Dated 3/12/18
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Miami-Dade County announced this week that it was planning to take legal action against drug manufacturers and distributors for their role in the opioid crisis there—and joined a host of counties and cities across the country taking Big Pharma to court in the wake of one of the worst addiction crises in American history.
The county retained a law firm to investigate claims that drug manufacturers and distributors contributed to the opioid crisis and increased health care and policing costs for the community. The law firm, Podhurst Orseck, pointed to the nearly $1 billion in yearly costs to Florida hospitals for treatment of the crisis and Miami's 228 overdose deaths in the year 2016 alone in a release.
"Drug manufacturers and distributors are obligated by federal and state laws to properly monitor and control the supply and distribution of opioids," Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Giménez said in a statement about the investigation. "Their collective failure to do so has flooded our communities with these highly addictive drugs and crippled the resources of our municipalities, which have had to bear the heavy costs."
The state of Florida has long struggled with the opioid crisis, and Governor Rick Scott in May declared a public health emergency in response. Miami-Dade, like many counties and cities, is alleging that drug companies used deceptive marketing that downplayed the dangers of opioids, and is pointing to the costs its community has incurred because of those drugs.
The local momentum builds upon recent federal action taken against the pharmaceutical industry. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Tuesday that he would be filing a statement of interest in a lawsuit against some manufacturers, and announced a new task force that would investigate those companies and the claims against them.
For more:
- OPIOID MANUFACTURERS PAID MILLIONS TO GROUPS THAT LOBBIED FOR MORE OPIOID USAGE, SENATE INVESTIGATION CLAIMS.
