Are the legal painkillers the new tobacco? Pharmaceutical companies are now being sued by the attorneys general of Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi and Oklahoma, plus counties in states like California and New York for “misleading” the doctors and public about the need for and addictive nature of opioid drugs. In 2015 opioid overdose killed 33,00 people in America, three times the number of gun homicides.
Sullivan County District Attorney General Barry Staubus‘s suit is part of a wave of litigation against pharmaceutical companies by states, counties and local prosecutors which they call “the worst addiction crisis in American history”. Staubus’ lawsuit argues that opioid epidemic (which is supposedly known for it’s heroin element) was produced by a “fraudulent scheme” by oxyContin and percocet maker Purdue Pharma who is one of the primary targets of the suit.
The pharmaceutical companies are also not entirely defenseless. There are issues that can be raised, like how prescription opioids can be used safely and for good health reasons. U.S. government health regulators studied and endorsed the painkiller and in most cases there are medical professionals in between the pharmaceutical companies and the end user.
