Cape Girardeau County, others sue Big Pharma over opioid problem

Ten Missouri counties, including Cape Girardeau County, and the City of Joplin have filed suit against pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic.

The suit, filed Wednesday in circuit court in St. Louis, seeks damages for �reimbursement of public costs expended fighting this opioid epidemic and a claim for future costs� in efforts to address the problem.

Named as defendants in the 274-page civil suit are 49 manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and prescription benefit managers of opioids.

The suit claims the defendants misled communities, doctors and residents about opioids by claiming they were the proper treatment for chronic pain and they were not addictive.

�During the last 15 years opioids have literally flooded these counties and city, enslaving an unsuspecting public in the horror of opioid addiction, and none of the defendants ever reported suspicious orders to any of these communities,� the suit states.

�The result is that we have today: thousands dead, addicted and plaintiffs� communities straining in managing this problem.�

Drug overdoses killed 63,632 Americans in 2016, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nearly two-thirds of those deaths involved a prescription or illicit opioid, the CDC said.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said Friday the three-member commission unanimously agreed to join the suit.

�It is not about the money,� Tracy said. �It isn�t some windfall we are looking for.�

Tracy said, �We want to increase awareness to a problem that is getting worse, not better.�

Six people in Cape Girardeau County died from the use of opioids in 2017, Tracy said. That year, 278 Cape Girardeau residents were treated in emergency rooms after overdosing on opioids, he said.

Tracy said Missouri�s state government needs to become more involved in efforts to monitor opioid prescriptions to prevent addicts from pill shopping.

The cost of addiction and its impact on lives has �just a ripple effect throughout society,� the presiding commissioner said.

Tracy said Cape Girardeau County and the other plaintiffs are not footing the bill for the litigation. The attorneys in the case filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, he said.

Commissioners voted to join the suit in February. According to minutes of the meeting, Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper said the attorneys were taking the case on a contingency basis.

Court records show five law firms from around the state are representing the plaintiffs.

According to the six-count suit, the defendants created a public nuisance and their actions were negligent and fraudulent.

Opioids were reported to have killed more than 900 people in Missouri in 2016, �including citizens� in the plaintiff counties and city, the suit states.

The suit states the defendants �caused an offense against the public order and economy of the cities and counties and violates the public�s right to life and health.�

Plaintiffs allege the pharmaceutical entities �intentionally, unlawfully and/or recklessly manufactured, marketed, distributed and sold prescription opioids� they should have known would lead to �addiction and abuse, an elevated level of crime, death and injuries� in communities.

The epidemic has led to costs for medical care, public safety, counseling and drug rehabilitation services, foster care for children of addicted parents, juvenile delinquency and drug court, according to the lawsuit.

Opioid addiction also has increased workers� compensation and health insurance costs, the suit states.

The suit accuses the companies of failing to maintain �effective control against diversion� of opioid drugs through �proper monitoring, reporting and refusal to fill suspicious orders of opioids.�

Plaintiffs have incurred �significant expenses for police, emergency, health, prosecution, corrections and other services, the suit states.

�Defendants� conduct created an abundance of drugs available for criminal use and fueled a new wave of addiction, abuse and injury in violation of its statutes under state and federal law, � according to the suit.

�More prescription opioids sold by defendants led to more addiction, with many addicts turning from prescription opioids to heroin,� the suit states.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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