Report: Everett will sue OxyContin manufacturer
Jan 19, 2017, 5:51 AM | Updated: 9:16 am
OxyContin is an opiate-based painkiller. (AP)
(AP)
Everett’s mayor wants to target the manufacturer of one of the top painkillers, OxyContin, to pay up for its alleged contribution to the heroin crisis.
Related: Seattle police say arresting people is not solving the heroin crisis
On Wednesday, Mayor Ray Stephanson asked the city council to consider the lawsuit. The Everett Daily Herald reports the council unanimously approved the motion to sue.
The Herald reports the lawsuit accuses Purdue Pharma of contributing to the opiate addiction crisis that many communities across the nation are experiencing. According to the Herald:
The case would allege the drug manufacturer was negligent when it aggressively marketed OxyContin as a supposedly less-addictive alternative to other pain medication while simultaneously ignoring evidence that substantial quantities were diverted through “pill mills” to illegal drug traffickers.
But Mayor Stephanson’s allegations go further than that. KIRO 7 reports that the city plans to accuse the pharmaceutical company of aiding the illegal market for opiates.
“Purdue Pharmaceuticals was knowingly putting OxyContin into the black market in our community,” Stephanson told KIRO 7.
Stephanson alleges that Purdue Pharma did not stop its pills from being diverted to illegal traffickers. Those dealers sold them in Everett between 2007-10. Then OxyContin was reformulated to prevent abuse.
“Once that drug was not available, those who had gotten addicted turned to heroin and today you can get a bag of heroin on the street for five bucks,” Stephanson told KIRO 7.
OxyContin
KIRO 7 reached out the Purdue Pharma after speaking with the Everett mayor. Purdue responded by email, stating that: “We share public officials’ concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.”
Purdue said OxyContin accounts for only 2 percent of all pain-related opioid prescriptions.
OxyContin is an opiate-based pain killer, and opiates are highly addictive — similar to how morphine or heroin interacts with the body. Prescription painkillers are thought to have added a new gateway into the addiction. And when it comes to opiates, an addicted brain doesn’t care whether it’s getting a pill or a needle.
Everett’s lawsuit won’t be the first time Purdue Pharma has had to face legal action over OxyContin. The company previously pleaded guilty in 2007 to allegations that it mislead doctors and patients as to the dangerous risks of addiction to OxyContin. The company paid $600 million in fines.
