Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 3/21/18

Janssen Litigation

1. Relator Assails Early Out For Janssen, J&J In Off-Label Row

   Mar 20, 2018 | Law360

   By Hayley Fowler
   
   
   A former Janssen Pharmaceutica NV sales representative who claims the drugmaker overcharged the government, offered kickbacks and marketed drugs off-label on Monday asked a California federal judge to keep the suit alive, rebuffing the company's arguments that she lacked corroboration and forfeited her right to sue by changing her alias.

MDL

2. More Sharing Of Opioid Sales Data Possible, DEA Chief Says

   Mar 20, 2018 | Law360

   By Emily Field
   
   
   The acting head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday told a congressional panel that the agency would be willing to hand to other legal challengers the same opioid sales data it has agreed to provide to the multidistrict litigation centered in Ohio.

Commentary and FYIs

3. Local governments hit by opioid crisis wait to recoup costs as litigation with drug companies plays out

   Mar 21, 2018 | Cleveland.com (OH)

   By Eric Heisig
   
   
   Tim DeGeeter can tell if a particularly potent opioid is on the streets of Parma through the text messages he receives.
4. When Trump calls for the death penalty to drug dealers, does he mean Big Pharma? (Opinion)

   Mar 20, 2018 | Quartz

   By Annalisa Merelli & Heather Timmons
   
   
   Donald Trump announced a new US policy in New Hampshire yesterday—the US would seek the most severe punishment for drug dealers to combat the country’s crippling opioid epidemic, he said, a move quickly affirmed by the Department of Justice. “If we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we’re wasting our time,” the US president said, “and that toughness includes the death penalty.”
5. HOW OPIOID LAWSUIT MONEY COULD HELP SOLVE THE EPIDEMIC

   Mar 21, 2018 | Northeastern University News (MA)

   By Allie Nicodemo
   
   
   More than 400 cases against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies are pending before a single federal judge, with the potential to net billions to address the crisis. But winning those suits would only be the first step to victory, said Leo Beletsky, a drug policy expert and associate professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern. The solution, he said, lies in how we spend that money to address the many tentacles of the opioid epidemic.
6. Trump’s Bluster on the Opioid Epidemic (Opinion)

   Mar 20, 2018 | The New York Times

   By Editorial Board
   
   
   President Trump has declared that his administration is getting serious about the opioid epidemic several times since taking office. But he has repeatedly failed to offer a substantive plan — and he has floated at least a few truly absurd ideas. He did it again this week.
7. Why Trump’s opioid plan falls short (Opinion)

   Mar 20, 2018 | STAT News

   By Michael Botticelli
   
   
   President Trump’s long-delayed plan to combat nation’s opioid epidemic, announced in a Monday speech in New Hampshire, led with a headline-grabbing call: impose the death penalty on drug dealers.
8. Psst... Mr. Trump, 97 Percent of Opioid Abuse is from Prescription Pain Relievers, Not Undocumented Immigrants (Opinion)

   Mar 21, 2018 | The Progressive

   By Jud Lounsbury
   
   
   When you have water dripping on your forehead from the ceiling above, the first step in fixing the problem is figuring out from where the water flows.
9. Trump, Azar say a plan for drug prices is coming in 'about a month'

   Mar 20, 2018 | FiercePharma

   By Eric Sagonowsky
   
   
   Pharma industry watchers have reason to be skeptical when the Trump Administration says it’s planning to take on drug prices, but President Donald Trump and his top health official on Monday insisted a plan is coming in about a month to dramatically lower them. At the same event, Trump said the Department of Justice is considering suing opioid companies for their role in a national crisis.
10. Doctors have a duty not to make the opioid crisis worse (Opinion)

    Mar 20, 2018 | CNN

    By Robert Klitzman
    
    
    At night, on call as a medical intern, I would race from one medical crisis to another in the hospital, often staying up all night, and having no time to eat dinner.

West (UT, CA, ID)

11. Utah County Sues Drugmakers, Doctors Over Opioid Crisis

    Mar 21, 2018 | Associated Press

    By Staff
    
    
    Officials of a northern Utah county are suing drug manufacturers, distributors and doctors in an effort to mitigate the consequences of the nation's opioid crisis.
12. Local governments line up to file suit against Big Pharma. Will El Paso County join in?

    Mar 21, 2018 | Colorado Springs Independent (CO)

    By Pam Zubeck
    
    
    As the opioid crisis sweeps the country, killing more than 42,000 people in 2016 alone, cities and counties from Massachusetts to Montana have filed lawsuits against Big Pharma, alleging drug makers and distributors bear responsibility for their “false and misleading statements” about the risks and benefits of painkillers.
13. Summit County first in Utah to sue 'big pharma' opioid manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | KUTV (UT)

    By Adam Forgie
    
    
    Summit County filed a lawsuit against opioid drug manufacturers and opioid distributors Tuesday in Utah's Third Judicial District Court for Summit County.
14. Summit County lawsuit alleges pharma companies pushed dangerous opioids to make a profit

    Mar 20, 2018 | Deseret News (UT)

    By McKenzie Romero
    
    
    In order to make more money, pharmaceutical companies pushed dangerous, prolonged opioid use on patients with chronic pain, despite knowing the risks for decreased efficiency and increased addiction.
15. Summit County files lawsuit against major opioid manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | KSL.com (UT)

    By Carter Williams
    
    
    Summit County officials filed a lawsuit Tuesday against more than a dozen “big pharma” opioid manufacturers and distributors.
16. Summit County suing ‘Big Pharma'

    Mar 20, 2018 | Good4Utah (UT)

    By Simone Francis
    
    
    Summit County filed the first Utah lawsuit against opioid manufacturer and distributors.
17. Summit County first in state to file lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | Fox 13 Salt Lake City (UT)

    By Taylor Hartman
    
    
    Summit County in Utah announced that it has filed the state’s first lawsuit against “Big Pharma” opioid manufacturers and distributors.
18. Humboldt County to mull suing Big Pharma over opioid crisis

    Mar 21, 2018 | Eureka Times Standard (CA)

    By Will Houston
    
    
    The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is set to decide next week whether to join cities, counties, states and tribes from across the nation that are suing pharmaceutical companies for allegedly misleading the public about the addictive nature of opioid medication.
19. County joins lawsuit against opioid makers

    Mar 21, 2018 | Idaho Mountain Express (ID)

    By Mark Dee
    
    
    The Blaine County commissioners voted to join a class-action suit against opioid manufacturers on Tuesday, joining counties nationwide demanding that drug companies pay up for their alleged role in the explosive rise of addiction rates across America.

Southeast (GA, VA, WV, SC, KY, NC, FL)

20. Walton sues in battle against opioid crisis

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Walton Tribune (GA)

    By Cosby Woodruff
    
    
    Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said opioids and those who abuse the painkillers use a large percentage of his department’s resources.
21. Gainesville joins Hall, other counties in opioid lawsuit

    Mar 20, 2018 | The Gainesville Times (GA)

    By Joshua Silavent
    
    
    Gainesville is joining Hall County, as well as a dozen other local governments across Georgia, in a lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of prescription painkillers that officials say have been complicit in fueling the national opioid abuse epidemic. “This crisis is costing cities and counties money,” Mayor Danny Dunagan said. “I think it’s a crisis that needs to be addressed. We’re just going to join in and see if we can make a difference.”
22. How Dickenson joined opioid suit

    Mar 21, 2018 | Dickenson Star (VA)

    By Jenay Tate
    
    
    Familiar with a federal class-action opioid lawsuit in Ohio, Dickenson County Attorney Stephen Mullins had the legal matter on his mind when he got a call about a new challenge.
23. County continues to weigh opioid lawsuit

    Mar 20, 2018 | Dickenson County News (VA)

    By Seth Boyes
    
    
    Solutions in the state's class-action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers may have begun to coalesce. A mediation group of several attorneys was scheduled to meet earlier this month and potentially discuss a settlement structure. Dickinson County has yet to sign on in support of the lawsuit — though the Iowa State Association of Counties is seeking support from all of Iowa's 99 counties.
24. Nitro to file lawsuit against drug manufacturers

    Mar 21, 2018 | WSAZ (WV)

    By Staff
    
    
    The city of Nitro is fighting back against the opioid epidemic.
25. Nitro council votes to join class-action lawsuit against opioid distributors

    Mar 20, 2018 | Charleston Gazette-Mail (WV)

    By Mara Regling
    
    
    Nitro City Council voted Tuesday to join a class-action lawsuit against drug manufacturers as a result of the ongoing opioid crisis.
26. Anderson County chooses legal team for potential opioid litigation

    Mar 20, 2018 | Independent Mail (SC)

    By Kirk Brown
    
    
    Anderson County officials moved a step closer Tuesday to joining dozens of cities, counties and states that have filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and marketers.
27. Casey could join federal opioid lawsuit

    Mar 21, 2018 | Casey County News (KY)

    By Charlie VanLeuven
    
    
    The opioid epidemic has taken a toll on public services, but Casey County could sue to recoup some of those costs.
28. Rowan County to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors

    Mar 21, 2018 | Salisbury Post (NC)

    By Andie Foley
    
    
    Rowan County officials on Monday decided to join a national lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributers.
29. Manatee ready to sue opioid makers over epidemic’s cost

    Mar 20, 2018 | Bradenton Herald (FL)

    By Hannah Morse
    
    
    Manatee County, the epicenter of the opioid epidemic in Florida, will join the growing number of local governments in Florida suing drug makers to recover some of what the county has paid for everything from the drugs that reverse the effects of an overdose to autopsies.

Northeast (MD, RI, ME, NY)

30. Harford County to retain national firm in opioid lawsuit

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Baltimore Sun (MD)

    By David Anderson
    
    
    Harford County will retain the national law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP in its planned lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors, after the Harford County Council approved the county government’s request Tuesday evening.
31. City signs on to lawsuit against opioid distributors, manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | The Valley Breeze (RI)

    By Staff
    
    
    Mayor Donald Grebien announced last week that the city of Pawtucket formally signed on to a lawsuit against prescription opioid companies that his administration say are responsible for aggressively pushing highly addictive, dangerous opioids and falsely representing their high risk for addiction.
32. Kennebec County to join nationwide lawsuit against opioids manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | Kenebec Journal (ME)

    By Jessica Lowell
    
    
    The Kennebec county commissioners voted Tuesday to sign on to a nationwide lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that make and distribute opioids, a decision already made by several municipal and county governments in Maine.
33. Schenectady contemplates suit over opioid epidemic

    Mar 20, 2018 | Times Union (NY)

    By Paul Nelson
    
    
    City leaders are considering taking legal action against pharmaceutical companies to recoup money from the costs associated with fighting the opioid epidemic.

Midwest (MI, OH)

34. Traverse City To Join Opioid Lawsuit

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Ticker (MI)

    By Beth Miligan
    
    
    Traverse City commissioners unanimously agreed Monday to join other municipalities - including Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties - in signing on to a federal class-action lawsuit suing drug manufacturers over costs related to the opioid epidemic.
35. Branch County weighs joining growing opioid lawsuit by Michigan counties and cities

    Mar 20, 2018 | WWMT (MI)

    By Franque Thompson
    
    
    Cities and counties across Michigan are joining lawsuits to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the growing opioid epidemic.
36. City of Fostoria suing drug makers, doctors

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Advertiser Tribune (OH)

    By Jill Gosche
    
    
    The city of Fostoria is suing drug manufacturers and doctors.

Southwest (TX)

37. Texas ‘anticipates’ suing opioid manufactures, AG Office keeping quiet on which law firms will represent state

    Mar 20, 2018 | Southeast Texas Record (TX)

    By David Yates
    
    
    The Lone Star State may soon join the dozens of Texas counties that have already filed suit against the makers of opioids, as an open records request revealed the state has indeed received “suggested case theories” from “prospective co-counsels” and “anticipates” litigation.
38. Orange Co. votes to sue opioid makers, suppliers

    Mar 20, 2018 | Beaumont Enterprise (TX)

    By Liz Teitz
    
    
    Orange County Commissioners voted Tuesday to sue manufacturers and suppliers of opioid drugs, joining other Texas counties that have accused the companies of fueling addictions that have created a public nuisance.

Broadcast Media Coverage

39. Squawk Box

    Mar 21, 2018 | National Programming

    By CNBC (CNBC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733513?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
40. Spectrum News

    Mar 21, 2018 | Buffalo, NY

    By SPNB (Spectrum News)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733477?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
41. 2News This Morning at 7A

    Mar 21, 2018 | Salt Lake City, UT

    By KUTV (CBS)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733481?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
42. KSL 5 News Today

    Mar 21, 2018 | Salt Lake City, UT

    By KSL (NBC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733493?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
43. Q13 News This Morning - 5AM Edition

    Mar 21, 2018 | Seattle, WA

    By KCPQ (Fox)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733494?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
44. 13 WMAZ This Mornin'

    Mar 21, 2018 | Macon, GA

    By WMAZ (CBS)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733517?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
45. Today In Alabama

    Mar 21, 2018 | Montgomery, AL

    By WSFA (NBC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733520?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
46. WSAZ NewsChannel 3 Sunrise at 5a

    Mar 21, 2018 | Charleston, WV

    By WSAZ (NBC)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733527?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82
47. News Channel 3 at 5:30pm

    Mar 21, 2018 | Grand Rapids, MI

    By WWMT (CBS)
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733530?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

Janssen Litigation

1. Relator Assails Early Out For Janssen, J&J In Off-Label Row

   Mar 20, 2018 | Law360

   By Hayley Fowler

   A former Janssen Pharmaceutica NV sales representative who claims the drugmaker overcharged the government, offered kickbacks and marketed drugs off-label on Monday asked a California federal judge to keep the suit alive, rebuffing the company's arguments that she lacked corroboration and forfeited her right to sue by changing her alias.

   Anonymous relator Jane Doe argued that the pharmaceutical giant was well aware of its violations under the False Claims Act, saying that Janssen and parent company Johnson & Johnson actively pushed off-label uses of its opioid drugs, including Nucynta ER and Ultram ER, orchestratied sham speaker programs for physicians to promote its various drugs and accepted artificially inflated reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare.
   
   "In order to increase sales, defendants illegally paid kickbacks to doctors who were willing to prescribe the drugs off-label. Defendants trained and instructed sales representatives, business and marketing managers and other employees to offer doctors cash payments, expensive trips and meals and entertainment as kickbacks in exchange for the doctors' agreements to prescribe defendants' drugs," the whistleblower said in her opposition brief. "In other words, defendants knew exactly what they were doing."
   
   Janssen argued in a motion to dismiss that Doe's claims that it ran an off-label marketing scheme involving a slew of drugs should be barred under the first-to-file doctrine because the relator changed her anonymous name between the initial and first amended complaint, filed in February. The company also said that she failed to connect the company's conduct with physicians' decisions to write off-label prescriptions and to the government's reimbursements.
   
   J&J argued that it shouldn't be lumped in with its subsidiary, saying it can't be held liable as a corporate parent.
   
   But Doe's attorney Mychal Wilson said that some of those arguments are "smoke and fluff." He said the amended complaint isn't bringing the accusations on behalf of a second relator; the whistleblower only changed her fictional name from Alexander Volkhoff LLC to Jane Doe.
   
   Doe's amended suit details Janssen and J&J's alleged scheme that included Nucynta ER and Ultram ER, the two opioid drugs she said should have been prescribed more sparingly given the risk of addiction, and the hepatitis C drug Olysio that she claimed made the company $2.3 billion in a single year from off-label uses.
   
   Nucynta ER and Ultram ER are also included in multidistrict litigation against opioid manufacturers in Ohio.
   
   "I believe it's an important case because, as you have recently heard from our President Trump, the pharmaceutical companies are complicit in the opioid epidemic and they have to bear some of the responsibility at this point," Wilson told Law360 on Tuesday.
   
   The relator argued that the pharmaceutical giants can't push blame for the spike in off-label uses on physicians because precedent has established that they acted legally in doing so. But off-label marketing, she said, is unlawful under the FCA.
   
   She said sham speaker programs hosted by doctors for a $1,000 to $3,000 fee were a way to promote high volumes of prescriptions for Janssen and J&J's drugs and violated anti-kickback statutes. A series of photographs submitted with the complaint prove that the doctors with the highest prescription numbers were rewarded with expensive dinners and birthday parties, according to the brief.
   
   Janssen and J&J's argument that the whistleblower can't pursue claims for overcharging the government because they were already litigated in wholesale pricing multidistrict litigation should also be tossed, she said, arguing that her allegations took place post-settlement and "they are not immune from the suit for that new conduct."
   
   "You have to realize they are a two-time or they are a repeat offender," Wilson said. "They've been under a [corporate integrity agreement] in 2010 and in 2013."
   
   There is little to dispute that Janssen and J&J's conduct resulted in the false claims submitted to the government, Doe said.
   
   "The connection between defendants' actions and the submission of the false claim is clear because defendants' false and misleading marketing activities and kickbacks are designed to induce the provider to prescribe the drugs and submit false claims to pay for them," Doe said. "A direct, natural and foreseeable consequence of their marketing is that medical providers prescribe the drugs off-label as marketed."
   
   She also said the six-year statute of limitations under the FCA can't bar her claims because some of the supposedly expired allegations directly connect to more recent allegations and a tolling rule should otherwise apply.
   
   As a final matter, she said that Janssen and J&J also can't incorporate arguments from each other's briefs because the Seventh Circuit ruled in Alioto v. Town of Lisbon that any arguments not distinctly raised in a party's motion to dismiss — separate from other briefs and footnotes — are waived.
   
   Representatives and counsel for Janssen and J&J did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
   
   The Jane Doe whistleblower is represented by Mychal Wilson of The Law Office of Mychal Wilson, and C. Brooks Cutter, John R. Parker Jr. and Celine Cutter of Cutter Law PC.
   
   Janssen and J&J are represented by Michael Schwartz of Pepper Hamilton LLP.
   
   The litigation is USA et al. v. Janssen Pharmaceutical NV et al., case number 2:16-cv-06997, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
   

   Return to headline | Return to top

MDL

2. More Sharing Of Opioid Sales Data Possible, DEA Chief Says

   Mar 20, 2018 | Law360

   By Emily Field

   The acting head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday told a congressional panel that the agency would be willing to hand to other legal challengers the same opioid sales data it has agreed to provide to the multidistrict litigation centered in Ohio.

   During a hearing of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., pressed acting DEA head Richard Patterson on whether the agency would agree to release the nine years of data on opioid sales — derived from a federal database called ARCOS — to other litigants besides the local governments in the massive MDL.
   
   “It’s apparent to me that the ARCOS data will be pivotal in appropriately resolving the case and assigning accountability,” Castor said in the hearing.
   
   “This will not be the last of major challenges to manufacturers and distributors and others that are responsible,” Castor continued. “Will DEA likely cooperate in those cases, too? Have you set up a standard? Is this a decision going forward that other judges and litigants can count on?”
   
   The DEA had initially resisted and had only agreed to release data on manufacturers for 2012 and 2013, but relented earlier this month and agreed to provide identities of manufacturers and distributors that sold 95 percent of opioids in every state from 2006 through 2014.
   
   The information will include a state-by-state breakdown and will show the “aggregate amount of pills sold and the market shares of each manufacturer and distributor,” the DEA’s status report said.
   
   U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, who’s overseeing the MDL, recently entered a protective order describing how the parties should treat the data, Castor noted.
   
   “I would believe that under the same circumstances and conditions we would comply the same way with anyone else that came in, under those same terms,” Patterson told the lawmakers.
   
   In opening remarks, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said that for the past year the committee has been looking into how “inordinate” numbers of pills were shipped to pharmacies in rural West Virginia.
   
   “The numbers that we have seen thus far are nothing short of staggering — more than 20 million prescription opioids shipped to a West Virginia town with a population of fewer than 3,000 people,” Walden said. “Another West Virginia pharmacy, in a town with a population of fewer than 2,000 people, received an average of more than 5,600 prescription opioids a day during a single year.”
   
   One pharmacy in Kermit, West Virginia, a town of 400 people, received 9 million opioids in 2007 and 2008, according to Walden.
   
   “We know that distributors are required to tell DEA how many pills they ship each month, and where those pills go,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “It is not clear, however, how DEA has used this data in the past, and if DEA is using this data now to help it curtail excessive pill distribution.”
   
   When asked if the ARCOS database would have been able to flag such large amounts of opioid shipments to a pharmacy 10 years ago, Patterson was doubtful.
   
   “Our ARCOS data, pre probably 2010, was an extremely manual process,” Patterson said. “As that system has gotten more robust, and certainly through the last handful of years, we’ve used that in a much more proactive manner.”
   

   Return to headline | Return to top

Commentary and FYIs

3. Local governments hit by opioid crisis wait to recoup costs as litigation with drug companies plays out

   Mar 21, 2018 | Cleveland.com (OH)

   By Eric Heisig

    Tim DeGeeter can tell if a particularly potent opioid is on the streets of Parma through the text messages he receives.

   As mayor of the largest Cleveland suburb, he gets a notification on his phone for every major crime or emergency in his city. This includes calls about overdoses. Those often come at night, when he's at home with his family.

   If a dealer is selling a particularly bad strain of heroin or fentanyl, DeGeeter said the texts are relentless.

   "And you'll be sitting there, and it used to be like 'one dose of Narcan was administered,'" he said, referencing a medication used to revive users who overdosed. "And then you'll know when bad junk's on the street because 'boom, boom,' you get multiple (texts). And it's just depressing."

   Parma is not alone. Cities across the country continue to grapple with record high overdose rates attributed to opioids. In addition to the human cost, local governments are faced with the practical costs the epidemic brings to their communities.

   That's why Parma is among hundreds of cities, states and county governments that have filed suit against drug manufacturers and distributors. Those suits are being heard by U.S. District Judge Dan Poster in Cleveland, who has signaled that he wants the cases to settle this year.

   The judge has said he would like to settle the suits in a way that would reduce the number of pills on the street and would ensure that the pills being prescribed are being doled out for legitimate medical needs. There were more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

   But since the vast majority of civil cases end up resolving without a trial, the question at this point doesn't appear to be whether the massive litigation will end in a settlement. Rather, the questions are when, how and which way is best.

   Those questions are getting harder to answer, and it seems like the Polster's goal of wrapping this up this year might prove too ambitious.

   "I don't think anyone could answer that question realistically," said John Climaco, a longtime Cleveland attorney who represents many cities throughout Ohio, including Parma.

   Billions in strain

   A main goal of the lawsuits is for the cities, counties and states to recoup the billions of dollars spent to deal with this crisis -- from increased police efforts to the burden placed on social services and morgues.

   The costs can add up fast. For example, a 2017 Ohio State University study said the opioid problem could Ohio more than $8 billion in 2015, about the same amount the state spent that year for K-12 education.

   DeGeeter said the number of overdoses rose steadily in Parma for the past several years, culminating in 200 in 2017.

   The city pays an average of about $155 to send two police officers to the scene of each overdose investigation, the mayor said. If an drug user dies, the police department pays about $3,000 to have a detective work 80 hours on the case, he said.

   And that's only for police officers. Paramedics also respond to calls for overdoses. Those numbers also don't account for how much officers are paid to investigate crimes caused by opioid addiction, such as thefts and violent acts.

   While the cost of opioid addiction for Parma isn't exactly small, the mayor said the city can handle it. DeGeeter said opioid-related costs have come up in budget talks.

   He said he followed the lead of Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer when he chose to join the lawsuits against drug companies.

   "It's not like I'm waiting and going 'OK, how much are we getting?'" DeGeeter said of the litigation. "That's not it at all. My thought after hearing when Dayton and Lorain got involved, I was like 'yeah, that seems like something we should be doing based on what we're seeing.'"

   He added that any settlement would "make it a little bit better here in Ohio."

   Still, the costs to local and state governments are high, especially as they purchase Narcan and other medical supplies needed to treat users.

   They feel the only way to raise the money to meaningfully address the problem is to sue drug companies they believe are responsible for getting patients addicted to painkillers and pushing them to turn to even harder, cheaper drugs on the street.

   Largest in history

   Governments continue to file lawsuits continue every day in both state and federal courts, suing companies like Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson. There are more than 400 federal cases -- many originating from Ohio -- now being heard in Cleveland. Many of the plaintiffs are local and state governments.

   Such litigation has not been seen since the lawsuits against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, when states sued over health-care costs that stemmed from smoking. In those cases, major tobacco companies agreed to pay $206 billion to 46 states over 25 years to settle.

   But this time, it's bigger, the plaintiffs say.

   "In a nutshell, this is the most complex largest piece of litigation probably in United States judicial history, and that's because the number of plaintiffs and the number of defendants and the number of discreet issues that are pertinent to those parties is extremely broad and deep," said Paul Hanly, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

   If either side wants a shot at resolving the lawsuits and doing so quickly, they are fortunate to have a judge known for pushing settlements in cases over which he presides.

   Polster, 66, was appointed to the federal bench in 1998 and quickly developed a reputation in Cleveland for pursuing resolution instead of taking cases to trial. To him, the financial and emotional costs of extended litigation can be taxing for both sides of a case and often can be avoided.

   Not every case is or even should be resolved, the judge said in an interview in his chambers.

   "No one has to mediate," the judge said. "If someone says 'look, I hear you, but in this case, for the following reasons we're not going to make an offer,' that's their right. And I've had cases like that and I respect that. And we go to trial."

   But he clearly feels the opioid litigation should end with mediation.

   On Jan. 9, a little more than a month after a federal panel appointed him to preside over the mountain of opioid cases, Polster made his intentions known to the hundreds of attorneys who came to Cleveland for the multidistrict litigation's first hearing: he wanted to see a settlement reached this year.

   "I read recently that we've managed in the last two years, because of the opioid problem, to do what our country has not done in 50 years, which is to -- for two consecutive years, reduce, lower the average life expectancy of Americans," Polster told his overflowing courtroom.

   "And if we don't do something in 2018, we'll have accomplished it for three years in a row, which we haven't done since the flu epidemic 100 years ago wiped out 10 percent of our population."

   He is pushing the parties to resolve all the lawsuits -- those in front of him and those not -- in a way that would, in his words, "dramatically reduce the number of the pills that are out there and make sure that the pills that are out there are being used properly."

   His statements at the hearing took many aback but nevertheless put into motion the current settlement efforts, in which attorneys for the governments and the defendants have engaged in talks and put together small teams to continue discussions. Two formal sessions been held in front of Polster, with a third scheduled for May.

   Woah, slow down

   It seems his ambitious plan already hit a snag.

   Earlier this month, after Polster held a second round of settlement talks, the judge issued an order acknowledging that some litigation and so-called "bellwether trials" would have to take place to facilitate continued negotiations. Bellwether trails are a sort of way for lawyers on both sides to test their cases in front of a judge or jury, to predict how future cases may play out.

   While parties involved have insisted that this does not mean the end of settlement talks or even that they will be delayed -- plaintiffs' attorneys have said the trials would address claims of past liabliilty, while settlement talks on how to address the problem going forward would continue -- the fact is that litigation and trials could drag out for months, possibly longer.

   For example, both sides indicated they want to litigate parts of the cases, Polster wrote in his order. Through trials and filing motions, it would appear they would like to test the claims and defenses they had.

   While local governments have brought racketeering claims, Purdue Pharma and other drug companies have long said painkillers such as Oxycontin have legitimate medical uses to treat chronic pain, and that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the pills to treat pain.

   All of that said, a settlement is likely on the horizon, experts said. It just may not be as quick as the judge would like it.

   "I don't think it will happen within the year," Elizabeth Burch, a University of Georgia law professor who teaches complex litigation, said of reaching a settlement. "I think that it will happen, but a year strikes me as too soon."

   Abbe Gluck, the faculty director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School, also said she thinks the cases will settle, especially as the drug companies and other defendants realize they are facing claims for which they could likely be found liable.

   A federal judge trying to settle complex litigation is not unusual, Gluck said. Polster's fast track and how he is trying to come up with solutions is, she said.

   "It's unusual to say at the outset that 'we're here to solve a policy problem,'" Gluck said.

   A sense of urgency

   It's needed now, though, the judge has noted.

   Polster's chambers are in the 18th floor of the Carl B. Stokes United States Court House in downtown Cleveland. He knows there is a perception that judges work in ivory towers - the irony that he works on one of the highest floors in one of the tallest buildings in the city is not lost on him - but said a recent goal of his has been to de-mystify the federal judge.

   He said he doesn't think there a person in Ohio who hasn't been affected, and that includes him. Polster, a Shaker Heights resident, said the daughter of a friend died from an overdose.

   "Do I feel it? Sure. I think everyone does, which is why I hope that maybe I will be a catalyst for some steps taken to turn the curve down," he said.

   Polster would not discuss the settlement talks, saying he would honor a gag order he issued for the attorneys to not talk about closed-door sessions. However, he acknowledged the sense of urgency, just as he did from the bench.

   "We have an epidemic. It's ongoing. People are becoming addicted every day. People are dying every day. So I chose to take the approach that I did," he said.

   Cleveland.com reached out to Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceuticals. All three sent statements that said they were committed to ensuring prescription painkillers are being used properly.

   "Our actions in the marketing and promotion of these medicines were appropriate and responsible," Jessica Castles Smith, spokeswoman for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a part of Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement. "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.
   
   "Opioid abuse and addiction are serious public health issues. We are committed to being part of the ongoing dialogue and to doing our part to find ways to address this crisis."

   To the plaintiffs, that wasn't enough in the past, and isn't enough now.

   "It's obvious that the only way that the plaintiffs, whether they're cities, counties, whatever, are going to be able to recover (what) ... this has cost them is through this litigation," Climaco said.

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4. When Trump calls for the death penalty to drug dealers, does he mean Big Pharma? (Opinion)

   Mar 20, 2018 | Quartz

   By Annalisa Merelli & Heather Timmons

   Donald Trump announced a new US policy in New Hampshire yesterday—the US would seek the most severe punishment for drug dealers to combat the country’s crippling opioid epidemic, he said, a move quickly affirmed by the Department of Justice. “If we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we’re wasting our time,” the US president said, “and that toughness includes the death penalty.”

   But in the case of prescription opioids, who counts as the dealer? Should careless doctors be held responsible? Drug manufacturers? Marketing executives? Big pharma investors? Drug store chain owners?

   The US opioid epidemic has its roots not in the streets, but in a legal pharmaceutical industry that rakes in $450 billion annually in sales. A growing body of evidence finds the epidemic started and grew because of the over-availability of legal prescription drugs: State and local governments have brought hundreds of lawsuits against drug manufacturers and big drug store chains in recent years, alleging that drug companies knowingly mis-marketed these substances while lobbying politicians for regulatory changes that artificially inflated the market, and that drug stores broke federal law by failing to report huge unusually large orders of drugs.

   Today, Americans consume far more prescription opioids than anyone else in the world.

   Most overdose deaths in the US are from prescription drugs. These drugs also serve as a gateway to heroin, an illegal opioid that can be cheaper and easier to get on the black market than prescription medication.

   Purdue, the manufacturer of OxyContin, is the target of a criminal investigation in Connecticut over the way that it marketed the drug, and particularly whether the company ignored evidence that the drug didn’t last for 12 hours as it promised. It agreed in 2007 to pay nearly $650 million for “unleash[ing] a highly abusable, addictive, and potentially dangerous drug on an unsuspecting and unknowing public.” The record sum was part of a plea agreement that kept three top Purdue executives from being sent to jail.

   Pharmacy chains CVS Health, and Walgreens Boots Alliance are also being sued by the Delaware attorney general for “shipping quantities of opioids around the country so enormous that they could not possibly all be for legitimate medical purposes,” and failing to take “basic steps to ensure that those drugs were going only to legitimate patients.” The suit, like others, alleges the companies’ actions created a huge legal market for the drugs, which in turn created an illegal market.

   Meanwhile, pharmaceutical distributor McKesson agreed to pay $150 million civil penalty to settle a Department of Justice suit last January. Several executives from Insys, which makes a fentanyl spray, were charged with last October with bribing doctors to prescribe the addictive medicine. “The allegations of selling a highly addictive opioid cancer pain drug to patients who did not have cancer, make them no better than street-level drug dealer,” said the FBI agent in charge of the Insys investigation.

   “We must hold the industry and its leadership accountable—just as we would the cartels or a street-level drug dealer,” acting US attorney general William Weinreb said about Insys. Indeed, under Barack Obama, the Department of Justice pushed to hold individual company executives responsible for corporate crimes. But it’s not clear that the regulation-slashing Trump administration will pursue that tactic, despite Trump’s threats.

   In December, Weinreb was replaced by a Trump appointee, who said he would be prioritizing immigration offenses in his first meeting with reporters. Trump’s initial nominee for “drug czar” withdrew after it turned out that he backed a law that actually hindered federal prosecutions for opioid abuse. The new nominee, James Carroll, is a former deputy chief of staff in the White House who was previously Ford Motor’s in house lawyer and has no previous experience in the area.

   Trump used his speech Monday to call yet-again for building a border wall with Mexico, and blame immigrants and sanctuary cities for crimes and rising drug use, despite research from his own commission (pdf, pg. 19) that blames the US healthcare system instead. The Department of Justice was looking at “major litigation” against certain drug companies, Trump said Monday, but he made no mention of the executives who run these companies.

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5. HOW OPIOID LAWSUIT MONEY COULD HELP SOLVE THE EPIDEMIC

   Mar 21, 2018 | Northeastern University News (MA)

   By Allie Nicodemo

   More than 400 cases against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies are pending before a single federal judge, with the potential to net billions to address the crisis. But winning those suits would only be the first step to victory, said Leo Beletsky, a drug policy expert and associate professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern. The solution, he said, lies in how we spend that money to address the many tentacles of the opioid epidemic.

   Beletsky said we might see sweeping litigation, similar in some respects to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that was reached in 1998. In the largest civil litigation settlement in U.S. history, major cigarette manufacturers agreed to pay an initial fee of $27 billion to 46 states and six other U.S. jurisdictions, plus annual multi-billion-dollar payments every year after that.

   But Beletsky said money from this settlement was largely misappropriated, resulting in its limited public health impact. We now have a chance to learn from the tobacco example and avoid repeating history. “When we get a master settlement with opioid manufacturers, how do we spend that money? That’s probably the most important question right now,” Beletsky said.

   He noted that the settlement money should primarily be used to expand access to evidence-based treatment, which is currently “pretty dismal.” Less than 10 percent of people currently get the treatment they need for opioid addiction, Beletsky said. He also advocated for expanding access to harm-reduction tools, including syringe exchange programs and naloxone, an opiate antidote.

   More broadly, he said money should be allocated to expanding other healthcare services. “A lot of times, people are using opioids inappropriately because they have other underlying health problems that are not being taken care of,” Beletsky said. He also cited the need to address structural problems like employment, education, and social safety net programs, all of which are inextricably tied to the opioid crisis.

   And resources must be used to fight the production and proliferation of fentanyl, an opioid that is being manufactured illegally by individuals independent of the major drug makers. More than 20,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses in the U.S. in 2016 alone.

   “In this context, going after the pharmaceutical companies is going to have limited or no impact on the actual crisis,” Beletsky said.

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6. Trump’s Bluster on the Opioid Epidemic (Opinion)

   Mar 20, 2018 | The New York Times

   By Editorial Board

   President Trump has declared that his administration is getting seriousabout the opioid epidemic several times since taking office. But he has repeatedly failed to offer a substantive plan — and he has floated at least a few truly absurd ideas. He did it again this week.

   Mr. Trump gave a rambling speech on opioids on Monday in which he offered few details about how he would increase access to substance abuse treatment and prevention to help the millions of Americans suffering from this disease. Some 64,000 people in the United States died of drug overdoses in 2016, including 481 in New Hampshire, one of the hardest hit states in the country, where Mr. Trump gave his speech.

   The president went on at length about his preposterous proposal to fight the scourge of drugs by executing drug dealers — an idea that many experts say would not stand up in court and would do little to end this epidemic. He also reprised his cockamamie idea to build a wall along the nation’s southern border, arguing that it would “keep the damn drugs out,” and accused so-called sanctuary cities of releasing “illegal immigrants and drug dealers, traffickers and gang members back into our communities.”

   It was Mr. Trump playing his greatest “law and order” hits — as usual, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing.

   Mr. Trump seems so enamored with autocrats and strongmen that he wants the United States to imitate governments like China and the Philippines by executing drug dealers, claiming such countries “don’t have a drug problem” because of their brutality. This is patently absurd. While it is hard to analyze the experience of many of these countries because they do not collect and publish reliable data about substance use, experts say it is clear that they have not eliminated drug abuse or the crime that often accompanies it. More broadly speaking, many scholars have concluded that there is no good evidence that capital punishment deters crime.

   But we do have convincing evidence that ratcheting up the war on drugs, as Mr. Trump and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, want to do, would not work. Since the early 1980s, the federal government and states have imposed increasingly harsh criminal penalties on drug dealers and users. Not only did they fail to stem drug use or the availability of illicit substances, but they may have contributed to their spread by taking resources away from treatment and prevention efforts. It is no wonder, then, that the per-gram retail price of heroin fell by about 85 percent between 1981 and 2012, according to a report published in 2016 by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.Continue reading the main story

   Further, legal experts say it is unlikely that a law authorizing capital punishment for drug dealers would be considered constitutional, because the Supreme Court has previously struck down laws that allowed the use of the death penalty for crimes other than murder.

   Mr. Trump’s other get-tough policies are also unlikely to help. The wall will not stop drugs — most imported illicit substances like heroin and methamphetamines already come in through legal border crossings. And his plans to penalize sanctuary cities, which choose not to participate in federal deportation crackdowns, would be counterproductive. That’s because law-abiding immigrants are less likely to identify and testify against drug dealers and gang members if they fear that helping law enforcement agencies could put them or their relatives at risk of being detained or deported.

   There are a number of other good ideas that Mr. Trump and his team have done little to advance, like getting health insurance companies to cover mental health and substance abuse treatments as well as they cover other medical treatments, something required by federal law. He could also encourage 18 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to do so. This would make addiction treatment available to millions of additional people. Not only has he not sought to expand that program, but Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress have proposed deep cuts to Medicaid, which covers about 38 percent of people with an opioid addiction, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

   Mr. Trump might be sincere in his concern for people suffering from this epidemic. But more than a year into his presidency, he is miserably failing them.

   Mr. Trump’s New Hampshire speech did contain a few good ideas — but only a few. He said that the administration would seek to reduce opioid prescriptions and expand access to medication-assisted treatment for those suffering from addiction. Experts, including a commission appointed by Mr. Trump last year, identified these and other solutions months ago, but the administration has taken little action and provided few details about how it would carry out these ideas.

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7. Why Trump’s opioid plan falls short (Opinion)

   Mar 20, 2018 | STAT News

   By Michael Botticelli

   President Trump’s long-delayed plan to combat nation’s opioid epidemic, announced in a Monday speech in New Hampshire, led with a headline-grabbing call: impose the death penalty on drug dealers.

   This emphasis on capital punishment only underscores the president’s over-reliance on supply reduction and law enforcement efforts, two strategies that have failed to produce meaningful change in a public health crisis that claimed more than 63,000 lives in the U.S. in 2016.

   While law enforcement does have an important role to play, we’ve learned that an emphasis on arrest and incarceration doesn’t work. Many law enforcement officials at the national, state, and local levels have come to understand the futility of this approach. During my time at the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Obama, the most frequent request from law enforcement officials was to increase access to treatment.

   Over time, clinicians and researchers have identified the steps that must be taken to support recovery: notably, expanding health care capacity and access to treatment for those with a substance use disorder. The Obama administration and Congress charted this course in a bipartisan way, and Trump’s own commission recommended many of the same approaches — yet the president has seemingly been reluctant to act.

   Trump’s plan does advance a number of evidence-based ideas around treatment and prevention that had already been adopted by Obama and Congress, including wider availability of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, reducing opioid prescribing, and providing better access to medications for addiction treatment.

   So, some 14 months later, this is all we have — a promise only now to act on solutions that have been available since day one of his administration.

   It’s a bit ironic that one of the things that he announced was to ask Congress to remove a decades-old Medicaid rule in an effort to expand treatment. While this proposal has problems in its own right, it does correctly acknowledge the huge role Medicaid plays providing treatment for millions of Americans. Given that fact, will Trump stop calling for efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and instead encourage every state to expand Medicaid?

   Other aspects from Trump’s Monday announcement were short on specifics and far from comprehensive:The initiative speaks of “leveraging” federal resources, but apparently offers no new funding beyond that already approved by Congress during the Obama administration. At the very least, I’m heartened that the president is finally indicating public support of the $6 billion proposed by Congress.Expanding naloxone distribution by first responders is certainly a noble goal, but his announcement lacked any specific mention of how the administration plans to pay for the ever-increasing cost of this lifesaving medication.While screening federal inmates and placing them in treatment is a good start, the vast majority of prisoners with substance use disorder are in state and local jails, and the plan does not speak to that population. The federal plan also calls for the use of only one medication, naltrexone, rather than allowing all three approved medications for addiction treatment, which have been so promising in reducing overdose deaths for those leaving Rhode Island’s correctional facility.The call to ramp up the use of drug courts ignores that fact that many drug courts do not allow access to medication for treatment, which is crucial for many people to achieve recovery.

   White House attention on the opioid epidemic is always welcome. Addiction is a disease that once hid in the dark and wasn’t talked about among families, let alone as a public health concern. We owe people who are fighting for recovery a fair chance. We owe answers and hope to parents like Jeanne and Jim Moser of New Hampshire, who spoke at the announcement and whose son died of a fentanyl overdose in 2015.

   The only way we can stop this epidemic is by marshaling all our resources — from the federal government to neighborhoods. We all have a role to play to treat addiction for exactly what it is, a disease and an urgent public health concern.

   The president’s plan makes headlines, but falls short of delivering all of the science- and evidence-based approaches that would make a real difference in the lives of those struggling with this epidemic.

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8. Psst... Mr. Trump, 97 Percent of Opioid Abuse is from Prescription Pain Relievers, Not Undocumented Immigrants (Opinion)

   Mar 21, 2018 | The Progressive

   By Jud Lounsbury

   When you have water dripping on your forehead from the ceiling above, the first step in fixing the problem is figuring out from where the water flows.

   where the water flows.

   In the case of our current opioid crisis, the “water from the ceiling” is, without question, prescription drugs.

   According to the latest data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 11.8 million people misused opioids in 2016, and the majority of that abuse (11.5 million) was pain reliever misuse rather than heroin use.

   And where are these pain relievers coming from? Among prescription pain reliever misusers, 35.4 percent are getting them from doctor prescriptions and 53 percent are either given, bought, or taken from a friend or relative:

   Bottom line: Only 6 percent of pain reliever misusers say they are getting their prescription drugs from “drug dealers or other strangers.”

   However this reality isn’t Trump’s reality. In a crazed speech Monday, he painted a picture of the opioid crisis that lays most of the blame on… Mexico. And undocumented Mexican immigrants.

   “Ninety percent of the heroin in America comes from our southern border, where, eventually, the Democrats will agree with us and we’ll build the wall to keep the damn drugs out,” Trump howled to the New Hampshire crowd. The crowd chanted back, “Build the wall! Build the wall!”

   What Trump leaves out is that over 90 percent of opioid misuse is from prescription drugs, not heroin. It’s true, curbing heroin use should be a top concern—it’s more dangerous than prescription drugs and leads to more overdose deaths. But another bit of reality overlooked by Trump is that most heroin and other drugs from Mexico pass through at legal crossings, hidden away in vehicles.

   Trump went one step further, asserting that undocumented immigrants are somehow central to the the opioid crisis. “My administration is also confronting things called sanctuary cities that shield dangerous criminals,” he said, and added, “they’re safe havens for just some terrible people. Some terrible people.”

   As an additional touch, Trump offered a mental image of these “terrible people” by once again bringing up the gang MS-13. “ICE recently arrested 15 MS-13 gang members —these are not good people, folks. Okay?” he said. “These are bad, bad people. They don’t use guns. They’d rather use knives because it’s more painful and it takes longer. These are bad people —in Boston, Massachusetts, which is a place where you have sanctuary cities.”

   And what’s Trump’s big solution for these “bad” and “terrible” people?

   The death penalty.

   “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.”

   Considering that that African Americans and Latinos are already up to six times more likely to be punished for drug crimes than whites, Trump’s threat of a death penalty carries quite the racial stench.

   Imagine if he was threatening death to the (mostly white) drug company executives that produce the drugs for well over 90 percent of opioid addicts in this country? Or the (mostly white) relatives and friends that supply over half of the drugs? Or the the (mostly white) doctors that prescribe 37.5 percent of the misused opioids?

   We all might need to pop some opioids to imagine that ever happening.

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9. Trump, Azar say a plan for drug prices is coming in 'about a month'

   Mar 20, 2018 | FiercePharma

   By Eric Sagonowsky

   Pharma industry watchers have reason to be skeptical when the Trump Administration says it’s planning to take on drug prices, but President Donald Trump and his top health official on Monday insisted a plan is coming in about a month to dramatically lower them. At the same event, Trump said the Department of Justice is considering suing opioid companies for their role in a national crisis.

   The remarks came in New Hampshire, where Trump and other officials gathered to discuss the opioid and addiction epidemic. New Hampshire is among the states most affected by the crisis, and the state has already sued Oxycontin developer Purdue Pharma alleging years of deceptive marketing.

   In his speech, Trump said his Department of Justice is “looking very seriously into bringing major litigation against some of these drug companies.”

   “Some states are already bringing it, but we’re thinking about bringing it at a very high federal level,” he added.

   On another closely watched topic, Trump said his team plans to unveil a strategy to lower drug prices by taking aim at discounts that aren't making their way to consumers.  

   Alex Azar, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and former Eli Lilly executive, added that the government is “going to be rolling out … a whole slate of other proposals around how we decrease the price of drugs and how we bring discounts that the middlemen right now are getting; how those will go to our patients, to individuals.”

   Amid growing pushback on prices, it’s been a popular talking point by pharma companies that increasing healthcare dollars are going to drug middlemen. Trade group PhRMA has proposed that discounts should directly benefit patients. When insurer UnitedHealthcare recently pledged to return drug discounts to some members, PhRMA praisedthe move.

   On Monday, Trump also criticized pharma’s lobby and the “complexity of distribution” for driving U.S. prices higher than in other countries. The remarks echo some of the statements Trump made more than a year ago as President-elect during a press conference, famously saying pharma is “getting away with murder.” At the time, he pledged to implement “competitive bidding” to lower U.S. costs.

   But since those initial comments and during his time in the office, the administration hasn’t advanced any major proposals on drug pricing. FDA chief Scott Gottlieb has worked to do what he can at his agency, such as boosting generic approvals and looking at regulatory changes, but the FDA isn’t tasked with overseeing drug prices. 

   After more than a year of threats, many industry watchers have tuned out to the president’s talk on drug prices, but Wells Fargo analyst David Maris wrote on Monday that the chance of reform remains.

   “We believe that there is a high risk that healthcare and drug pricing will be a key part of the mid-term elections as well as the next presidential election, and we expect that the current administration will try to blunt any criticism that it hasn’t done enough with plans of its own before then,” he wrote in a note to clients.

   Meanwhile, Trump’s talk of a federal opioid lawsuit closely follows Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that the Department of Justice is filing a “statement of interest” to back hundreds of cases by cities and counties against manufacturers. The lawsuits allege drugmakers "grossly misrepresented" opioid risks and that distributors failed to monitor suspicious orders. Aside from those lawsuits, dozens of state attorneys general are conducting a probe of the industry’s marketing.
   

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10. Doctors have a duty not to make the opioid crisis worse (Opinion)

    Mar 20, 2018 | CNN

    By Robert Klitzman

    At night, on call as a medical intern, I would race from one medical crisis to another in the hospital, often staying up all night, and having no time to eat dinner.

    Periodically, drug company representatives would show up with huge hot pizzas dripping with luscious warm melted cheese, and bottles of Coke for other weary interns and residents and me. Pizza never seemed so good. Hungry and sleep-deprived, we gobbled up the free food. The drug reps would sit around and chat with us. They seemed nice and we appreciated that they were feeding us.

    Alas, there is no such thing as a "free lunch" or a "free dinner," especially from a drug company.

    I didn't think of the pizza as a bribe to later prescribe the representative's drugs, but studies have shown that even small gifts, such as pens and coffee mugs emblazoned with the names of expensive drugs -- and certainly free meals -- turn out to influence what physicians prescribe.

    Pharmaceutical companies used to give medical schools millions of dollars for free continuing medical education on particular drugs. But many schools have since instituted policies of "zero tolerance" for these company's gifts, letting these corporations now donate money only to unrestricted funds, without abilities to discuss particular drugs. In response, these companies have essentially stopped giving these institutions educational funds.

    CNN's recent report that most physicians who prescribed opioids received payments from pharmaceutical companies making these drugs thus raises many concerns.

    The details are even more disturbing: that the amounts of these payments increased with the more opioids that the doctor prescribed.

    While drug companies may argue these doctors have more expertise and therefore deserve more money, these new reports come on top of other recent revelations that several opioid manufacturers engaged in various illegal and unethical practices.

    Some of these companies hid information about the dangerous effects of their drugs, distorted claims, and engaged in misbranding and misleading advertising, minimizing lethal risks, while reaping massive profits.

    From 1999 to 2016, prescriptions of narcotics have quadrupled, and deaths from these drugs have increased fivefold, killing over 200,000 Americans. Over 2 million others have become addicted to these opioids, impeding abilities to function and live.

    Since the days of the Hippocratic Oath in Ancient Greece, physicians are supposed to follow a moral code -- to dedicate themselves first and foremost to their patients' well-being, and to avoid harm to patients. Such moral commitment is crucial for maintaining the trust of patients and that of the broader public.

    If physicians instead choose treatments based on how much they themselves profit, rather than on how much patients will get better, patients would trust doctors much less, or not want to pay these providers. Such trust must be earned and carefully upheld, not abused.Yet these payments to physicians may easily influence which drugs doctors prescribe (milder generic ones or stronger and more expensive ones), and how much and for how long.

    If nothing else, patients should, arguably, be informed that their doctor is getting money from these companies and that the amounts of these funds increase with the quantity of these drugs they give.

    Alas, studies have shown that many patients may misunderstand these disclosures, thinking that a doctor must be good if he or she is receiving drug company money. Patients thus also need to be informed about what these payments mean.We need better oversight and restrictions of such payments, better training of doctors, and more awareness of these problems among patients, policymakers and the public at large.

    President Trump has pushed for the death penalty for some drug dealers. Yet that approach poses many problems, and will not address the fact that doctors' prescriptions are contributing to the increasing rates of addiction and death.

    Hopefully, he will take adequate actions to address the roles of pharmaceutical companies in fueling the epidemic. More funding for effective drug addiction treatment is also critical for avoiding deaths.Given the hundreds of thousands of people whom prescribed narcotics have killed and harmed, we need to err on the side of caution.Free pizza may be good, but our patients' lives should count far more.

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West (UT, CA, ID)

11. Utah County Sues Drugmakers, Doctors Over Opioid Crisis

    Mar 21, 2018 | Associated Press

    By Staff

    Officials of a northern Utah county are suing drug manufacturers, distributors and doctors in an effort to mitigate the consequences of the nation's opioid crisis.

    Summit County on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in state district court against 25 companies and individuals, seeking a jury trial and an unspecified financial award for damages.

    The lawsuit claims the opioid epidemic was created by the companies through deceptive marketing and misleading sales. It also claims the industry lied about the dangers of long-term opioid use.

    In a statement, county attorney Margaret Olson says the drug manufacturers and distributors have reaped billions of dollars and should be held financially responsible.

    The suit also seeks an injunction to order the companies to "abate the public nuisance they created."

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12. Local governments line up to file suit against Big Pharma. Will El Paso County join in?

    Mar 21, 2018 | Colorado Springs Independent (CO)

    By Pam Zubeck

    As the opioid crisis sweeps the country, killing more than 42,000 people in 2016 alone, cities and counties from Massachusetts to Montana have filed lawsuits against Big Pharma, alleging drug makers and distributors bear responsibility for their “false and misleading statements” about the risks and benefits of painkillers.

    As one lawsuit, filed by Jefferson County, Ohio, put it, “This case is about one thing: corporate greed” that put the companies’ profits above the health and well-being of citizens.
    
    Huerfano County, whose county seat is Walsenburg, was the first in Colorado to join the growing number of plaintiffs, which include at least 300 cities, counties, states, Native American tribes and labor unions, in demanding billions of dollars in damages as a result of pharmaceutical companies’ widespread promotion of opioids.
    
    Now, El Paso County could hop on board to try to recover money spent on law enforcement, public health and social programs needed to combat the opioid crisis.
    
    “The county is interested in evaluating the impact, and we will be seeking direction from our board of county commissioners on March 22,” First Assistant County Attorney Diana May says. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that 42,249 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016. During that year, about 60 died in El Paso County, according to the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.
    
    But Deputy Coroner Leon Kelly says that while opioid deaths have almost doubled here in the past six years, equally alarming is the growing percentage of those deaths that resulted from overdoses of heroin, which grew from 17 percent of all opioid deaths in the county in 2012 to 58 percent in 2017. People addicted to legal prescription painkillers often turn to heroin when they’re no longer able to obtain opioids legally.
    
    Aside from the loss of life, Kelly says the heroin trade brings additional woes such as crime and all of its corollary problems: disease transferred via intravenous drug use, including HIV, Hepatitis C and B, and the intangible impact to families caused by addiction, such as lost jobs, homelessness and hunger. So, as Kelly notes, users are at risk of far more than just overdoses.
    
    Kelly says he’s unaware of anyone who tracks costs associated with the opioid crisis for law enforcement, public health and social services. “It touches so many agencies,” he says. “It’s hard to define. The impacts do run so deep.”
    
    But May says her office is trying to quantify those financial impacts in preparation for a closed-door session with the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners, who will determine whether the county will join what could be the biggest multi-plaintiff action against an industry since the big tobacco litigation, which led to a settlement in 1998 between the four largest tobacco companies in the Unit- ed States and attorneys general of 46 states, including Colorado. It required the companies to pay the states $206 billion over 25 years.
    
    “We have been evaluating this since the end of December and January,” May says. “We are continuing to gather research and information. We’re not dragging our feet. We are evaluating what our various options are, but also doing our due diligence on what impact the opiates have had in El Paso County.”
    
    That includes efforts to ascertain the costs to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, El Paso County Public Health and the Department of Human Services. Although many of the hundreds
    who have filed lawsuits have attorneys in common, May’s office is equipped to handle such a case, she said. “We have civil litigation experience in federal court,” she says. That said, attorneys representing Huerfano County have been discussing the case with the county, including the prospect of adding the county as their client.
    
    One of those is Pat Mika of Colorado Springs, who represents Huerfano County in its lawsuit, along with Springs attorney Stephen Ochs and Steven Skikos of San Francisco.
    
    “There’s not a single person in this town [Colorado Springs] that hasn’t been somehow touched by the opioid crisis,” Mika says in an interview. “They [drug companies] have created a country filled with addicted individuals who they have gotten addicted through mislabeling, false advertising and fraudulent advertising about the benefits and nonaddictive nature of these opioids.”
    
    Those are among the claims contained in the Huerfano County case, filed in January. The lawsuit seeks at least $750,000 in economic damages and $1.5 million in future damages from 20 drug makers and distributors such as Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals and McKesson Corp.
    
    Federal drug enforcement investigators found small-town pharmacies in the San Luis Valley received shipments from McKesson similar in size to those sent to large metro areas’ drugstores, according to a report by The Washington Post and CBS’s 60 Minutes.
    
    Huerfano County’s suit, like the others, alleges the defendants falsely downplayed the risk of addiction, claimed signs of addiction could be treated with more opioids, alleged that dependence and withdrawal could be easily managed, and falsely touted the benefits of long-term opioid use — all while knowing those things were not true.
    
    The lawsuit also contends the companies targeted “susceptible prescribers like family doctors as well as vulnerable patient populations like the elderly and veterans.” Opioids, the most prescribed class of drugs in the country, generated $11 billion in revenue for drug companies in 2014 alone, according to the law- suit. According to a 2017 multi-agency report, “Heroin in Colorado,” heroin- related emergency room visits doubled in Colorado from 2011 to 2014.
    
    Besides those direct impacts, the 73-page lawsuit claims that for-profit rehabilitation businesses have recruited addicts with false claims but failed to provide proper facilities or treatment. All of which means the defendants created a public nuisance, the lawsuit alleges.
    
    Mika notes that Purdue Pharma (maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin), its president and two other top officials paid a fine of $634.5 million in 2007 for misleading the public about the drug’s risk of addiction.
    
    “But they continue to operate as if nothing happened,” says Mika, adding that the lawsuit is “the only way we’re going to make these people accountable.”
    
    While May says there’s no hurry to decide whether to join the litigation, which has been consolidated into proceedings assigned to the federal court in the Northern District of Ohio, Cleveland, Mika says the clock is ticking. “We’re already in the settlement process,” he says. “If El Paso County doesn’t get on board, then they’re going to find themselves sort of hanging out there with an empty hand.”
    
    Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Connecticut, one of the largest companies named, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. But a statement posted on its website says, “Patients’ needs and safety have guided our steps. It’s what led us to research and develop medications to help patients. Today, it’s what has spurred us to redouble our efforts in the fight against the prescription and illicit opioid abuse crisis.”
    
    Purdue notes it developed opioids that are harder to crush “and, therefore, harder to be abused by snorting or injection,” and “pioneered the pharmaceutical industry’s movement toward developing opioids with abuse-deterrent properties.” The firm also has distributed a Centers for Disease Control guidebook for prescribing opioids and is developing a new non-opioid pain medicine, the website says.
    
    McKesson, of San Francisco, which paid $150 million in January 2017 to settle a case with regulators who found suspicious orders of painkillers linked to the opioid epidemic, commented recently to the Associated Press regarding the state of Kentucky’s lawsuit that the company “is commit- ted to maintaining — and continuously enhancing — strong programs designed to detect and prevent opioid diversion within the pharmaceutical supply chain.”
    
    Johnson & Johnson, in a notice to investors in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, noted the possibility of “significant adverse litigation or government action ... related to product liability claims and allegations concerning opioid marketing practices.”
    

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13. Summit County first in Utah to sue 'big pharma' opioid manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | KUTV (UT)

    By Adam Forgie

    Summit County filed a lawsuit against opioid drug manufacturers and opioid distributors Tuesday in Utah's Third Judicial District Court for Summit County.

    The lawsuit alleges the current nationwide opioid crisis was created "by misinformation, false claims, and marketing by the manufacturers and distributors of the drugs," Summit County attorneys said in a press release.

    “The opioid epidemic has significantly impacted residents of Summit County," Chair of the Summit County Council Kim Carson said. "We as a community are very concerned with the easy access to opioids and the devastating effects these drugs have on our families, friends, and neighbors. The Summit County Council fully supports the County Attorney’s decision to file this lawsuit. All of us have been affected by the prolific distribution of these drugs and the false assurances given as to their safety. We need resources to help educate our citizens on the dangers of opioid addiction and on alternatives to their use.”
    

    The 240-page complaint alleges the crisis began in the 1990s when "opioid manufacturers lied to both doctors and the public about the serious risks associated from long-term use of these drugs – one of the most critical risks being addiction."

    According to Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson, “These drug manufacturers and distributors reaped the financial benefits in the billions of dollars and now they should be financially responsible for the opioid crisis facing our communities.”
    

    Utah is 7th in the nation for drug-related overdose deaths.

    "In 2014, nearly one-third of all adults in Utah had a prescription for opioid painkillers," Olson said in a press release. "More drug deaths in Utah result from prescription opioids than any other drug. The cost of the addiction takes time to unfold, but can be measured in the impact on families and the community, whether it is child neglect, infants born with drug dependence, estrangement of families, lost careers or criminal justice involvement. Utah communities have been forced to expend significant resources to combat the epidemic."

    Defendants include: Purdue Pharma L.P.; Endo Pharmaceuticals; Allergan; Teva; Cephalon, Janssen; AmerisourceBergen; Cardinal Health; and McKesson. These companies market branded opioids such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Fentora, and generic opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl.

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14. Summit County lawsuit alleges pharma companies pushed dangerous opioids to make a profit

    Mar 20, 2018 | Deseret News (UT)

    By McKenzie Romero

    In order to make more money, pharmaceutical companies pushed dangerous, prolonged opioid use on patients with chronic pain, despite knowing the risks for decreased efficiency and increased addiction.

    Meanwhile, local governments and service providers, like those in Summit County, have been burdened with the consequences of a nationwide epidemic of drug abuse.

    That is the argument behind a massive lawsuit filed in 3rd District Court on Tuesday as Summit County became the first county in the state to sue manufacturers and distributors of opioids over the cost and carnage of addiction among its citizens.

    The lawsuit names as defendants 25 individuals and businesses from nine major pharmaceutical companies: Purdue Pharma L.P., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Teva, Cephalon, Janssen, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

    "This case is about one thing: corporate greed. Defendants put their desire for profits above the health, well-being and safety of Summit County residents," the 245-page lawsuit begins.

    It goes on to argue that "Summit County has been forced to expend exorbitant amounts of money" fighting the "opioid epidemic" that the companies created through deceptive marketing to the public and misleading sales tactics toward doctors, including local physicians, offering up opioids to treat common aches and pains.

    "Defendants, through a sophisticated and highly deceptive and unfair marketing campaign that began in the late 1990s, deepened around 2006, and continues to the present, set out to, and did, reverse the popular and medical understanding of opioids. Chronic opioid therapy — the prescribing of opioids to treat chronic pain long term — is now commonplace," the lawsuit states.

    The campaign was "wildly successful," according to the claim, bringing in billions of dollars in revenue each year.

    Summit County's lawsuit seeks a jury trial and an unspecified financial award "sufficient to fairly and completely compensate plaintiff for all damages," as well as an injunction ordering the companies to "abate the public nuisance they created."

    Summit County Attorney Margaret Olsen announced the lawsuit Tuesday in a press conference at the historic courthouse in Coalville, located at the county seat, saying the litigation comes in conjunction with a "comprehensive public health plan" to address opioid addiction in the area.

    In a prepared release prior to the announcement, Olsen emphasized that pharmaceutical companies should be held financially responsible for the cost of the crisis. Those costs over time have included impacts on families like child neglect, infants born with drug dependence, estrangement of relatives, lost careers or criminal charges, according to the release.

    In addition to its own attorneys, Summit County has brought on private counsel from law firms Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, of New York City, and Dewsnup King Olsen Worel Havas & Mortensen, and Magleby Cataxinos & Greenwood, both of Salt Lake City. The attorneys are working on a contingency, meaning they would only be paid from any damages the county receives if the lawsuit is successful.

    "We are advancing all the costs to pursue this lawsuit," said Collin King, one of the attorneys from Dewsnup King Olsen Worel Havas & Mortensen. "It is a risk we think is worthwhile to take."

    King emphasized that Utah is now seventh in the nation for drug overdose events and deaths.

    "Utah has seen a 400 percent increase in deaths from prescription opioids over the past five years," King said. "It is a scourge, it is an epidemic, and we intend to do something about it."

    Prescription abuse often leads to addiction to illegal narcotics, King said, noting that the opioid crisis has fueled a resurgence of heroin use.

    Among the most shocking opioid-related deaths from Summit County were the fatal overdoses of two 13-year-old friends, Ryan Ainsworth and Grant Seaver, who both died over the same weekend after using a synthetic opioid U-47700, nicknamed "Pink." The friends had ordered the drug online from China.

    "A lot of these drug-seeking behaviors are driven by addiction, and that causes people to go to places like the mail to try to get drugs when they can't get them from other places," Olson said.

    Regarding the young boys' deaths, King said damages from the lawsuit would go to treatment and education services, including for students in the county.

    King noted that Napoli Shkolnik is one of the leading law firms taking on opioid related litigation in the country, representing more than 100 counties across the U.S. He expressed his hope that other counties in Utah will join Summit County in taking legal action, and that their combined efforts will ultimately make a difference.

    "Every county is having a different rate of incidents, but they are all unacceptably high," King said. "We hope that most every county in Utah joins into this to tell big pharma that Utah takes this serious, and every citizen here wants it stopped."

    In a press conference last November, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced their intent to sue big pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic ravaging the area.

    Gill confirmed Tuesday that, as the largest county in the state, Salt Lake is still carefully preparing its case.

    "We are fully committed to this objective, as we have been from the beginning to advocate for our citizens and agencies from the negative consequences of this opioid epidemic," Gill said.

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15. Summit County files lawsuit against major opioid manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | KSL.com (UT)

    By Carter Williams

    Summit County officials filed a lawsuit Tuesday against more than a dozen “big pharma” opioid manufacturers and distributors.

    The 250-page complaint is the first lawsuit from any county in the state against major drug manufacturers. Summit County was joined by several other Utah and national law firms in the lawsuit against the companies filed in Utah's 3rd District Court.

    An exact amount the county is seeking in damages has not yet been determined, attorneys said.

    Defendants include Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Actavis, Watson Laboratories, Insys Therapeutics, Inc., Mallinckrodt, Mckesson Corporation, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen Corporation, among others.

    “These drug manufacturers and distributors reaped the financial benefits in the billions of dollars and now they should be financially responsible for the opioid crisis facing our communities," added Summit County attorney Margaret Olson.

    Complaints include that the county's opioid issues were created by misinformation and false claims made by manufacturers about risks from long-term use beginning in the 1990s, including addiction. It also claims distributors failed to report to the Drug Enforcement Administration and other national and local agencies improper uses of the opioids.

    "Opioids are unsafe for chronic, long-term pain because of the unacceptably high rates," said Colin King, an attorney at Dewsnup King Olsen Worel Havas & Mortensen based in Salt Lake City. "It is a scourge, it is an epidemic and we intend to do something about it."

    Utah was among the worst in the country in drug overdose deaths in 2016, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics.

    In explaining the lawsuit Tuesday, King said counties are "suffering the brunt" of the American opioid crisis cost, having to foot the bill for county-funded drug programs, treatment centers and other projects aimed to curb opioid addiction and deaths.

    He added companies, not doctors, created "deceptive and misleading" marketing campaigns about the drugs, which is why the lawsuit targeted the companies.

    "The vast majority of physicians in the United States were duped along with the users into thinking — because this was the marketing strategy for years — opioids are not unreasonably dangerous for long-term use," King said.

    King said he hopes the lawsuit makes a difference in the community and that other counties across the state would join in the future.

    The lawsuit was filed less than two weeks after the Summit County Council unanimously recognized the county's opioid crisis, authorizing Olsen to "initiate and pursue" damages and litigation against opioid manufacturers and to come up with public health plan to address the issue within the county.

    “The opioid epidemic has significantly impacted residents of Summit County," said Kim Carson, the chair of the Summit County Council, in a statement. "We as a community are very concerned with the easy access to opioids and the devastating effects these drugs have on our families, friends and neighbors."

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16. Summit County suing ‘Big Pharma'

    Mar 20, 2018 | Good4Utah (UT)

    By Simone Francis

    Summit County filed the first Utah lawsuit against opioid manufacturer and distributors.

    The 240-page complaint states that the opioid crisis was created by misinformation, false claims and marketing by manufacturers and distributors of the drugs.

    “The opioid epidemic has significantly impacted residents of Summit County. We as a community are very concerned with the easy access to opioids and the devastating effects these drugs have on our families, friends and neighbors," said Kim Carson, the Chair of the Summit County Council in a statement. 

    Utah is the seventh in the nation for drug overdose-related events and the deaths primarily due to the overuse of prescription drugs like opioids.

    Margaret Olson, Summit County Attorney, her office and a team of private law firms plan to tackle the suit. The complaint was filed in Utah's Third Judicial District Court. 

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17. Summit County first in state to file lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | Fox 13 Salt Lake City (UT)

    By Taylor Hartman

    Summit County in Utah announced that it has filed the state’s first lawsuit against “Big Pharma” opioid manufacturers and distributors.

    The 240-page complaint alleges that the opioid crisis was created by false claims and marketing, spearheaded by companies who produce opiate drugs. The county states that in the 1990’s, manufacturers lied to doctors and the public about the addictive properties of opioid painkillers.

    “Opioid distributors injected millions upon millions of opioid pills into small communities, like Summit County, who are now left to cope with the human and financial consequences,” Summit County wrote in a press release.

    Utah ranks seventh in the nation for drug overdose-related events and deaths. The county states that in 2014, nearly one-third of adults in Utah had a prescription for opioid painkillers.

    Summit County named 25 companies and individuals in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday and called for a jury trial on all claims.

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18. Humboldt County to mull suing Big Pharma over opioid crisis

    Mar 21, 2018 | Eureka Times Standard (CA)

    By Will Houston

    The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is set to decide next week whether to join cities, counties, states and tribes from across the nation that are suing pharmaceutical companies for allegedly misleading the public about the addictive nature of opioid medication.

    Blanck told the Times-Standard on Tuesday afternoon that the board will decide next Tuesday whether to retain the Seattle-based Keller Rohrback law firm to file litigation against six unspecified companies.

    The county would be seeking damages to cover the costs of providing treatment for opioid prescription addiction.

    “We’re not the first, but we’re joining and hoping to recuperate some of the costs for treatment,” Blanck said. “It’s hit the county.”

    Blanck said that the county would hire the law firm on contingency.

    “We don’t pay anything unless they recover [costs],” Blanck said.

    Last week, the Yurok Tribe filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against 20 pharmaceutical companies and distributors citing similar concerns about the impacts of opioids on its reservation. The lawsuits are being consolidated in a federal court in Ohio, Blanck said.

    According to a 2017 California Department of Public Health report, Humboldt County had the state’s second highest opioid overdose rate in 2016, at 22.35 per 100,000 residents — five times the state’s average rate that year.

    The report also found there were more opioid prescriptions than there were county residents, with 156,444 prescriptions in 2016 or about 1,145 prescriptions per 1,000 residents.

    Fourth District Supervisor Virginia Bass and 2nd District state Sen. Mike McGuire also announced Tuesday that they will be holding a second town hall on the opioid crisis March 29 at the Sequoia Conference Center. The previous town hall was in November.

    “Our community is working hard to address the opioid epidemic at every level, and I am grateful to be working with Sen. McGuire to bring the community back together to discuss the progress that’s being made and the hurdles we all still have to overcome,” Bass said in a statement Tuesday.

    McGuire (D-Healdsburg) said that the goal of the town hall will be to begin advancing potential solutions for the North Coast.

    “Now, as promised, Supervisor Bass and I are bringing local and statewide leaders back together to hear about the progress that is being made with this ongoing crisis and update the community on the issues they advanced last fall,” McGuire said in a statement.

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19. County joins lawsuit against opioid makers

    Mar 21, 2018 | Idaho Mountain Express (ID)

    By Mark Dee

    The Blaine County commissioners voted to join a class-action suit against opioid manufacturers on Tuesday, joining counties nationwide demanding that drug companies pay up for their alleged role in the explosive rise of addiction rates across America.

    The resolution, which was introduced by Commissioner Larry Schoen, engages two law firms at no cost to the county to litigate the case.

    “The National Institute[s] of Health has identified manufacturers of certain opioid medications as being directly responsible for the rapid rise of the Opioid Epidemic by virtue of their aggressive, and, according to some, unlawful and unethical marketing practices,” the letter states.

    In Blaine County, though, the dearth of local data makes the impact tougher to identify, and potential damages harder to prove. That could be a challenge down the road—unless the case is settled, as several county officials expect.

    Though rates of addiction in Blaine County are likely well below the catastrophic levels plaguing other parts of the country, some anecdotal evidence points to a bump in opioid use. But it can be tough to track.

    “We know it’s an issue, but we don’t think it’s a crisis in Blaine County,” Schoen said. “But knowing the other substance abuse rates we do have, I question whether we really have a handle on the extent of opioid use in Blaine County—and I think many other counties would echo what I just said.”

    One reason is that cases often to go undocumented until it’s too late; the firmest statistics on opioid abuse tend to come in the form of coroner reports.

    Toxicology tests are “almost routine” in cases received by the Coroner’s Office, said county Coroner Russ Mikel, who is responsible for certifying the “cause and manner” of death if it occurs outside of medical care.

    Of the 103 deaths he has certified since 2015, seven were caused by drug overdose. (The toxicology report for another death is pending, Mikel said.)

    “Even in our small community, I’m amazed how often if occurs,” he said.

    Though the sample size is small, prescriptions are becoming more common in drug-induced deaths, Mikel said, replacing street drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

    “Rarely do we see an OD on a single drug,” he said. “Usually, there are multiple drugs in the system.”

    Pills are also landing more people in court, according to Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas.

    “Whether we have a crisis or not, what we’re seeing is a bit of an uptick in distribution,” Thomas said. “Mostly, it’s hydrocodone and OxyContin coming out of pain management clinics. They’re just passing them out like Skittles, frankly.”

    While the opioid-related mortality rate statewide falls below the national average, the drugs are prescribed at a higher rate in Idaho than the country at large, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

    According to the institute, in 2015, Idaho providers wrote 76.4 opioid prescriptions per 100 residents, approximately 1.3 million in all. During the same time, the national average was 70 prescriptions per 100 people.

    Locally, it could be less or more. As the case progresses, the board may need to provide evidence to recover damages—a measure that all three members supported investigating independent of the suit.

    According to Schoen, signing on to the suit can provide the county with resources to do so.

    “It’s something we need to know about anyway,” Commissioner Jacob Greenberg said. “This is a good way to set those wheels in motion.”

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Southeast (GA, VA, WV, SC, KY, NC, FL)

20. Walton sues in battle against opioid crisis

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Walton Tribune (GA)

    By Cosby Woodruff

    Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said opioids and those who abuse the painkillers use a large percentage of his department’s resources.

    The Walton County Commission hopes a lawsuit against drug manufacturers it voted to join earlier this month can stem the tide of those drugs flowing to addicts.
    

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21. Gainesville joins Hall, other counties in opioid lawsuit

    Mar 20, 2018 | The Gainesville Times (GA)

    By Joshua Silavent

    Gainesville is joining Hall County, as well as a dozen other local governments across Georgia, in a lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of prescription painkillers that officials say have been complicit in fueling the national opioid abuse epidemic. “This crisis is costing cities and counties money,” Mayor Danny Dunagan said. “I think it’s a crisis that needs to be addressed. We’re just going to join in and see if we can make a difference.”

    The remainder of this article is under paywall: https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/gainesville-joins-hall-other-counties-opioid-lawsuit/

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22. How Dickenson joined opioid suit

    Mar 21, 2018 | Dickenson Star (VA)

    By Jenay Tate

    Familiar with a federal class-action opioid lawsuit in Ohio, Dickenson County Attorney Stephen Mullins had the legal matter on his mind when he got a call about a new challenge.

    Attorney Ed Spivey of Kaufman and Canoles in Norfolk phoned Mullins about the plan being mounted by his firm and that of two others. The law firms were reaching out to Dickenson and surrounding counties asking about interest in joining in the action against drug manufacturers, wholesalers/distributors and pharmacy benefit managers.

    "He knew how hard hit we were," Mullins said. He met with Spivey here in the board of supervisors' office and listened to the strategy and what evidence they had.

    Mullins said he didn't hesitate when Spivey asked if Dickenson County would be interested. In his own private practice, Mullins said, he sees the pervasiveness of the damage done by opioids.

    "They have pushed opioids on people who didn't need them," Mullins said. Dickenson County and other localities like it are paying the price in the cost of courts, law enforcement, fire and rescue, social services and more.

    In his own work in juvenile and domestic relations court and serving as guardian ad litem, Mullins said he sees what happens when parents are drug addicted and then there children are also exposed.

    "Everybody suffers," he said. "It's a ripple effect."

    One of the lawyers in the action is a former federal judge who heard a lot of criminal cases, he said. He saw the root cause of most of the cases before him as either drugs or mental health issues.

    "The only thing he could do was send them to jail," Mullins related. He was tired of it and left the bench to practice and to make a change.

    The Nashville firm of Sanford Heisler Sharp is going to front the cost of the suit, he said. Dickenson County won't have to pay anything until and if they recover an award. The two lead firms would take a quarter of any award, better than most percentages, he said.

    For those eager about what might happen and wondering what will happen if they win, Mullins advises to be patient. He said he expects it to be years before the case works its way through the courts.

    For now, the defendants have not yet been served with the suit, Mullins said. They have a year to do so.

    While he could not discuss details, Mullins said this is a "common practice for strategic reasons."

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

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23. County continues to weigh opioid lawsuit

    Mar 20, 2018 | Dickenson County News (VA)

    By Seth Boyes

    Solutions in the state's class-action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers may have begun to coalesce. A mediation group of several attorneys was scheduled to meet earlier this month and potentially discuss a settlement structure. Dickinson County has yet to sign on in support of the lawsuit — though the Iowa State Association of Counties is seeking support from all of Iowa's 99 counties.

    "We haven't decided not to, but we haven't decided to either," Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders said. "We're still doing some research on it."

    Neighboring Clay County is one of several dozen Iowa counties supporting the lawsuit at ISAC's behest. Assistant Clay County Attorney Barry Sackett indicated earlier this month the discussion of a settlement structure was a major step in the legal process, given the manufacturers could have denied any financial wrongdoing, but last week he was less optimistic about the progress.

    "The department of justice on a federal level kind of stepped into litigation, so now they have a seat at the table as well as the state," Sackett said. "The first round of settlement conversations must not have gone great because now they've kind of started going down the road of discovery, which is a little bit disappointing, but the judge is very much still pushing the parties to get together with other solutions."

    Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced in June his office had become part of a multi-state investigation into whether opioid manufacturers had unlawfully marketed and sold the powerful — an often addictive — painkillers.

    "These are prescription drugs that we know have helped fuel epidemic levels of addiction to opioids and heroin," Miller said in his announcement.

    Miller touted a University of Iowa study, which said prescription overdose surpassed transportation-related deaths in 2009 to become the leading cause of injury death in the country.

    "In Iowa, while (opioid pain reliever) overdose deaths and rates of opioid prescribing are low compared to other states, rates of prescription drug deaths since 1999 have quadrupled, making it only one of four states with such a dramatic increase," the study said.

    The study went on to say people age 25-49 make up the majority of opioid related deaths and males make up the majority of deaths involving both prescription opioids and heroin — which some turn to when they lose access to prescription opioids.

    Sarah Prange, with Compass Pointe Behavioral Health, was tasked with collecting data on opioid addiction in northwest Iowa for Compass Pointe some time ago and found hundreds of individuals are impacted by opioids in Dickinson County — thousands statewide. She said opioid-related convictions have increased in the region, but said the data does not show whether opioids were the primary offense. She said opioid use seems to be moving from east to west, and northwest Iowa may be the last to be hit by drugs like heroine, which rely on major airports. However, she indicated the tide is rising.

    Prange said Compass Pointe provides community opioid training, medication-assisted treatment and other addiction related services.

    "I can tell you, when we first started doing this in August, we didn't have anyone who really needed those specific services, but now we have several people," Prange said. "Now that we're providing these services, more people are admitting to that addiction and are getting the help they need."

    In part, the class-action suit aims to recover some of the contributions county governments have made toward such treatments or law enforcement. The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors had a few reservations about joining the lawsuit, and sought further details as to ISAC's support of the matter.

    Supervisor Mardi Allen estimated she has never known ISAC to do endorse a lawsuit in 15 years and she hoped to gain some clarity for the board after a pair of ISAC meetings earlier this year. ISAC Executive Director Bill Peterson said monetary recovery of damages is just one of several reasons the organization is seeking statewide support. He said, if damages are awarded through a settlement, counties could use the funds for prevention efforts and services for those affected by the opioid epidemic.

    "This would be unlike the tobacco settlement, where the state of Iowa received the settlement proceeds and local governments were given few resources to fund tobacco remediation efforts," Peterson said.

    Peterson said county support of the lawsuit sends a clear message to the public that local government recognizes the seriousness of the situation, and statewide support would create a strong force in motivating change among the accountable parties. Peterson said the suit had gained the support of 46 counties at last count — just four counties shy of half the state.

    Peterson said multiple opioid cases have been consolidated into a multi-district case in a northern Ohio Federal District Court. The plaintiffs' leadership team consists of 22 members, according to Peterson. He feels the team will represent the counties who have signed onto the suit well.

    Saunders said, to his knowledge, the Dickinson County Supervisors will still have the option to sign on for the suit well into the process.

    "With these class-action things, for the most part, you can jump onboard about any time," Saunders said.

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24. Nitro to file lawsuit against drug manufacturers

    Mar 21, 2018 | WSAZ (WV)

    By Staff

    The city of Nitro is fighting back against the opioid epidemic.

    he town is filing a lawsuit against drug manufacturers.

    Many other cities and counties in West Virginia have joined the lawsuit, and others like this one.

    They claim that drug manufacturers flooded their communities with pills, ultimately leading to a nationwide problem.

    The lawsuit is seeking damages to remedy the impact of the opioid crisis on the city of Nitro.

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25. Nitro council votes to join class-action lawsuit against opioid distributors

    Mar 20, 2018 | Charleston Gazette-Mail (WV)

    By Mara Regling

    Nitro City Council voted Tuesday to join a class-action lawsuit against drug manufacturers as a result of the ongoing opioid crisis.

    Rusty Webb, a Charleston attorney, will be representing Nitro and other cities and towns in the area against three distributors of opioid drugs. The lawsuit alleges that AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corp. failed to follow state and federal law to prevent the distribution and abuse of prescription pain medication thorough the state.

    “The city now has authority to enter into an agreement with an attorney to pursue a lawsuit on behalf of the city for all the damages that have been caused by the over-manufacturing of opioids and the other drugs that some of our citizens are unfortunately addicted to,” said Johnnie Brown, the city’s attorney. “Basically, the city of Nitro will become a party to those other cities who are already pursuing this class-action lawsuit and they will be handled together.”

    Brown said Nitro suffers from an increase in the number of people with addictions that are supported through criminal acts. Brown said he hopes, if this class-action lawsuit is successful, that prescription drugs will begin being distributed responsibly. The lawsuit seeks damages for reimbursement for increased expenses of drug-related crimes, law enforcement training and overtime costs among other expenses.

    “What I want out of this lawsuit is for drug companies to be held accountable,” Mayor David Casebolt said. “There was a town that had 9 million pills coming in for 300 residents. Every city fights it and we have a lot of money in this.”

    Casebolt said he believes if this lawsuit is successful that it will result in less crime, more responsible citizens and a tremendous difference in the city.

    “What we hope to do is prevent more people from becoming addicted,” Casebolt said. “I know we can’t stop it all but they can’t just lay it out like candy.”

    Council also announced it has been approached with a proposal for an athletic training complex that would be built behind Nitro High School, on the site of the tennis courts. The proposal included a layout for an athletic complex that would include multiple training areas for football, golf, wrestling and an indoor baseball field for the baseball and softball teams to hold practice.

    “This proposal came from some people involved with the high school who want to allow the kids better areas for training,” Casebolt said. “Nitro High School’s baseball coach brought this to me and there are several people involved trying to pull this off.”

    Casebolt said that the group of individuals pursuing this possibility would be responsible for raising the funds for it and that money raised for the Greater Nitro Youth Foundation would not be designated for this project.

    Council also announced that their budget meeting to discuss and finalize the fiscal year 2018-19 budget will be March 29.

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26. Anderson County chooses legal team for potential opioid litigation

    Mar 20, 2018 | Independent Mail (SC)

    By Kirk Brown

    Anderson County officials moved a step closer Tuesday to joining dozens of cities, counties and states that have filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and marketers.

    After a short executive session, County Council members chose the same legal team that is representing Greenville and Spartanburg counties in ongoing opioid lawsuits.

    Anderson County Attorney Leon Harmon said a contingency-fee agreement should be worked out by next week with the legal team headed by Spartanburg attorney John White. The team is expected to include lawyers from New York and Charleston, as well as the Anderson County-based Cox & Cole law firm.

    Harmon said he expects an opioid suit will be filed on the county's behalf within the next month or two, perhaps sooner. The county will not pay any up-front legal fees, he said.

    Opioids are a class of drugs used to reduce pain. But they have been blamed for thousands of deaths across the nation.

    In Anderson County, opioids have directly caused or contributed to the deaths of 50 people since 2016, according to the county coroner's office. Of every 1,000 babies born in the county, seven come into the world with an opioid addiction. In 2016, there were 94 opioid prescriptions dispensed for every 100 residents, according to county officials.

    Citing those troubling statistics, County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn last month suggested suing drug companies and potentially others connected to the opioid industry.

    "This opioid problem has no social barriers," Dunn said last month. "It goes after black and white, rich and poor."

    Council members heard private presentations last week from White's litigation team, as well as a legal team headed by a Baltimore firm, Harmon said.

    There was no discussion by council members during the public portion of Tuesday's meeting about why they decided to choose White's team.

    In 2011, White won a lawsuit and collected $327 million in damages from Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson and Johnson over misleading "dear doctor" letters and packaging inserts for an anti-psychotic drug called Risperdal.

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27. Casey could join federal opioid lawsuit

    Mar 21, 2018 | Casey County News (KY)

    By Charlie VanLeuven

    The opioid epidemic has taken a toll on public services, but Casey County could sue to recoup some of those costs.

    Attorneys Jaron P. Blanford and David J. Guarnieri, of the McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland, PLLC law firm, of Lexington, told the Casey County Fiscal Court that multiple states and counties are suing three major opioid manufacturers, and Casey needs a “seat at the table.”

    The remainder of this article is under paywall: http://www.caseynews.net/content/casey-could-join-federal-opioid-lawsuit

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28. Rowan County to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors

    Mar 21, 2018 | Salisbury Post (NC)

    By Andie Foley

    Rowan County officials on Monday decided to join a national lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributers.

    The lawsuit alleges that pharmaceutical manufacturers use false, deceptive and unfair marketing tactics to encourage opioid use.

    It also alleges that distributors failed to comply with federal and state law to monitor and report suspicious prescription orders.

    In closed session on Monday, the Rowan County commissioners voted to retain legal teams to file the lawsuit against manufacturers of oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl.

    Distributors being sued include McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp.

    Rowan’s lawyers are located in Texas, Mississippi, Florida, West Virginia and North Carolina. Ed Powell, a lawyer with Melvin and Powell of Winston-Salem, will represent the county as it seeks to recover the nearly immeasurable expenses related to opioid abuse.

    “The county is dealing with exploding costs, strain on financial and physical resources, and, most important, public safety,” said commissioners Chairman Greg Edds.

    According to Powell, the case will require extensive data and analysis that the county does not yet have. But he said his firm has engaged outside counsel who have agreed to pay all research and analysis costs associated with the litigation.

    “It’s hard to get a handle on what the total cost to our county and our citizens truly is,” said Commissioner Judy Klusman.

    Adding to Edds’ comments, she said, the opioid epidemic has cost the county money in terms of law enforcement, public health, social services and more.

    “Even the school district is dealing with this because there are parents that are addicts,” she said.

    False, deceptive and unfair marketing

    According to a similar suit filed by Buncombe County, the use of opioids for chronic pain was discouraged or prohibited before the 1990s.

    Opioids do not reduce pain or improve function. Rather, they increase complaints about pain as patients develop tolerances for the drugs, the suit says.

    Pharmaceutical companies have used dishonest marketing tactics to persuade doctors and patients to use opioids for chronic pain, according to the lawsuit. These companies, it says, trivialized the risks and overstated the benefits of opioid use.

    The lawsuit cited an ad series run by Purdue Pharma for OxyContin that featured chronic pain patients. One ad showed a “54-year-old writer with osteoarthritis of the hands,” and it implied that the drug would help her work more effectively.

    The questionable marketing practices have helped make opioids the most prescribed class of drugs, with revenues in the United States exceeding $8 billion annually since 2009, says the lawsuit.

    Lack of compliance

    According to federal and state law, distributors of opioids are required to monitor, detect, investigate and report suspicious orders.

    Suspicious orders are those of unusual size or frequency or that deviate substantially from normal prescriptive patterns.

    Rowan County attorney Jay Dees said distributors are required to report these findings to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Allegedly, he said, distributors have been advising patients to “spread out” prescriptions so the system is not alerted to abuse.

    Similarly, the Buncombe County lawsuit alleges that distributors repeatedly and purposefully breached their reporting duties, potentially increasing the diversion of these drugs into the illicit market.

    In Williamson, West Virginia, for example, 3,191 residents amassed 20.8 million prescription painkillers — or 6,500 per person.

    “This problem was manifested by drug companies,” said Commissioner Craig Pierce. “… I think they should be the ones that are liable for the damages that they create.”

    Moving forward

    While retaining counsel, the commissioners also adopted a resolution during Monday’s closed session to take action to abate a newly declared public nuisance.

    The nuisance was opioids, and upcoming litigation is the first step in a long road to undo damage done, according to the resolution.

    Both Dees and Klusman stressed that the lawsuit will not bring cost the county. Attorneys will receive payment only in the event a settlement is awarded.

    The plan is to use any settlement money to further mitigate the effects caused by opioid abuse, said board Vice Chairman Jim Greene.

    “If we received any of that money, we’d use it toward rehabilitating lives that had been affected by this tragedy,” Greene said.

    Pierce said this includes a possible treatment center and further education for residents.

    That’s important for a problem that affects people across all socioeconomic divides, said Commissioner Mike Caskey.

    “This is one of those things that can affect anybody. (There’s) no part of the population that’s immune,” Caskey said. “This is going to be a long-term deal, but this is where we need to start.”

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29. Manatee ready to sue opioid makers over epidemic’s cost

    Mar 20, 2018 | Bradenton Herald (FL)

    By Hannah Morse

    Manatee County, the epicenter of the opioid epidemic in Florida, will join the growing number of local governments in Florida suing drug makers to recover some of what the county has paid for everything from the drugs that reverse the effects of an overdose to autopsies.

    On Tuesday, commissioners unanimously voted to direct County Attorney Mickey Palmer to choose an outside law firm and file a lawsuit in either circuit or federal court against one or several opioid manufacturers and distributors. They also agreed to a 25 percent contingency fee.

    Two commissioners, Carol Whitmore and Vanessa Baugh, were uncertain with what a lawsuit would seek to do.

    “To me, these guys are a bunch of ambulance chasers,” Whitmore said.

    Baugh agreed with her colleague, adding, “The manufacturers, I don’t know, are the ones at fault.”

    Since Manatee County has been among the areas in Florida hardest hit by the current epidemic, Commissioner Charles Smith said it’s important they follow through with this lawsuit.

    “For us to go on record saying we’re not going to support this, this will change your commission life forever,” Smith said.

    Palmer said he had interviewed three groups of law firms. The first is made up of New York-based firms Napoli Shkolnik and Stull Stull & Brody, as well as Branstetter Stranch & Jennings from Nashville, Ventura Law from Danbury, Conn., and Tampa-based Trenam Law.

    Another group is made up of Washington, D.C.-based Motley Rice and Whittemore Law Group of St. Petersburg.

    The final team is made up of Baron & Budd from Dallas and Levin Papantonio from Pensacola.

    Palmer said it was too early to estimate how much money the county would seek with a lawsuit.

    A lawsuit, according to Palmer, would seek three things:

    ▪ Compensation for all the costs associated with the epidemic, from healthcare, to purchasing overdose-reversal substance naloxone, jail costs, first responders, drug court, autopsies and more.

    ▪ Funding to help reverse and treat the epidemic with addiction services, rehabilitation and education.

    ▪ The end of fraudulent marketing tactics by opioid manufacturers and distributors, such as not being truthful about the addictive qualities of their products.

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Northeast (MD, RI, ME, NY)

30. Harford County to retain national firm in opioid lawsuit

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Baltimore Sun (MD)

    By David Anderson

    Harford County will retain the national law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP in its planned lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors, after the Harford County Council approved the county government’s request Tuesday evening.

    “We have to hold the manufacturers and distributors accountable for their lack of watchdog [role],” County Attorney Melissa Lambert told council members as she presented the administration’s request to retain outside counsel.

    County Executive Barry Glassman announced during his annual State of the County Address in January his intent to sue the opioid industry for its alleged contributions to doctors over-prescribing painkillers to patients who became addicted to them and then moved on to heroin.

    Addiction to heroin and other opioids has become a deadly epidemic in Harford County, the state and the nation in recent years.

    “The opioid epidemic in the U.S. has become the worst drug crisis in U.S. history,” Lambert said.

    Counties, municipalities and even Native American tribes throughout the U.S. have filed lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry, and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd has been retained by many of those jurisdictions.

    “This is extremely complex mass tort litigation,” Lambert said, noting experienced litigators with firms such as Robbins Geller are needed for such cases.

    U.S. District Judge Dan A. Polster, of the Northern District of Ohio, is overseeing more than 400 suits filed in federal court against opioid manufacturers and distributors, as well as pharmacies. Polster has ordered attorneys for the plaintiffs and defendants to reach a settlement by the end of 2018, rather than pursue litigation, The New York Times reported earlier this month.

    Lambert mentioned Polster’s push toward mediation and a settlement during Tuesday’s council meeting.

    “He understands the need to not have . . . unnecessary delay when there are people dying every day,” Lambert said.

    There have been 91 suspected overdoses in Harford, 22 of them fatal, so far this year, according to Lambert.

    The Harford County Sheriff’s Office, which keeps a publicly-displayed tally of suspected opioid overdoses, reported 450 overdoses, including 81 fatalities, in 2017.

    She cited data that indicates prescription drug manufacturers misrepresented the addictive nature of opioids, and said there has been “a complete lack of oversight and reporting by distributors,” leading to a flood of the drugs into communities nationwide.

    “What we need to do is help Harford County get some kind of relief,” Lambert said.

    She stressed to council members that Robbins Geller will not charge Harford County if they do not win.

    “The only time we will pay any costs or fees is if they are able to win a settlement or judgment on our behalf,” Lambert said.

    She said county government leaders, as well as all of the agencies that have been affected by the local opioid crisis, such as police, the courts, prosecutors, the health department, will meet with Robbins Geller attorneys to determine what financial costs those entities have borne so far, what costs they would bear in the future and the costs of a community education program.

    Those costs would factor into what portion of a settlement would go to Harford County, according to Lambert.

    Her request for outside counsel gained broad support among council members, who voted 6-1 in favor of it.

    “This is a time-sensitive issue,” Council President Richard Slutzky said.

    Councilman Mike Perrone, who is also a Republican candidate for county executive, cast the dissenting vote.

    He said he wanted to “try to go down the road of anticipating unanticipated consequences.”

    He expressed concerns about the potential impact on patients who use opioids to manage chronic pain and do not have access to alternate treatments such as medical marijuana, which is legal in Maryland.

    Perrone also warned that pharmaceutical firms that are not part of the lawsuits could become “a little gun shy” and not invest funds in research and development of an opioid that could be used to successfully treat pain without side effects or addictive properties.

    He suggested legislative and regulatory solutions at the state level, rather than litigation.

    “These are the ground rules that we need to lay in order to ensure that consumers are protected,” Perrone said.

    Lambert told council members that the object of litigation is not to get rid of prescription opioids, but rather to ensure responsible distribution.

    “The primary goal is that there is responsible prescribing of these medications,” she said.

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31. City signs on to lawsuit against opioid distributors, manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | The Valley Breeze (RI)

    By Staff

    Mayor Donald Grebien announced last week that the city of Pawtucket formally signed on to a lawsuit against prescription opioid companies that his administration say are responsible for aggressively pushing highly addictive, dangerous opioids and falsely representing their high risk for addiction.

    Pawtucket and municipalities across Rhode Island have felt the impact that the opioid crisis has put on our communities, “dividing families and putting children at extreme risk,” states a release.

    “Our family members, friends, and co-workers looked to the medical community for their health and safety, and instead became addicted while multi-billion dollar companies turned a profit,” said Grebien in a statement. “Our first responders are on the front lines responding to over-doses and seeing firsthand the damage that it has caused. I stand with my fellow mayors to ensure that this does not continue to happen and that the companies are held accountable.”

    Representatives from the companies being sued have denied the allegations against them.

    On Jan. 22, Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee, representatives from 13 municipalities, as well as law enforcement officials from across the state announced that they would be filing a public nuisance lawsuit against drug manufacturers and drug distributors in response to the ongoing opioid epidemic.

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32. Kennebec County to join nationwide lawsuit against opioids manufacturers

    Mar 20, 2018 | Kenebec Journal (ME)

    By Jessica Lowell

    The Kennebec county commissioners voted Tuesday to sign on to a nationwide lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that make and distribute opioids, a decision already made by several municipal and county governments in Maine.

    Roger Katz, an attorney with the Augusta law firm Lipman & Katz and a Republican state senator from Augusta, said in a presentation to the commissioners that the lawsuit alleges the companies withheld critical information about the drugs. The lawsuit also seeks to limit the availability of the drugs that often lead to addiction.

    “There’s a pretty significant body of evidence that the manufacturers were aware of the addictive quality of the drugs,” Katz said, “and they did not disclose it.”

    The Maine Attorney General’s Office reported last month that 418 people died from drug overdoses in 2017, up from 376 overdose deaths in 2016.

    Katz likened the suit to those filed against the four largest U.S. tobacco companies, which for years denied that nicotine was addictive and that smoking cigarettes caused cancer.

    Two decades ago, those suits were settled in the Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement. As part of the settlements, the companies were required to pay states for the medical costs of residents with smoking-related illnesses.

    In this case, Katz said, the allegations in the lawsuit – being brought by Napoli Shkolnik PLLC of New York City and by Trafton, Matzen, Belleau & Frenette LLP of Auburn – are that the companies suppressed data on the risks of the drugs, and public entities have suffered.

    “As a result of the misrepresentations of the drug companies, many people have become addicted, many have turned to illicit drugs and many have become a burden to the county – i.e., jails – because of crimes committed to support their addictions,” he said.

    In his presentation to the commissioners, Katz said forensic experts would be brought in to assess the actual costs of opioid addiction to Kennebec County.

    Katz said the lawsuit would be filed in state court.

    “We hope the judge would find the companies liable and assess damages,” Katz said.

    In December, the Waterville City Council voted to authorize city officials to engage the services of Napoli Shkolnik, as well as Trafton, Matzen, Belleau & Frenette, for prosecuting legal claims against manufacturers and distributors of opioids.

    Augusta City Manager William Bridgeo said Tuesday that Augusta elected officials also are considering joining the lawsuit.

    Auburn, Bangor, Biddeford, Lewiston and Portland are among the Maine cities that have agreed to be part of the lawsuit so far. Katz said most other counties also have signed on.

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33. Schenectady contemplates suit over opioid epidemic

    Mar 20, 2018 | Times Union (NY)

    By Paul Nelson

    City leaders are considering taking legal action against pharmaceutical companies to recoup money from the costs associated with fighting the opioid epidemic.

    Mayor Gary McCarthy confirmed that attorney Donald Boyajian made a presentation about the topic to City Council members on Monday.

    It was subsequently voted out of a city council committee and the full governing body is expected March 26 to vote on a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with Boyajian's law firm, though McCarthy explained Tuesday that he doesn't need the panel's approval because the city wouldn't be paying for the ligation.

    City Attorney Carl Falotico said "the mayor is empowered on his own to enter into a suit like this," but can opt for "a resolution of support" from council members.

    Like many of these suits, the agreement in Schenectady would likely stipulate a contingency fee that Albany-based Dreyer Boyajian would be entitled to a portion of the money the city is awarded.

    Boyajian, who spoke Monday to the governing body behind closed doors, is crafting a retainer agreement for the city attorney to review.

    He said his office will work on trying to determine the scope of the opioid problem in Schenectady by looking at a host of cost factors including police and paramedic response to opioid calls and administering medication such as Narcan, which is used to reverse opioid overdoses.

    "It's not just a matter of past problems, but ongoing problems, too," Boyajian added. "What we'll be doing is advising the city of the most strategically advantageous way to proceed."

    Over the summer, Schenectady County filed a lawsuit against about a dozen manufacturers of prescription opiates, leaving the door open for the legal action to be consolidated with others in the future. Albany County filed a similar lawsuit in January.

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Midwest (MI, OH)

34. Traverse City To Join Opioid Lawsuit

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Ticker (MI)

    By Beth Miligan

    Traverse City commissioners unanimously agreed Monday to join other municipalities - including Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties - in signing on to a federal class-action lawsuit suing drug manufacturers over costs related to the opioid epidemic.

    Commissioners voted to retain a legal team comprised of local, state and national attorneys – including Traverse City-based Smith Johnson, Farmington Hills’ Bernstein Law Firm, and New York City’s Weitz & Luxenberg – in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. The lawsuit alleges that the targeted companies aggressively pushed the sale of highly addictive narcotic drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, methadone, codeine, morphine, and fentanyl to consumers despite knowing the dangers they posed. Plaintiffs won't pay any upfront legal fees but will share 30 percent of the recovered damages with attorneys if the lawsuit is successful.

    Commissioners expressed their interest not only in attempting to recover costs caused locally by the opioid epidemic - such as emergency room visits, treatment programs, addiction and mental health counseling, law enforcement response and training, court cases, and child protective services - but in sending a deterring message to pharmaceutical companies through the lawsuit.

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35. Branch County weighs joining growing opioid lawsuit by Michigan counties and cities

    Mar 20, 2018 | WWMT (MI)

    By Franque Thompson

    Cities and counties across Michigan are joining lawsuits to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the growing opioid epidemic.

    Traverse City commissioners voted unanimously to join the litigation and Newschannel 3’s Franque Thompson talked to Branch County leaders about why they may get involved.

    The Branch County Board of Commissioners said they're looking over details of the lawsuit before a decision is made on whether to join.

    The attorney that presented the proposal in Branch County said there has been a 61 percent increase in Branch County prescriptions since 2009.

    The fight against the opioid emergency now has more than 40 Michigan counties and cities joining a lawsuit.

    Andrew Birge, the U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Michigan, said, “This is a crisis that has no bounds. Every demographic area, every age is suffering from this epidemic.”

    The lawsuit it set to hold drug companies, distributors and pharmacies accountable for the growing epidemic in the state.

    In Branch County, attorneys say from 2004 to 2015 there were 13 opioid related overdose deaths and they are asking the board of commissioners to join the fight.

    David Mittleman said, “We want to be able to create funds that are available to municipalities that can provide more education and awareness about the epidemic so that we can prevent it.”

    Andrew Birge, the U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Michigan, says opioid addiction is also leading to alarming number of heroin users.

    Prosecutors say they're spending extra time talking to health officials about new state laws, including drug monitoring systems and CDC guidelines.

    Birge said, “We can temper the demand if we can get fewer people addicted to prescription drugs in the first place. If you have fewer and fewer people addicted to prescription drugs you're going to have less and less demand for heroin or fentanyl. And I wouldn't have to prosecute many of those cases and we wouldn't have as many people dying of overdose.”

    Mittleman said, “It is right now across the country the number one leading cause of death of 50 year olds and younger. So, we need to get a handle on this fast.”

    The attorney says the county would not be responsible for any upfront costs for the lawsuit. If it wins 70 percent, after court and lawyer fees, will go to the county.

    The board of commissioners say they will make decision as early as mid-April whether to get involved.

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36. City of Fostoria suing drug makers, doctors

    Mar 21, 2018 | The Advertiser Tribune (OH)

    By Jill Gosche

    The city of Fostoria is suing drug manufacturers and doctors.

    The lawsuit, which is to be heard by Seneca County Common Pleas Court Judge Steve Shuff, says the city has been forced to spend “exorbitant” amounts money for the opioid epidemic. It is a direct result of the defendants’ actions, it states.

    The defendants are Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Pharma Inc., Purdue Frederick Co. Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., Cephalon Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Endo Health Solutions Inc,. Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Allergan PLC, Actavis Inc., Actavis LLC, Actavis Pharma Inc., Watson Laboratories Inc., McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., Amerisourcebergen Corp., Russell Portenoy, Perry Fine, Scott Fishman and Lynn Webster.

    “The City of Fostoria spends millions of dollars each year to provide and pay for health care, services, pharmaceutical care and other necessary services and programs on behalf of residents of its City whom are indigent or otherwise eligible for services, including payments through services such as Medicaid for prescription opioid painkillers (“opioids“) which are manufactured, marketed, promoted, sold, and/or distributed by the Defendants,” the lawsuit states.

    The lawsuit alleges the defendants reversed the popular and medical understanding of opioids “through a sophisticated and highly deceptive and unfair marketing campaign.”

    The lawsuit seeks “amounts likely to exceed $25,000.”

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Southwest (TX)

37. Texas ‘anticipates’ suing opioid manufactures, AG Office keeping quiet on which law firms will represent state

    Mar 20, 2018 | Southeast Texas Record (TX)

    By David Yates

    The Lone Star State may soon join the dozens of Texas counties that have already filed suit against the makers of opioids, as an open records request revealed the state has indeed received “suggested case theories” from “prospective co-counsels” and “anticipates” litigation.

    Around the nation, hundreds of counties and cities are already in pursuit of multimillion-dollar claims against pharmaceutical giants, alleging a slew of drug manufactures, such as Purdue Pharma, Janssen and Johnson & Johnson to name only a few, knew of the dangers of opioids but placed profits above the public good.

    Earlier this year, an open records request was submitted to the Office of the Texas Attorney General, seeking all records reflecting any communications from any attorney or law firm soliciting employment from the state related to litigation against opioid manufactures.

    Attorney General Ken Paxton had already dangled a hook last June by announcing that his office, along with most of the other attorneys general in the union, launched a bipartisan investigation to evaluate whether opioid manufactures engaged in unlawful practices. 

    Although the open records request was denied, the reason behind the denial at least shed some light as to why – an anticipated lawsuit likely fueled by case theories generously provided by hopeful trial lawyers.

    “The Consumer Protection Division of the OAG (Paxton’s AG office) has opened both a general case investigation into opioid manufactures, as well as investigations of specific opioid manufactures, into potential violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act,” states the AG’s office reply to the request.

    “If violations are uncovered, CPD will initiate enforcement proceedings. Accordingly, the OAG anticipates litigation in these matters.”

    The reply states the requested documents are from “prospective co-counsels” laying out “suggested case theories,” and relate to the to the “anticipated litigation.”

    “The documents have not been provided to any potential opposing parties,” the reply states. “Accordingly, the OAG asserts the requested information may be withheld in its entirety from required public disclosure under section 552.103 of the Government Code.”

    Section 552.103 protects a governmental body’s position in litigation by forcing parties to obtain information through discovery.

    Whichever firms end up representing Texas in its “anticipated” opioid lawsuit can most likely expect a big payday.

    Decades ago, Texas joined the fray in the legal battle against big tobacco, enlisting the services of some of the state’s top trial lawyers who helped secure a $17.3 billion settlement and, not to mention, $3.3 billion in attorney’s fees for themselves.

    And as opioid litigation continues to mount across the country, so do the comparisons between the current “health crisis” and the tobacco one of the 90s.

    Following the denial of the open records request, the Record contacted the AG’s Office in an attempt to ascertain the names of the law firms Paxton had in mind to help steer the seemingly inevitable opioid lawsuit, but was shut down, twice.

    So, for now, mum’s the word when it comes to which auspicious firms might be tapped to represent the Lone Star State in a likely multibillion-dollar action against big pharma.

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38. Orange Co. votes to sue opioid makers, suppliers

    Mar 20, 2018 | Beaumont Enterprise (TX)

    By Liz Teitz

    Orange County Commissioners voted Tuesday to sue manufacturers and suppliers of opioid drugs, joining other Texas counties that have accused the companies of fueling addictions that have created a public nuisance.

    Commissioners unanimously agreed to hire a law firm and pursue the suit "to recover some of the costs that the county has had to endure because of opioid addiction."

    "It reasonably appears from public information that there exists in Orange County an epidemic of opioid drug abuse created and/or fueled by misconduct of opioid manufacturers and distributors in their improper promotion and over-supply of those drugs, thus creating a public nuisance," the Commissioners declared in the resolution approved Tuesday.

    County Judge Stephen Brint Carlton did not attend the meeting.

    At least seven Texas counties, including Harris and Travis, have filed similar suits in the past year against pharmaceutical companies and distributors, alleging that they fueled the addiction epidemic.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 46 Americans died each day in 2016 from opioids. The class of painkillers includes legal prescription drugs, such as oxycodone and methadone, and drugs like heroin and illegally-made fentanyl.

    On Monday, President Donald Trump announced a controversial proposal for "tougher penalties than we've ever had" to address the opioid crisis, including the death penalty for drug dealers.

    Harris County's suit, filed in December, accuses 21 companies of conspiracy, neglect and creating a public nuisance, the Houston Chronicle reported. It also names individual doctors and a pharmacist as defendants.

    Upshur County, north of Longview, was the first in the state to sue, joining cities across the U.S. and states including Alabama, Montana and Washington.

    Orange County Assistant District Attorney Denise Germillion said the suit will be filed "at no cost to the county."

    The county will be represented by Dallas-based law firm Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, along with the Orange firm of Dies and Parkhurst and Paul D. Henderson. The District Attorney's Office does not have enough staff or manpower to handle such a "huge ordeal," Germillion said.

    Precinct 4 Commissioner and Judge Pro Tem Jody Crump said the county won't speculate yet about how much money they'll seek in damages, or what companies they expect to name in the suit.

    He said the county's law enforcement and Emergency Service Districts have spent money and resources responding to opioid overdose calls, but said they're "not really" suing over the money.

    "We're more after the idea," he said. "We need to re-index the mindset of opioid usage."

    The county does not intend to sue any local entities, such as Orange County doctors prescribing opioids, Crump said.

    In 2016, 1,107 Texans died from opioids, and the number of drug overdose deaths in the state increased by more than 7 percent from 2015 to 2016, the CDC said.

    The Texas Department of State Health Services recorded 10 opioid-related deaths in Jefferson County in 2015. Hardin, Orange, Jasper and Newton counties each reported between one and nine deaths that year, according to the state.

    Harris County had the most opioid-related deaths in 2015, according to DSHS, with 266.

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Broadcast Media Coverage

39. Squawk Box

    Mar 21, 2018 | National Programming

    By CNBC (CNBC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733513?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript: president trump made lowering drug prices, and they write me i go, talk to scott pruitt talk to the head of the epa. he's the guy you need to talk to drug prices have been made one of the top priorities for 2018 7:37 AMlet's get an update on that initiative and more from alex azar mr. secretary, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> how many -- the plan to really deal with this, and when you look at the statistics and, you know, i grew up worrying about drugs, heroin, all of that stuff, i never thought it would get to this point where, you know, in a lot of communities around the country where every 911 call is someone they need to go to try to resuscitate again how do we make a dent in this? are you seeing any light at the end of the tunnel at this point? >> you're right. it's absolutely devastating. 116 americans are dying every single day from opioid overdose. i was up with the president in manchester, new hampshire, on monday we went to the fire hall there they get so many more calls. hundreds of calls for overdose in a month and maybe one structural fire. it's just shocking the impact this is having on our communities. 7:38 AMthat's why the president laid out a really bold, historic agenda here. he's tackling this with historic investment, very clear metrics on what we have to do to drive this problem down and part of it involves his commitment that within three years we will reduce by 1/3 the legal opioid prescriptions that we have in this country because that's the -- that's the intake of this -- of this addiction cycle that we've got on opioids. >> we also hear that if we're able to stop the influx from our southern borders, that that would be important and it's used to sort of, you know, build the case for the wall, et cetera. those were laid in -- it seems like these are prescription drugs a lot of times or is it coming up from mexico? is the opioid epidemic, how much of it is related to our porous borders on the south >> it's important to know how this disease continuum goes. 7:39 AMso many people, the vast majority start with a legal opioid they have pain of some kind. they're given a legal opioid they become addicted they then eventually get cut off by their doctor, pharmacy or insurer. they then seek out the cheaper street illegal opioids like black tar heroin coming in from mexico, like this extremely potent and deadly fentanyl that comes in from men countries, including from china, and that's when we see the overdoses happen so much and this cycle that's leading to the death of so many people in our communities. so, yes, it's both the legal side of opioids that get so many people started but then it's how do we stop the in flow of these illegal drugs that people cycle into how do we punish those and how do we punish those and any bad actors in the system >> are those bad actors in the system, would they include some of the drug companies? because pharmaceutical company shares took a dive after 7:40 AMpresident trump said he's considering suing some of them you're somebody who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry, one of the top executives at eli lilly. do you think the drug companies played a role in this too? >> i think there's blame all around in getting into this crisis there was a perfect storm that got us into this let me put it this way, between 1999 and today we are prescribing and using three times the number of legal opioids. i do not think that pain in america has tripled in the last two decades. now there have been some already who have been held accountable in the past couple of decades for illegal and unethical conduct in the marketing of legal opioids. we will be vigorous in looking for any other illegal and unethical behavior the justice department filed a statement of interest in some of the state attorney general's actions associated with pharma industries the state attorney generals looked into whether there are other civil or criminal charges to be brought in this context. i don't want to prejudge that. just to say if there is any kind of inappropriate conduct, we certainly will go after that to the full extent of the law.

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40. Spectrum News

    Mar 21, 2018 | Buffalo, NY

    By SPNB (Spectrum News)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733477?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript: legislators unanimously approved that declaration at a meeting last night. it's the latest step in its lawsuit against a handful of the nation's pharmaceutical companies, for what leaders says is their role in causing the opioid epidemic. niagara county legislators say 31 people died from overdoses in niagara county last year, with first responders handling more than 300 non-fatal overdose calls in that span.

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41. 2News This Morning at 7A

    Mar 21, 2018 | Salt Lake City, UT

    By KUTV (CBS)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733481?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript:  summit county is taking a stan against the opioid epidemic becoming the first county in utah to file a lawsuit against big pharma. it was announced yesterday. a 240 page complaint says the manufacturers ed about the risks associated with the risks of the drugs. >> they had the responsibility to report to the dea and governments, for example, excessive, inappropriate, suspicious order levels that would suggest abuse. >> any money won in the lawsuit would go towards things like upgrading treatment centers. officials expect other counties to get on board now.

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42. KSL 5 News Today

    Mar 21, 2018 | Salt Lake City, UT

    By KSL (NBC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733493?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript: summit county is suing pharmaceutical manufacturers of opioids... over the cost and carnage of addiction among citizens. 3 they're e first coty in utah to do it... the massive lawsuit claims big pharma pushed dangerous and prolonged opioid use... despite knowing the risks of addiction.it argues.. summit county has been forced to spend " exorbitant amounts of money" fighting the "opioid epidemic"...the lawsuit seeks a jury trial... and an unspecified -financial

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43. Q13 News This Morning - 5AM Edition

    Mar 21, 2018 | Seattle, WA

    By KCPQ (Fox)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733494?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript: the city of kent will sue the manufacturers and marketers of opioids. the city says companies used deceptive and aggressive marketing to lure people into addiction. kent says opioid addiction is a big part of the homeless problem and cost the city millions in dollars of resources over the last two decades. the city council authorized the filing of a lawsuit last night. the cities of seattle and everett, and the state of washington have filed similar suits.

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44. 13 WMAZ This Mornin'

    Mar 21, 2018 | Macon, GA

    By WMAZ (CBS)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733517?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript: the macon-bibbcommission will move ahead with plan to sue the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opiates.the county now joins other local governments represented by an athens law firm... that are suing drug companies for providing the drugs. former coun attorney virgil adams brought the idea to the commission... he would represent the county locally. he claims drug-makers misled the public about the drugs' benefits... as well as their addictive nature. adams: escalation in crime rates, providing financial resources for treatment and rehabilitation facilities, studies also show that people who became addicited to opioids, when they could no longer getthese prescription painkillers so to speak, they then graduated to drugs like heroin.

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45. Today In Alabama

    Mar 21, 2018 | Montgomery, AL

    By WSFA (NBC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733520?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript: the beasley allen lawfirm, based in montgomery, has filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.. on behalf of a number of alabama areas. the city of abbeville.. butler county.. and chambers county are all filing lawsuits. they allege the marketing of these drugs contributed to the creation of the opioid epidemic.. which has been costly for each area. blue cross and blue shield of alabama is launching new opioid management strategy to help in the fight against the epidemic in the state. members will be limited to a seven-day supply for the first time they fill a short-acting opioid medication... like lortab and vicodin. naloxone, the antidote for an opioid overdose.. will be available to most members at the generic co- pay. the strategy takes effect april first.

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46. WSAZ NewsChannel 3 Sunrise at 5a

    Mar 21, 2018 | Charleston, WV

    By WSAZ (NBC)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733527?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82 

    Rough Transcript: west virginia is fighting back against the opioid epidemic.. last night at city council they voted to join a lawsuit against drug manufacturers. many other cities have joined the lawsuit and others like this one, claiming drug companies flooded their communities with pills. the lawsuit is seeking damages to remedy the impact of the opioid cris on the city of nitro.

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47. News Channel 3 at 5:30pm

    Mar 21, 2018 | Grand Rapids, MI

    By WWMT (CBS)

    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/33733530?token=99385f2a-2ad1-49c0-b608-4ac6864fdf82

    Rough Transcript: cities and counties across michigan are joining lawsuits linked to the nations opioid cris. >> andy: a movement to hold the pharmaceutical companies responsible for this growing opioid epidemic. today, traver city commissioners voted to join this litigation. newschannel 3s franque thompson talked with leaders in branch county about why they may also get involved. >>>reporter: andy, kate, right now the branch county board of commissioners say they are looking over the lawsuit to decide if this is something they'd like to get involved in. the attorneys that presented that proposal here says there's been a 61% increase in branch county prescriptions since 2009. to fight against the opioid emergency, has more than 40 michigan county and cities joing a lawsuit. >> this is a crisis that has no bounds. every demographic area, every 5:32 PMage is suffering from this epidemic. >> the lawsuit is set to hold drug company, distributors and pharmacies accountable for the growing epidemic in the state. in branch county, attorneys say from 2004-2015 there were 13 opioid related overdose deaths. attorneys are asking the board of commissioners to join the fight. >> we want to be able to create funds that are available to municipalities that can provide more education and awareness about the epidemic so that we can prevent it. >>>reporter: in a news conference last week, the u.s. attorney of the western district of michigan says the opioid addiction is also leading to an alarming number of heroin users. prosecutors say they are spending extra time talking to health officials about the states new laws including drug monitoring systems and cdc guidelines. >> if you have fewer people addicted to prescription drugs you have less and less demand for heroin or fentanyl. i wouldn't have to prosecute as many cases and we wouldn't have as many people dying of overdose. >> it is, right now, across the country, the number one leading cause of death of 50 year olds and younger. we need to get a handle on this, fast. >>>reporter: attorney david middleman says the county would not be responsible for any upset costs for the lawsuit. if it wins, the county could see up to 70% after court and lawyer fees. right now the board of commissioners says they can make a decision as early as mid april get involved.

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