Opioids and Leeches

            Overdose deaths from opioids have totaled over 70,000 in each of the last three years. Compare that to 40,000 a year from highway fatalities and a 10-year total of 58,000 G.I. fatalities in the Vietnam war.

            This is obviously a serious problem. An epidemic. But I’m not sure that what’s being done about it is the right solution. The latest news has states and municipalities suing pharmaceuticals as the source of the problem. In Oklahoma, Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay a fine of $572 million for its role in manufacturing and promoting opioids, even though theirs are only 1% of the market. Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, has agreed to settle suits in Ohio for $12 billion, and to file for bankruptcy as a result, thus ending the company’s R&D, not to mention the livelihoods of thousands of its employees.

            In both cases the legal basis for bringing these suits was not product liability, but the public nuisance of promotional advertising. In other words, the products involved are good, but their benefits exaggerated and addictive nature minimized. But is that the whole picture? Where is the responsibility of the doctors who over-prescribe opioids? Where is the responsibility of death merchants in the illegal drug market?  And where is the responsibility of the individual drug abusers themselves? Are drug manufacturers being disproportionately targeted because of their deep pockets?

            The answer to that question points to another epidemic, the insatiable greed of tort lawyers, especially the ones who rake in millions in class-action suits. These leeches who feed on the misery of victims have made the United States the most litigious country in the world. The villains can be any number of drugs with potential side effects (Abilify, Prolaxa, Eliquis, Valsartan, etc.), or products in common use like talcum powder and weed killers. We’ve all seen or heard the disgusting ads trolling for victims: “If you have been diagnosed with [you name it], you may be entitled to compensation…”

            By the way, attorneys represent 2,000 plaintiffs in the $12 billion Purdue Pharma settlement case. Care to guess how big their piece of the pie will be?