CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Monroe County sues drug makers and sellers over opioid crisis in the Keys

Florida Keys Keynoter - 4/6/2019

April 06-- Apr. 6--Monroe County filed a lawsuit in federal court this week against several pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue Pharma, and national drug stores, including CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, over the manufacturing, marketing and selling of opioids, which have "created a public health crisis and nuisance" nationwide and in the Florida Keys, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit accuses the drug makers of deceptively and massively marketing powerful pain medications like oxycodone and fentanyl as carrying low risks of addiction and being safe for the treatment of chronic ailments like back pain and arthritis. The drugs are responsible for the overdose deaths of more than 200,000 people from 1999 to 2016, according to the 326-page complaint filed Wednesday.

"This case arises from the worst man-made epidemic in modern medical history -- the misuse, abuse and over-prescription of opioids," the five-member county commission's lawsuit states. "By now, most Americans have been affected, either directly or indirectly, by the opioid disaster. But few realize that this crisis arose from the opioid manufacturers' deliberately deceptive marketing strategy to expand opioid use, together with the distributors' equally deliberate efforts to evade restrictions on opioid distribution."

Purdue Pharma's media relations representatives did not return a request for comment on the lawsuit. The more than 50 other defendants in the case could not be immediately reached for comment.

They include individual members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the pain killer OxyContin; Endo Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Percocet; and Teva USA, which makes and markets both brand-name and generic opioids, including fentanyl.

The county is suing under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law normally used to fight organized crime.

"Monroe County has felt the effects of the opioid epidemic that plagues the nation," the lawsuit states. "In a state with ever-climbing opioid-overdose death rates, Monroe County stands out with disturbing opioid overdose statistics."

Monroe County officials were not immediately available for comment.

The lawsuit comes a month after one Marathon High School student was rushed to the hospital due to a suspected overdose of oxycodone, the generic form of OxyContin.

It also comes as other states and municipalities nationwide are taking legal aim at Purdue Pharma and other drug makers associated with the opioid crisis. The Sackler family late last month agreed to pay Oklahoma$75 million over the next five years as part of Purdue's settlement with the state.

The county commission's attorneys wrote in the complaint that the prevalence of opioids has strained the Keys' healthcare system, law enforcement, foster care workers and first responders, among others.

"Monroe County is filing this lawsuit to bring the devastating march of this epidemic to a halt and to hold the defendants responsible for the crisis they caused," attorneys for the county commission wrote.

Here's the lawsuit:

___

(c)2019 the Florida Keys Keynoter (Marathon, Fla.)

Visit the Florida Keys Keynoter (Marathon, Fla.) at www.keysnet.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.