Franklin has joined communities across the nation in suing the makers and distributors of prescription pain pills in a lawsuit that alleges they flooded communities with drugs that have caused an addiction epidemic.
The city council decided to take part in the federal lawsuit in anticipation of any judgments that could result against the makers of opioids. Financial payments or other judgments, such as assistance in paying for Narcan or the construction of clinics to treat addicts, could help Franklin in addressing the crisis.
Greenwood and more than a dozen Indiana cities and counties are part of a federal lawsuit that claims that the companies have flooded their communities with the addictive painkillers and engaged in deceptive marketing campaigns that helped lead to a growing crisis. Many of the lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, are nearly identical, claiming the manufacturers aggressively pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids and falsely represented to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction.
The lawsuits are being consolidated in a multi-district litigation effort in U.S. District Court in Cleveland and will include lawsuits from other states. The defendants include opioid makers Purdue Pharma, which produces OxyContin and has no affiliation to Purdue University, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Jannsen Pharmaceuticals, as well as distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen.
Johnson County Commissioner Ron West said that he had been contacted and had participated in conference calls with attorneys in New York and Chicago about joining the lawsuits, but he would not be in favor of the county joining the lawsuits. He said the doctors who over-prescribe pain pills are to blame, and any changes would make it more costly and cumbersome for patients who have a legitimate need for opioids.
“They’re the ones who will end up suffering through that,” West said.
The lawsuits target the drug makers with deep pockets because it is easier than pursuing doctors, West said. He also doesn’t accept the argument that drug markers should have been more honest about the possibility of addiction, noting a lawsuit settlement from more than 10 years ago that mentioned that and that he as a layperson knows that pain pills can be addicting.
“I hate to say it, but it’s just a money grab by local governments,” West said of the lawsuits.
Franklin city attorney Lynn Gray said she was contacted about Franklin joining the lawsuit six months ago, but she wanted to see how the case developed before advising the city on whether to join. She brought the matter to the city council this week because she doesn’t want the city to miss out on payments that could help the community recover from the addiction epidemic.
Nearly every day, residents are calling police to report that someone stole their medications, or broke into their home and police are finding the items pawned for drug money. The city also faces the cost of responding to medical calls when a person overdoses or other emergency calls related to the epidemic, plus the human toll of the loss of life or broken families. The rate of opioid prescriptions and the number of emergency room visits due to an overdose also point to the challenge that local communities are facing.
The city council voted 5-0 to join the lawsuit. Mayor Steve Barnett also was in favor of joining the suit.
Gray has been monitoring the lawsuit and said that the judge wants to try or settle the case by the end of 2018 because 150 people are dying across the country every day from an opioid overdose.
If the communities are successful in their suit, they could get damages and compensation that would pay for past and future expenses of addressing the opioid crisis, including medical care, rehabilitation and therapy, along with law enforcement and public safety costs. Gray likened the financial settlement that could result to that of tobacco lawsuits, where companies had to help pay for smoking cessation efforts.
The city doesn’t have to pay any money up front to join the lawsuit, but the attorneys involved in the effort get a portion of any settlements.
