutic care and treatment, counseling and rehabilitation services, welfare and foster care for the children of addicted parents and law enforcement and public safety.

The suit brings claims for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the Lanham Act, as well as public nuisance, deceptive trade practices, fraud, negligence, unjust enrichment and civil conspiracy, seeking damages and injunctive relief.

The Oglala Sioux argued in its similar complaint on Friday that the costs to the tribe from the opioid crisis “could have been — and should have been — prevented by the opioid industry,” as the industry is required to keep the drugs secure and keep track of them.

“Instead of acting with reasonable care and in compliance with their legal duties, the defendants intentionally flooded the market with opioids and pocketed billions of dollars in the process,” according to the complaint.

“The Oglala Sioux tribe is just one of several tribal nations that have come face-to-face with the unprecedented national opioid epidemic,” Robins Kaplan partner Tim Purdon said in the firm’s statement on Monday. “Our goal at Robins Kaplan is to level the playing field for these tribes and bring attention to this crisis.”

A representative for McKesson in a statement on Monday declined to comment specifically on the Oglala Sioux suit, but said generally that as a drug distributor, the company “only distributes opioid medications to pharmacies that are DEA-registered and state-licensed, and we only distribute in response to orders that pharmacies place — we do not drive demand.”

A representative for Janssen said in a statement on Monday that the company's "actions in the marketing and promotion of these medicines were appropriate and responsible," and that "the allegations made against our company are baseless and unsubstantiated."

A representative for Endo declined to comment on Monday.

Representatives for the other defendants were not immediately available to comment Monday.

The Oglala Sioux tribe is represented by Brendan V. Johnson, Timothy W. Billion, Tara D. Sutton, Holly Dolejsi, Shira T. Shapiro, Sarah E. Friedricks and Timothy Q. Purdon of Robins Kaplan LLP.

Counsel information for the companies was not immediately available on Monday.

The suit is Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe et al. v. Purdue Pharma LP et al., suit number 5:18-cv-05021, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota.

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Oglala Sioux latest SD tribe to sue opioid industry groups

Mar 19, 2018 | Associated Press

By Staff

The Oglala Sioux Tribe is the latest South Dakota American Indian tribe to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors.
The tribe sued 24 opioid industry groups in federal court Friday. The lawsuit alleges the companies marketed prescription opioids in a way that fraudulently concealed and minimized their addiction risk.
The tribe seeks damages for allegedly deceptive trade practices, fraudulent and negligent conduct and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.
The companies have denied wrongdoing in response to similar lawsuits filed around the country.
The tribe's attorneys also filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of the Rosebud Sioux, Flandreau Santee Sioux and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate in January. Last month the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed a similar lawsuit in federal court in North Dakota.

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Oglala Sioux Tribe joins legal fight against opioid industry

Mar 19, 2018 | Bismarck Tribune (SD)

By Staff

National law firm Robins Kaplan announced Monday it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of South Dakota’s Oglala Sioux Tribe against the opioid industry, joining other tribes that have filed suits alleging devastating public health effects from opioids.
The lawsuit against 24 opioid manufacturers and distributors is filed in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. It accuses the defendants of deceptive trade practices and fraudulent, negligent conduct.
Former North Dakota U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon and former South Dakota U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, who now work for Robins Kaplan, are representing the tribe. The attorneys also filed a similar lawsuit last week on behalf of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
Previous lawsuits the attorneys filed on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate have been consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio.

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Traverse City Commissioners Vote to Join Lawsuit Against Pharmaceutical Companies

Mar 19, 2018 | WWTV (MI)

By Harrison Light

“This is about changing the system that’s out there right now that’s allowed this to happen.”
Commissioners in Traverse City have decided to take the fight to another source of opioids: pharmaceutical companies.
Board members voted during a meeting Monday to join a growing list of municipalities planning to file claims against pharmaceutical companies producing and distributing opioid medications.
The lawsuit will attempt to hold those companies accountable for financial damages caused by the opioid epidemic, arguing they were negligent in their efforts to warn patients of addiction.
Joining the case will come at no cost to the city and legal fees will be collected only as a portion of the money they recover.
Commissioners say their decision isn’t about money, but rather a desperate need for change
“If we can do that, and all of a sudden people’s lives are not stuck on opium. Although we know heroin and some of these harder drugs are never going to go away, we’re not going to get rid of it. But if we can stop one source, then we as a society have come a long way,” commissioner Richard Lewis said.
The judge handling the case has stated he would like to see it resolved by the end of this year.

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Martinsville Joining Growing List Of Cities Filing Suit Against Pharmaceutical Companies

Mar 20, 2018 | WBIW (IN)

By Staff

Martinsville is joining a growing list of cities filing suit against pharmaceutical companies.
On Monday, the city said it filed a lawsuit against five pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and three whole sale drug distributors.
Martinsville Mayor Shannon Kohl says they've been working on the suit for a couple of months prior to the filing.
"Mostly we just felt like it was time to hold the manufacturers accountable. There's things that they were supposed to report that they didn't report as far as suspicious drug ordering, things that they were supposed to follow through on that they didn't do with the FDA," Kohl says. "We just want to hold them accountable."
Martinsville Police Chief Matt Long says they're seeing more cases of officers exposed to opioids while on the job, hundreds of juveniles facing arrest, juveniles overdosing and crimes linked to drugs.
"Bottom line is it's killing our community members, it's putting our public safety officials in jeopardy by going out there," Chief Matt Long said. "We've got to figure this out then we've got to figure this out together."

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Southeast (WV, FL)

11 More West Virginia Towns, Counties Sue Over Opioid Crisis

Mar 20, 2018 | Associated Press

By Staff

Eleven additional local West Virginia governments are suing drug companies who they say failed to follow state and federal law to prevent the distribution and abuse of prescription pain medication that’s created the state’s opioid crisis.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the lawsuits filed in the federal court last week come from governments around the state. The municipalities include Quinwood, Rupert, Rainelle, Milton, Smithers, Sutton, Logan, Summersville and Parkersburg, in addition to Nicholas and Braxton counties.
Numerous other counties have also sued pharmaceutical companies, drugstores and the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy over the state’s opioid crisis. The Exponent Telegram reports that Barbour and Taylor counties filed lawsuits Tuesday seeking restraining orders to curb practices they say are fueling the crisis, restitution, punitive damages and an insurance award from the Board of Pharmacy.

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Calhoun County, Panama City sue companies over opioid crisis

Mar 19, 2018 | Tallahassee Democrat (FL)

By Jeff Burlew

Calhoun County and Panama City are joining the legal fight against pharmaceutical companies to stem the opioid epidemic.
The two local governments filed lawsuits Friday in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee against the makers and distributors of legally prescribed but widely abused opioid pain medicines. They join more than 200 cities and counties across the U.S. that are suing big drug companies, alleging they misled the public about their dangers and addictiveness and seeking damages for treatment and other costs of responding to the epidemic.
“The manufacturers aggressively pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids, falsely representing to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addition,” the complaint says. “These pharmaceutical companies aggressively advertised to and persuaded doctors to prescribe highly addictive, dangerous opioids, which turned patients into drug addicts for their own corporate profit.”
A number of other Florida counties have either sued the pharmaceutical industry or signaled they may do so, including Alachua, Broward, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. Last month, Leon County commissioners directed the county attorney to issue a request for proposals for outside counsel to handle possible litigation.
In November, Calhoun County commissioners agreed to file the lawsuit after it was contacted by attorneys from the Levin Papantonio firm of Pensacola. The county hired the firm on a contingency basis, according to county minutes.
“We need to save people from the addiction and the consequences of the addiction,” said Calhoun County Commission Chairman Danny Ray Wise. “That’s the main goal.”
Several Panhandle or Big Bend counties rank high in opioid prescription rates in Florida, according to 2016 figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are Bay (second), Taylor (fourth), Escambia (fifth), Jackson (10th) and Gulf (12th). In Bay County, there were 121.2 prescriptions for every 100 people. In Calhoun County, which ranked 43rd in the state, there were 71.2 prescriptions for every 100 people.
Florida in 2016 had 5,725 opioid-related deaths, a 35 percent jump from the previous year, according to the Medical Examiners Commission Drug Report.
Both Calhoun County and Panama City filed nearly identical, 229-page complaints using the same legal team, which includes lawyers from Panama City, Pensacola, Alabama and Mississippi. The lawyers have also sued on behalf of cities including Birmingham, Alabama, and Cincinnati, Ohio. The federal lawsuits are being consolidated under a single U.S. district judge in Ohio.
USA Today reported the drug companies deny the allegations and have said the lawsuits should not move forward until federal studies are done on opioid risks and benefits. Bloomberg reported earlier this year that Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, was proposing a global settlement to end the litigation.

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Northeast (PA)

Western Pa. Cities Latest To Strike At Opioid Manufacturers

Mar 19, 2018 | Law360

By Dan Packel

Three western Pennsylvania municipalities are joining the flood of litigation against opioid manufacturers, crossing the state Friday to file a class action in Philadelphia that accuses Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson and others of deceptive marketing.
The cities of New Castle and Aliquippa, along with a Washington County township, are aiming to hold Purdue, J&J, Cephalon Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Allergan PLC responsible for the costs of responding to the growing opioid epidemic. They are also seeking reimbursement of prescriptions and addiction treatment for municipal employees.

While a number of other Pennsylvania municipalities have launched lawsuits over the companies’ marketing practices, the latest suit stands out as a class action, as the three municipalities seek to represent all of the counties and municipalities in the state that have been harmed by the opioid crisis.

“The costs incurred by plaintiffs are similar to costs that are incurred by cities, townships, counties and municipalities across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” they said in the complaint.

Both cities of approximately 20,000 residents, New Castle sits in Lawrence County while Aliquippa sits in Beaver County. The third municipality, Union Township, is home to roughly 6,000 residents.

They join a roster of Pennsylvania municipalities and counties suing the drugmakers that includes the city of Philadelphia, Bensalem Township and Delaware County in the Philly suburbs, and Luzerne County in the state’s northeast.

The three municipalities have outlined an increasingly familiar set of claims. They accuse drugmakers of engaging in deceptive marketing by understating the addiction risks of their drugs. They also depict the opioid crisis allegedly created by companies’ marketing practices as a “public nuisance,” and they say the companies’ conduct enabled them to enrich themselves unjustly.

But their suit is novel in its class action component, which — if successful — would allow other municipalities that have yet to engage in litigation to be reimbursed for the harm allegedly done by the drug manufacturers.

“Class members who have already retained counsel will have the option, if they have the financial ability, to opt out and prosecute their actions individually, should they choose, without the use of a class action," the complaint says. “However, numerous counties, municipalities, townships and cities will not have the financial resources to retain a lawyer to prosecute this action.”

The five drugmakers named in the suit have repeatedly denied allegations made by municipalities in the state, but they have acknowledged the public health crisis and have stressed their commitment to finding solutions.

"Our actions in the marketing and promotion of these medicines were appropriate and responsible," a spokeswoman for J&J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday. "The labels for our prescription opioid pain medicines provide information about their risks and benefits, and the allegations made against our company are baseless and unsubstantiated. In fact, our medications have some of the lowest rates of abuse among this class of medications."

A spokeswoman for Endo also denied the allegations and said the company would vigorously defend itself.

"Endo is dedicated to providing safe, quality products to patients in need and we share the public concern regarding opioid abuse and misuse," said Heather Zoumas Lubeski. "We are committed to working collaboratively to develop and implement a comprehensive solution to the opioid crisis, which is a complex problem with several causes that are difficult to disentangle."
The other defendants and an attorney for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

The plaintiffs are represented by Arnold Levin, Daniel Levin and Charles Shaeffer of Levin Sedran & Berman LLP.

Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available Monday.

The case is City of New Castle et al. v. Purdue Pharma LP, case number 180301961, in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.

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Broadcast Media Coverage

Black Hills Fox News

Mar 20, 2018 | Rapid City, SD

By KEVNLD (Fox)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706451?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: the ogla sioux tribe is suing opioid manufacturers and distributors in federal court. the tribe is seeking damages for allegedly deceptive trade practices ... fraudulent and negligent conduct and violations of the rico act. the tribe's attorneys have already filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of the rosebud sioux ... flandreau santee sioux and the sisseton wahpeton oyate. the companies have denied wrongdoing in response to similar lawsuits filed around the country.

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KDLT News Today

Mar 20, 2018 | Sioux Falls, SD

By KDLT (NBC)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706467?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: The ogla sioux tribe is the latest south dakota american indian tribe to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors. the federal lawsuit alleges the companies marketed prescription opioids in a way that concealed and minimized their addiction risk. the tribe is seeking damages. the companies have denied wrongdoing in response to similar lawsuits filed around the country, including others filed from tribes in south dakota. the state of south dakota also last week filed a similar suit.

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Fox Morning News

Mar 20, 2018 | Myrtle Beach, SC

By WFXB (Fox)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706443?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: dillon county joins several other south carolina counties to sue opioid distributors. patsy: the county filed suit against three major drug manufacturers. the lawsuit accuses the companies of fueling the opioidepidemic with lethal overshipments of prescription drugs. the suit asks the companies to pay for costs associated to the epidemic... including law enforcement.. first responders... and other public safety services. patsy: marion and horry counties also filed lawsuits over "lethal overshipments" of opioids in-state d-hec stats from 20-16....horry county had the most opioid overdose deaths in the state... with "101"

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Michigan This Morning on FOX 32

Mar 20, 2018 | Traverse City, MI

By WFQX (Fox)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706457?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: traverse city is joining the battle against opioid abuse -- looking to sue pharmaceutical companies. city commissioners voted to join a growing list of municipalities, planning to file claims against the companies that produce and distribute highly addictive painkillers. the lawsuit will attempt to hold pharmaceuticalcompanies accountable for financial damages caused by the opioid epidemic -- arguing they didn't warn patients about addiction. joing the case will not cost the city anything. and legal fees will be collected only from the money they recover in the lawsuit. commissioners say the system needs to be changed. 8:04 AM<...if we can do that, and all of a sudden people's going to get rid of it. but if we can stop one source, then we as a society have come a long way.> the judge handling the case says he would like to see it resolved by the end of this year. missaukee county -- on the other hand -- has decided not to add its name to the lawsuit. commissioners debated the issue after being contacted by a lawyer in traverse city but ultimately decided to shoot down the idea. county leaders tell us legally prescribed drugs are not their main concern at the moment. feel like most of the people they're seeing with a drug problem, they did not find any evidence that all illegal drugs> the county tells us they made the decision after consulting with the sheriff's office, the prosecutor and e- m-s workers.

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THV11 This Morning at 6A

Mar 20, 2018 | Little Rock, AR

By KTHV (CBS)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706471?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: arkansas attorney general as well as the rutledge is looking into suing andeven criminally prosecuting opioid manufacturers if her legal teams can prove they profitted from getting people addicted and here at thv eleven we are working to save a generation it is our mission to educate and look for solutions to the drug addiction crisis.

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WCCB News Rising

Mar 20, 2018 | Charlotte, NC

By WCCB (CW)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706475?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: cabarrus counties joining mecklenburg and other local counties in suing opioid manufacturers. comes as president trump pushes a plan that would support the death penalty for major drug dealers. the plan also focuses on law enforcement, prevention, and education. north carolina has four of the top 25 worst cities for opioid abuse in the country. that includes hickory. local and state leaders are working to get prescription drugs off the streets.

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Eyewitness News at 10:30pm

Mar 19, 2018 | Orlando, FL

By WRDQ (WRDQ)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706489?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: brevard county commissioners may choose an attorney to represent the county in an opioid lawsuit. the county is considering litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors for possibly -- and possibly opioid prescribers.

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MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi

Mar 19, 2018 | National Programming

By MSNBC (MSNBC)

Rough Transcript: okay, we're going to have a chance to dig into these things and whether or not the president's proposals are likely to succeed. but i want to bring in jacob soberoff. we've been covering this issue for a long time and jacob has been the tip of the spear for us. he's traveled the country reporting on this epidemic and talked to people battling addiction and seeing firsthand how easy it can be to actually get hold of these deadly drugs. it is important for people to understand, this is not the illicit drug trade of years gone by. this is something very different. >> i just watching the president, i sense -- and i haven't talked to him about this, a profound misunderstanding about what is killing people and how it is killing people in america today. he made a big focus on reducing and slashing the amount of pills that are going out in this country and of course that is indeed important. and that led to the use of fept 3:16 PM-- fentanyl but it is killing more people than ever before. and it is killing more people than gun crashes or hiv. >> this is important to understand. >> and so he goes out there and he talks about the idea that a border wall is going to stop people from dying of fentanyl in the united states. >> that is not where people are getting the fentonal. >> most of the drugs from the southern border, mexico, are coming through legal ports of the entry, where we might drive our cars. a -- according to his own dea. >> not through the desert where the wall is. >> it is not coming through -- when it is not a value proposition for the cartel if they lose a load of it. that is hundreds of thousands of dollars. they bring it where the risk is lower. and the fentanyl is coming from china from his own postal service. >> i saw you do a story ordering it online and through the mail. >> so to hear the president today talk about the border wall and immigration as the solution or his one main solution, let's 3:17 PMnot mention this will kill low level drug dealers or execute low level drug dealers if you are going to kill -- that sounds like a new war on drugs. it doesn't sound like a solution for getting people into treatment or getting people help and stopping people from dying for the worst drug crisis in american history. >> and there is an economic component. some is overprescribing and we'll talk about that, but some is that this is pervasive in areas where we've seen seen low unemployment. >> and since people have voted for trump, alienation and they don't feel like they have a job and hopeless are the reason that people turn to drugs like heroin and fentanyl and before that prescription pain medication. and there seems to be a profound disconnect between the way the president thinks about this and the reality on the ground. >> thank you for your continued reporting. this is a crisis and we need to stay on top of us. joining me now, gary mend'll you of shatter proof an organization dedicated to reducing the devastation of addiction through prevention and treatment and recovery. he found the the nonprofit after he lost his son brian to addiction in 2011. and gary, it is always great to have you here because you suffered tragedy but you did -- as you told me a few moments ago, when you lose a child to something like this, you try and figure out the causes and you try and figure out the ways in which another family doesn't have to lose someone like you did. >> absolutely. and what is so different about the tragedy that i suffered and so many others suffer versus other diseases or other causes of death, this one is preventible and treatable. we know enough today to cut this by two-thirds -- as far as the new people becoming addicted. and in a matter of a month or two.and a lot of people become addicted through the use of pain killer drugs that are prescribed in a regimen in america where we've moved toward more aggressive battling of pain. >> correct. 3:19 PMwe hear often the death related to heroin or the death related to fentanyl. but 80% -- eight of ten who use heroin today started with a legal prescription pain killer. most often it is prescribed by a doctor or found in a medicine cabinet or given to someone by a friend. almost all of it. >> and then they move to either a cheaper version or -- heroin. >> it is much less expensive and much more available. but literally, last year this country prescribed enough opioids legally in this country to give every man and women and child a bottle of pills to be fully medicated around the clock for three weeks. and that is four times the number of pills that we prescribed 15 years ago. >> so you feel that some of the problem could be dealt with if we immediately pulled back on the prescription of these pills and we get very aggressive with doctors and drug companies who are perpetuating this. we saw an incident in new york 3:20 PMwas it this week or last week where a number of -- doctors were arrested. >> but that is different because that is doktdors doing the wrong thing. and they are still prescribing 30 days for a pulled tooth or a back sprain when the cdc guideline said try something else first but if you need some, one or two days, not 30 days. this could happen within a month. but i want to switch to another topic which is stigma. because that is missed in all of this. >> you told me this is something that y that your son suffered from. the idea you can't go and tell your family and friends that you have a problem. >> let me rephrase. yes, my son suffered with this but i will venture to say of the 2.5 million people addicted to opioids today or the 20 million people adirected to drug or alcohol, every one of them, not just my son feels stag mattized. 3:21 PMlast time my son came home for a visit four months before he died, last time he came home, the last night we're sitting on the back porch talking and about his recovery, just chatting and then he looked at me and said, some day i wish that people would realize i'm not a bad i'm a good person and have a bad disease. and dad, i'm trying my absolute hardest. i mean, he was able to express it. how many people can express it. and that is what they feel. and if we could change the way that we think about this. you are right what you just said. about a quarter of the people in this country addicted will not seek treatment. it is studied about surveys. because they don't want anybody to know about it. how many people will seek treatment or how many people will feel loved and connects like with diabetes or heart disease. and so many few tha-- few thaer will die. >> and your son struggled and tried to overcome it but it is 3:22 PMtough to overcome. thank you, gary. it is good to tuke aboalk to yof we could make end roads. the ceo of shatter proof dedicated to reducing deaftation of addiction through a number of methods. more reaction to join been invite republican congressman from georgia buddy carter. representative carter is a present friend of mine on the sub-committee of health and the only pharmacist in congress and the co-chair of the house caucus. good to see you. thank you for being with me. talk about what i was just talking to gary about. the idea it does seem to be the overprescription of opioids is part of the problem here. >> well it is a big part of the problem. and i think he's spot on. it is something we've got to get under control. and that is part of what the president has been proposing. it is more professional education for health care providers, doctors and pharmacists. how to properly use these medications. i thought his point was an excellent one. 3:23 PMi've seen it when i was still practicing pharmacy, doctors with all of the best of in tension who overprescribe because they were not as up to date with the impact that these drugs can have. so i think it is -- he's spot on in what he's saying. >> this is an interesting point. because there are -- we had these arrested last week and we see these from time to time and investigations into the drug companies, but there are good doctors that think it is the right thing to do. we have sold doctors on the idea over the years that pain must be eliminated at all costs and they are trying to alleviate patient's pain and created addicts in the process. >> well they are. and with the best of intentions. and you're absolutely right, this is something that we in the federal government were actually encouraging by reimbursing more as a result of the reviews that patients gave their doctors of 3:24 PMpain levels. to a certain extent we're responsible as well. but what we have to do is to reeducate these physicians and these health care practicers about the medications. because they are -- they are great medications if you use it properly but when not used properly, obviously we see what we're suffering with now. >> and this is an important point because i get social media messages from people after we do the segments and say, i'm in real pain. i suffer. as jacob soberoff they said, cancer is one of the things that fentanyl is one of the only effective painkillers. for those people getting it prescribed properly and suffering from pain, they shouldn't be worried that fen fentanyl will be a problem. this is a different issue. >> absolutely. and i rin and i -- to i continue to remind my colleagues that the people that need the medication still have access to the medications. 3:25 PMi was a consultant pharmacist for hospice and they are in need of medications and there were times when we were running out of the medication because we had those who were abusing it and addicted to it who were using so much of it we didn't have any left for those who truly needed it. so we have to be very careful in balancing the access to people who truly need it here. >> what do you tell people out there today because there are many americans with legitimate prescriptions for opioid pain killers and they are saying, am going to bnl a drug addict as a result of this. >> i would tell them to be careful and work with their pharmacist and physicians to make sure if they feel like they are in danger, that they talk to their physician and pharmacist so this doesn't happen. one of my children had some surgery recently and my reaction was, whatever you do, don't take any opioids. i don't want them to be in pain and people need these medications. but at the same time, when you go to have a dental procedure and you get 30 oxycontin, that 3:26 PMis not necessary. that's why we're right now in -- in the energy and commerce committee looking at ways that we can revamp the system and we have 25 bills that we're considering right now. some of them address just this type of situation. >> congressman, we're looking at 2015 and 2016 numbers and georgia is not on the list of worse states for overdose deaths but in 2015 there were 1307 drug overdes deaths, 68% from opioids and heroin. and obviously some of those are street drugs and some are people who turned to the drugs after having, as gary said, been introduced to them by prescription drugs. i wonder about the president's focus on drug dealers and execution which this is a different problem than the crack epidemic. >> the president is right. we've got to be tough. and i suspect suggesting the death penalty will get some people's attention. it should. 3:27 PMwe do have to be tough. but that is obviously something that has got to be based on case-by-case basis. and but when you look at fentanyl and the problem of fentanyl, we've seen case where's it is so potent it is killing people just with one dose. and in those situations, you can make the argument that is murder on the part of those drug dealerers and that is where we need to have the death penalty, if they commit murder. >> is there a danger that we lose focus on the drug companies that decided that this is going to be the solution. i don't think they intended death but push doctors to push opioid painkillers on people. >> i'm talking about the illicit and -- fentanyl out there that has been increased and in strength and dosage. the pharmaceutical manufactures have to be held accountable as welcome. i've seen miracles in the way of research and development over my years of practice in pharmacy, however i do think the pharmaceutical manufacturers are doing us a disservice because right now once you go away from tramadol and ibuprofen you go to the opioids and there is a big gap and i've called on manufacturers to fill in that gap. we need their help here. >> congressman, good to talk to you. it is even fun when we are not fighting. >> yes, it is. thank you. >> good to see you. georgia congressman and pharmacist buddy carter.

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FOX and Friends First

Mar 20, 2018 | National Programming

By Fox News Channel

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706544?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: donald trump unveiling a plan for a nationwide opioid epidemic by reigniting building that wall. >> $6 billion opioid plan. >> donald trump had a clear message in manchester. time to get tough in the battle against opioids. >> you are a dealer or doctor or trafficker, and blake the law and pedal deadly poisons we will find you, arrest you and hold you accountable. >> reporter: at a firehouse in new hampshire, a state hit hard by opioid addiction, the president unveiled his plan to address the crisis which claimed the lives of 42,000 americans in 2016. pending -- cutting the flow of drugs across the borders and within communities expanding educational awareness and providing access to treatment and recovery efforts, seeking out the death penalty for some drug dealers. the justice department says that if penalty is available for some drug related offenses of the worst kind including drug kingpin provisions and the president linked winning the opioid battle to building the southern wall. >> 90% of the hair when america comes from the southern border where eventually the democrats will agree with us and build the wall to keep the drugs out. >> reporter: the plan through some criticism on capitol hill. dick durbin said we cannot arrest our way out of the opioid adamic. we tried that and ended up with a bigger addiction problem in the world's largest prison population. one focus of the plan addressing sanctuary cities, the president holding a roundtable with law enforcement on that topic.

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CNN Tonight With Don Lemon

Mar 20, 2018 | National Programming

By CNN (CNN)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706772?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: president trump calling for the death penalty for certain drug dealers today in new hampshire. back with me now, olivia nuzzi, angela rye, and steve cortes. angela, as part of the president's three-point plan to take on the opioid epidemic, he wants to impose the death penalty on drug traffickers. 3:51 AMtake a listen. >> these are terrible people, and we have to get tough on those people because we can have all the blue ribbon committees we want. but if we don't get tough on the drug dealers, we're wasting our time. just remember that. we're wasting our time. and that toughness includes the death penalty. >> what do you think of that, angela? >> plain and simple, it's cruel and unusual punishment. donald trumpis completely out of line like so often. he's completely out of line on this. he's also completely misled on where things are, where the discourse is in criminal justice discussions and on criminal justice reform. everyone knows at this point that folks are pulling away from the death penalty. and when we're talking about coming out of the obama administration where there was a clemency initiative at the department of justice to help get folks out of jail who had non-violent drug offenses, for 3:52 AMhim to come and say that it is time for us to give drug dealers the death penalty is outrageous. it's also a huge distraction. what is he going to do about these doctor who's are prescribing opioids and have not suffered any punishment and were getting paid by pharmaceutical companies to do so? there are a number of people in my community as well as others who have suffered at the hand of drug overdose, et cetera, but i don't think any of us are calling for the death penalty for people who have been involved in drug dealing. >> the president also laid some of the blame for the opioid epidemic on sanctuary cities calling them safe havens for terrible people. is that a fair statement? >> look, i'm against sanctuary cities, and i think that they need to abide by the federal law and enforce the law. having said that, i don't think it has much to do with the opioid crisis, which i think has a lot more to do with problems that are having to do with people who really don't have a purpose or a meaning in life. also with doctors who are 3:53 AMoverprescribing drugs. so, you know, look, i think if donald trump really wants to solve the opioidcrisis, he probably doesn't need to start with the death penalty for drug dealers or sanctuary cities. i don't think that's the right place for him to go with this. >> anyone -- i guess anyone who would propose something like that in my opinion, they don't understand the nature of addiction. all addictions are the same. cigarettes, same. you're addicted to it. you can't stop. food, sex, drugs. one will kill you sooner than the other one. alcohol. all addiction is the same, and probably he doesn't understand that. that's where we need to start with this crisis and take the stigma off of people who are addicted to try to help them so they won't have to go to a drug dealer or a doctor who overprescribes medication. public health experts do not support this. what is the evidence that it 3:54 AMwould actually have the intended effect of deterring people from opioid abuse? >> right. don, i agree with you here. i believe in the sanctity of life, whether it's an unborn child in the womb or whether it's a convicted drug dealer. i believe from conception till natural birth that life should be respected. so i don't believe in the death penalty. i don't think it would be a deterrent. i'm very glad the president has taken this issue on. i think it's very important, and i do think his death penalty talk was a minor part of an overall strategy which i think was very good. but that particular part, i don't agree with. >> olivia, no doubt areas that supported the president as among some of the hardest hit places when if comes to this opioid epidemic, although honestly it's hitting everywhere. how does that factor enter in here? >> from day one in this administration, he's said this is something he's going to be taking on. this is part of initially kellyanne conway's portfolio dealing with the opioid crisis along with governor chris christie in new jersey has an opioid epidemic as well like a lot of other states, like new hampshire. but i think his view of taking this on is like this tough on crime the say way he's going to take on gang groups in america, that his supporters seem to respond to. this is a very different issue. and, you know, it just doesn't really -- there is a pretty long history at this point of even republicans talking about criminal justice reform, talking about reforming the way that we deal with drug crimes.

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Bloomberg Technology

Mar 19, 2018 | National Programming

By BLOOM (Bloomberg)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706776?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: president trump said the scourge of opioid addiction will end under his watch. >> terrible people and we have got to get tough on those people. because with all the blue ribbon committees we have, they mean nothing if we do not get tough on the drug dealers. we are wasting our time. remember that. and that toughness includes the death penalty.

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S. E. Cupp Unfiltered

Mar 19, 2018 | National Programming

By HLN (CNNH)

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33706789?token=ccb4ded5-0dfd-4271-8d13-86f774193932
Rough Transcript: today, trump headed to manchester, new hampshire, to talk opioids. 5:45 PMnew hampshire has been hit hard by the opioid crisis and trump even implied again today there should be a death penalty for drug dealers. listen to how the president put this. >> tif we don't get tough on th drug dealers, we're wasting our time. just remember that, we're wasting our time. and that toughness includes the death penalty. they will kill thousands of people during their lifetime. and they'll get caught and they'll get 30 days in jail. or they'll go away for a year. or they'll be fined. and, yet, if you kill one person, you get the death penalty or you go to jail for life. >> i know there's a lot of people out there that say you can't put someone to death for selling a drug. i would argue absolutely you can. if you've ever known someone or been to the funeral of someone whose life has been taken over by opioids and you've seen the texts that come across saying they died of an od, you know how real this problem is. 5:46 PMmany kids all over the country, many college kids all over the country, their parents get that phone call of a death, an accidental overdose, whatever the circumstances may be. and if you're a drug dealer out there, you know you are selling a product that at least in of the people that are buying and are going to die from, that is why i don't think what donald trump said is controversy tall. in fact, i think one of the big issues we have in this country is that we don't use the death penalty which, by the way, is on the books and legal often enough. we have laws that say that those that sell drugs and they're involved in deaths, they can actually be eligible for the death penalty. i think donald trump should be applauded for doing this because it means that we're actually taking on the cartel members and those that give these the drugs to young people. and the bottom line is this. they know when they sell these the drugs to young people, they sell them to college kids or even adults, we've sateen videos of kids crying over their 5:47 PMparents who are od'ed in cars, we've seen these videos. how do you stop it when they're making as much money as they're making and we know we can never put them to death. all right. i want to get to the table on this. i'll start with you, annie. i don't think we use the death penalty appropriately in this country. i know every single day in this country there are people convicted of murdering people and we know you're can going to stay on death row for 20, 30, 40 years and probably get a stay. >> right. >> but if we really want to clean up the streets and we really want to stop, there has to be a fear that you can actually die because you are pushing this product out to the masses. am i wrong to think that that is a great idea? >> you are 100% wrong. >> why? >> convince me. first of all, i'm opposed tot death penalty period .most studies show it does not act as a deterrent, which is what you want it to be here. the thing with what the president is doing here, i can't say what is wrong with his idea because i don't know what his idea is. in his speech, he talked about the death penalty for drug traffickers. in the white house release about 5:48 PMthe president's opioid initiative, it says the doj will seek the death penalty against drug traffickers where appropriate under current law. under current law, there are only four drug related penalties related to trafficking so under that law, what the president is insinuating can't happen. the law would need to be changed. then the question is who gets the death penalty? is it street dealers? is it their bosses? >> i think certainly if we had the law come out and maria, i'll go to you on this one. let's say we clarify it and let's say this law we're going to do is have clarifications that if you're at the top, you're making millions, you're pushing this, you're funneling it into these communities that you are eligible for the death penalty. i was watching a documentary last night about mexico. and there used to be three sectors of the cartel there. 5:49 PMand there is one thing that "e chapo" understood, that if h could kill people at the top of the leadership, they might get out of the game, take their money and walk away. sure enough, it worked. if it was good enough for them to get out of the game of pushing these drugs saying, i don't want to die for this, why wouldn't we look at doing that to the worst offenders out there? >> in theory, i agree with you, ben. i'm from colombia. lord knows we had a scourge of this problem for so many years and we had so many deaths. and, you know, yes, the people who are pushing these drugs, i do think they deserve the death penalty and speaking as a mother. but i don't know that it's practical. for so many reasons, including that when you -- when you apply the death penalty and we've seen this in this country, it is essentially not applied fairley across the board. now, if we could fix that, that could be a different thing. here is my problem with what donald trump said today. he focused way too many on this idea of his, which you're right, 5:50 PMwe don't exactly know what it is yet about the o on what could be the solutions to this problem when he talks about this. it's a little bit hypocritical because he focuses so much on the fact that he cares about this issue when he hasn't done anything to fix it. he talked about how this was a national emergency, but didn't put the force behind that national emergency. >> agree with you in money and resources, but when you have a president that comes out there and david, washington is listening a little bit and taking queues on this. i think there is bipartisan. you are a democrat and i'm a republican. we both agree there is a real problem here. andy, to your point, you said look, i don't think that people are ready for this or maybe the death penalty is not working. can we play donald trumpwhen he thinks a lot of americans may not be ready for this idea of 5:51 PMthe death penalty. >> the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty. maybe our country is not ready for that. it's possible. it's possible that our country is not ready for that and i can understand it, maybe. although personalliy cany you c understand it. >> i gotta think when he talks about this that washington and those on capitol hill and those that want to stop these crimes against young people and those that get addicted to opioids, now is the time to move. >> i don't think that anything will happen to create a federal law that will give the death penalty tow drug traffickers or drug dealers. the reason i think you will have a lot of problems doing this, for better or worse, you can make an argument on both sides, but support for the death penalty nationally has been decreasing over the decades. 5:52 PMthere is much less support today than there was when president bill clinton ran as a pro death penalty democrat. if the president wants to build support for something like this, taking controversies and occurrence, you need to clearly define it. you need to say these are the traffickers we find so egregious because of everything they are doing, we are going make them eligible for the death penalty that usually american dos support it as something reserved for murder. even if it's not a deterrent, we are making a moral judgment. you have seen reports in the press of pharmaceutical companies that people are holding responsible for the opioid crisis. how far up the chain do you want this to reach? we are never going get something done like this. >> why not liquor company executives. >> i think most people if you poled them and asked them if the kingpins are floods the markets with this stuff, we have to do it differently. i think the majority of the people that you ask, i think the numbers go up. they all have a different picture of who the kingpin is. >> i think the president is on to something here. right here on unfiltered. are defined by the things we share. and the ones we love. who never stop wondering what we'll do or where we'll go next. we the people who are better together than we are alone... are unstoppable.

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