"Makers of OxyContin, Percocet sued by U.S. governments over opioid crisis"

This Toronto Star article appeared on July 15, 2017. Here are a few key quotes:

 

Pharmaceutical companies have now been sued by the attorneys general of Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi and Oklahoma, plus counties in such states as California and New York.

 

More lawsuits are probably coming.

 

Opioid overdoses killed 33,000 people in the U.S. in 2015, about three times the number of gun homicides. The intensity of the crisis, and likely the fact that many of the victims are white middle-class suburbanites with political clout, has produced a bipartisan shift in perceptions of addiction.

 

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Staubus’s suit argues that the opioid epidemic was produced by a “fraudulent scheme” by Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and Endo Pharmaceuticals “to mislead doctors and the public about the need for, and addictive nature of, opioid drugs.”

 

“They put millions of dollars into advertising. They put lots of sales forces out there. And they supported legislation that made this stuff far more available than it was before. And it’s not enough to say, ‘Well, people misused it,’ ” Staubus said. “When you put way too many drugs, for way too many bad reasons, into way too many people’s hands, prescribed by way too many people, you get what we have in our area, which is an epidemic.”

 

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https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/07/15/makers-of-oxycontin-percocet-sued-by-us-governments-over-opioid-crisis.html

Thanks for posting this Lapis and highlighting the points (I can't bring myself to read the whole article right now).  Glad to see pharmaceutical companies continuing to be sued over this.  Purdue paid up to Canadians not so long ago. 

 

You posted this in May about the Canada-wide settlement:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/oxycontin-class-action-1.4093781

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving allegations about how the pain pills were marketed. 

What's so unusual -- at least, to me -- is that this current case involves governments suing the pharamceutical companies. I'm not sure how often that happens, since I don't really follow such things, but I find it striking.

 

I keep finding the parallels between the opioid epidemic and the benzodiazepine situation, so that's another compelling reason to post these things. Of course, people aren't dying from taking benzos alone, so that's a major difference. And thank goodness for that! Otherwise, there'd be so many more prescription-caused deaths, and you and I might not be having this exchange!

Oh yeah, that's interesting isn't it?  Hmmm, I wonder what this means and/or will mean.  I'd like to think it means that because the pharmaceutical companies are up against a stronger/bigger/richer opponent, that there will be a bigger fallout for the pharmaceutical companies.

 

Definitely our situation parallels the opioid epidemic.  No, generally we're not dying, but what we're going through here is pretty catastrophic (I know you agree) and if we were dying from benzos alone, "they" would be paying attention.  I hate "them", all of "them"!  It is good we are here and can have this exchange. 

When you're up to reading the article, benzohno, I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. The particular states and counties in the U.S. that are suing have been greatly affected by the opioid epidemic. Many deaths. Many hospitalizations. They're not sure how to handle the numbers. Etc. Pretty serious situations, and all preventable, had the pharmaceutical companies been honest from the beginning regarding side effects and withdrawal effects of the drugs. Very sad situation.

Thanks Lapis for the invite.   I like that the Toronto Star got to the bottom of the issue.  From the entertainment news here, it is easy to get the impression the opioid crisis is only affecting seasoned drugs addicts, the homeless etc. and that they’ve brought this upon themselves... The story comes in annoying bits and pieces.  I hope CBC radio pieces you’ve posted on the subject did a more thorough job.  I don’t know our stats, but sounds like the opioid crisis in the US is not unlike here in Canada.  One thing that was not mentioned, that I’ve heard once in the BC news, is the numbers of people that end up brain dead and on life support, which is hugely tragic and is a big drain on hospital space and resources.  Also I wish they’d mentioned how benzos are involved in something like 40% of the opioid deaths.

 

The increasingly cynical part of me thinks that this action taken by the US governments is motivated by money more than concern for people.  The opioid crisis has been a huge drain on government resources because they haven’t tackled it properly or quickly enough and this may be what has ultimately lit the fire under their a$$e$ to recoup losses and fund further treatment.  Lives are being lost and ruined and it’s not just pharmaceutical companies who are to blame .  Governments, governing bodies, and doctors all have played a part and all should be held accountable, sued or whatever.  While governments are suing, they in turn should be sued.  I’m very disappointed with the entertainment news too.  Everyone can’t just claim ignorance!  People love to point the finger away from themselves and keep the status quo.  Of course, all of this can be said about the benzodiazepine disaster as well.

Excellent points, benzohno! This whole situation was entirely preventable, had the pharmaceutical companies been forthright from the beginning. The awareness of the situation and the responses took a really long time, and now, it's become so complicated to figure out how to help people. There are some brutally sad stories out there.

 

I just read one about a well-known yoga teacher in BC, Michael Stone. Have you heard of him? He was dealing with bipolar, and he apparently ended up buying something on the street that was laced with fentanyl. He just died a few days ago. I think he used to live in the same building as I did a number of years ago (here in the east), and then he moved out west. A young, vibrant man. A husband and father. Not an addict. Not someone who was already hooked on opioids, according to what's been written.

 

Ugh.

 

From what I read, he'd been seeing a psychiatrist and took some sort of medication for bipolar. I'm not sure what medication, but I wonder if he was trying to self-medicate his way out of whatever meds he'd been given.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/michael-stone-yoga-dead-1.4218210 

 

(Click on the link in the article to see his wife's statement, if you're interested.)

 

Anyway, this problem needs to be addressed from many different sides.

 

 

Benzo's can kill indirectly, IMO.  The severe stress from benzo w/d can bring out underlying illnesses which can then kill you.  Since I've been on the pills and off them, I've been diagnosed with heart problems, Memory Impairment and Amnesia, Lupus, and Thrombophilia and had to apply for permanent disability and have been on it now for over 4 years.  Before taking the pills, I was quite healthy.  I think these benzo's and Z-drugs have damaged me and I'm not sure I'm going to heal from it.  It's been over 4.5 years and I'm getting worse.  I'm only 56 and have severe physical and mental disabilities now.  Just about 5 years ago, I was working a physically and mentally demanding full-time job.  Now I can't even make a piece of toast without burning it and can hardly walk or talk now and doc thinks I may have had a stroke.  I know for certain it's fallout from these damn pills.  I know my body and what happened to me.  Because it's not as obvious or as cut and dried as the opioids' deaths, it gets ignored. 

This is interesting.

 

Suing the pharmaceutical companies makes for good press, but will have little effect. I suspect most opioids are coming in to the US illegally from black market sources abroad. I mean, all those addicts one reads about, all those overdoses and deaths, are they really getting prescriptions from their doctors? Did they die after picking up their fentanyl script from CVS? I don't think so. Black market drugs is a huge business, and the US government does little to shut it down. One can go to any number of websites, make a phone call, order pretty much any drug legal/illegal/prescription/whatever, put it on a credit card, and the drug will appear on your doorstep in a week or two, mailed from India or Pakistan or whereever it is made, delivered by the US Postal service. Plenty of benzos come in this way, but opioids are a much bigger business. The government could easily shut this down, couldn't they? Phones, credit cards, USPS, all these must leave a trail to the black market suppliers. Packages could be confiscated, banking transactions could be blocked, phones could be turned off. I think the government doesn't really want to shut it down. They just want to give the appearance of doing something.

Definitely a complex situation that needs to tackled from many different angles, with many people to blame, including the government and enforcement who are supposed to be stopping this illegal influx via street-level and black-market drug dealers.  Many people have ended up buying off the internet and the street because they’ve been driven there by doctors who have cut them off of their prescription painkiller, turning their patients into drug-seeking addicts.  Yes, why doesn’t enforcement just cut off these black-market sources?  Is it really so difficult?  Mainly it’s fentanyl and carfentanyl that’s killing people, not opioids like oxycontin and oxycodone etc., not on their own anyways. If  fentanyl (as well as opioids and other drugs) wasn’t on the street and available through the internet, people wouldn’t be dying in masses.  Then, if people weren't dying, probably this opioid crisis would be ignored altogether, just like benzos.  There would be just more addicts around.

 

Seems like two issues- the Dr.-prescribed opioid side of the problem and the illegal opioid/fentanyl side of it.  "They" ignored this for so long, that it's way out of hand now and won't go away unless all aspects are addressed.

 

Benzo's can kill indirectly, IMO.  The severe stress from benzo w/d can bring out underlying illnesses which can then kill you.  Since I've been on the pills and off them, I've been diagnosed with heart problems, Memory Impairment and Amnesia, Lupus, and Thrombophilia and had to apply for permanent disability and have been on it now for over 4 years.  Before taking the pills, I was quite healthy.  I think these benzo's and Z-drugs have damaged me and I'm not sure I'm going to heal from it.  It's been over 4.5 years and I'm getting worse.  I'm only 56 and have severe physical and mental disabilities now.  Just about 5 years ago, I was working a physically and mentally demanding full-time job.  Now I can't even make a piece of toast without burning it and can hardly walk or talk now and doc thinks I may have had a stroke.  I know for certain it's fallout from these damn pills.  I know my body and what happened to me.  Because it's not as obvious or as cut and dried as the opioids' deaths, it gets ignored.

 

I think they can kill indirectly.  I've also seen a lot of gallbladder and dental problems around here lately, which can lead to further complications and also death if left untreated.  Then of course there's dizziness leading to falls, leading to broken bones, hospitalizations that can lead to pneumonia and death.  I'm sure the list goes on.

 

Still, Becks, I hold out hope for your continued recovery as I do for my own.  It's been almost 5 years for me now.  I never imagined I'd still be here.

I agree that it's a highly complex situation, and they need to tackle all the aspects of it. Law enforcement is one part. Health care, addiction services, housing for those on the street, social support and education are others. I believe our federal health minister has been addressing this issue from the time she started in the position (1.5 years ago), but I'm not sure where things stand now. There seems to be an awareness that people who are on prescription opioids should NOT be yanked off them suddenly. Let's hope....