Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson delivered a similar message on Monday afternoon to drug makers and distributors: “Enough is enough. It is time to pay up.”
The pharmaceutical industry has played a major role in facilitating the opioid crisis that has ravaged Ohio communities. It is way past time that Big Pharma admits culpability and begins negotiations with the state and cities. The money is needed for the hard work of reversing an epidemic that killed more than 4,000 Ohioans in 2016.
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More and more evidence continues to be uncovered showing that drug makers likely knew of the addictive power of opioids, yet continued to pump the drugs into small communities. A recent Washington Post and 60 Minutes investigation found that millions of opioid doses were being sent to West Virginia towns.
Ms. Hicks-Hudson announced that the city is suing 24 opioid manufacturers and distributors “to recover our costs and to change the ways in which they prescribe and advertise these drugs.”
Toledo has spent more than $400,000 for rescuers to respond to opioid-related calls this year.
There is not only a human toll related to this epidemic. There are serious economic costs being borne by communities.
Mr. DeWine said he is giving the drug industry 30 days to come to the table with a serious offer to settle a state lawsuit filed in May. He considers a serious offer to be in the millions, if not billions, of dollars. His warning was squarely aimed at manufacturers Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva, Johnson & Johnson, and Allergan. Distributors McKesson, Amerisource Bergen, and Ohio’s Cardinal Health were also singled out by Mr. DeWine.
Money from the settlement would be used to implement Mr. DeWine’s 12-point plan. Highlights include:
● Creating a cabinet-level drug czar position to oversee the state’s efforts in combating the crisis.
● Doubling the number of substance abuse treatment facilities.
● Expanding drug task forces targeting drugs coming from Mexico.
● Establishing at least 60 more drug courts, which work with low-risk addicts on rehabilitation rather than sentencing them to jail.
● Developing a program that provides business owners incentives and reduces their risk in hiring employees in recovery.
Mr. DeWine deserves great credit. These are serious, substantive proposals that can reshape the battlefield against an epidemic that continues to kill 14 Ohioans per day. But the whole package is going to take serious funding. At least part of the money should come from the drug industry.
First Published November 1, 2017, 9:45 p.m.
