Federal opioid initiative isn’t enough to help Everett

The opioid epidemic is still a problem in this country.

Related: A father’s tips for opiates, addiction and your kids

Purdue Pharma which makes the opioid painkiller Oxycontin has settled numerous lawsuits — agreeing to pay about $640 million in all.

But the problem hasn’t gone away and has fallen into the lap of cities like Everett.

“Everett Washington is littered with camps filled with makeshift tents and the tools heroin addicts use to get high,” CBS’ Kenneth Craig explained in a recent report.

And so the City of Everett, too, is suing.

As I previously wrote: If you read the lawsuit, it doesn’t sound like the city is suing a corporation as much as they are suing El Chapo.

President Trump launched a commission to fight opioid addiction, chaired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who signed a state law that puts a five-day limit on initial opioid prescriptions.

“The President and I both agree that addiction is a disease and it’s a disease that can be treated,” Christie said.

But that doesn’t help cities like Everett, which is still picking up the pieces — and the needles.

“Sometime’s it’s really difficult to stay clean…” Social worker Kaitlyn Dowd explained to CBS.

It was the LA Times that traced Everett’s epidemic to a former gang member who started dealing Oxycontin in such huge amounts that prosecutors concluded there’s no way the drug company couldn’t have known.

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson says something needs to be done.

“They give corporations a bad name,” he said. “They have affected lives. People have died. And they need to be held accountable and I believe they will be.”

Purdue says they look forward to presenting the facts in court. But Everett’s mayor hopes they’ll lose. After all, he needs the money to treat the people who got addicted to Purdue’s product.

“I believe it’s about greed and they need to be held accountable to make our community whole.”

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