Last month, state and municipal governments started holding manufacturers accountable for the opioid epidemic. The wave of lawsuits began with a landmark ruling out of Oklahoma that found Johnson & Johnson liable for creating a public nuisance and fueling the opioid crisis. Just last week, Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, reached a tentative, multi-billion-dollar settlement with 2,300 ...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdose deaths and opioid-involved deaths continue to increase in the United States. The “opioid epidemic” is how people have begun to reference the increase in opioid prescriptions and increase in opioid addiction across the country. Prescription opioids are a driving factor in the 15-year increase in opioid overdose deaths. ...
Fentanyl is a potent opioid pain medication. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, but some fentanyl analogs may be as much as 10,000 times more potent than morphine. The drug is used for many purposes, such as for anesthesia and to help people manage chronic pain. According to a federal report, fentanyl was involved in more than half of the recent opioid overdose deaths in 10 states, ...