Let The Opioid Lawsuits Begin …
Billions of dollars have been funneled from public and private health care plans into the pockets of pharmaceuticals.
In recent years, a primary source of repeating and extremely profitable sources of activity involve the prescription of opioids to unsuspecting patients.
Camden County filed a pioneering lawsuit against several drug manufacturers and distributors Wednesday, seeking to recover millions of dollars the local government has spent combating the opioid crisis over the last decade.
The suit is the first of its kind to attack pharmaceutical companies for their role in the deadly epidemic under state racketeering laws typically used to fight bribery, extortion, and other fraudulent practices, officials said.
… Named in the suit are more than a dozen drug manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. In what officials described as an unprecedented move, three members of the Sackler family, which owns OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, are also listed as defendants.
“The Sackler family … in our minds, are no different than members of a drug cartel that distribute drugs illegally or the drug pushers on our streets,” said Camden County Freeholder Louis Cappelli, Jr. as he stood among victims of the epidemic and members of the county’s Addiction Awareness Task Force outside of Camden’s Hall of Justice.
A representative for the family was not immediately available for comment.
This is big folks.
The first step in solving the issues inherent in the runaway opioid crisis in North America is to stop the pharmaceutical companies from pushing them on doctors and again stopping doctors from pushing them on patients.
It’s time these companies start taking responsibility for their actions and profiting at the expense of society at large.