As lawyers and prosecutors hammer out the final details of nationwide opioid litigation and settlement terms, a growing number of families bereaved by the epidemic are speaking out—and criticizing the lack of accountability in the agreements. Specifically, family members are angered by what they regard as the persistent failure to hold pharmaceutical executives responsible for mass-describing narcotics and making false claims about safety and addictiveness. In two tentative deals—one for $26 billion with drug distributors and Johnson & Johnson, and another for $4 billion with Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma—the companies do not admit any responsibility for contributing to the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans over the past two decades. Critics also say the restitution payments are relatively small for some of the country’s largest businesses, especially as the payout period of up to 18 years is too long. And in the case of Purdue, the firm’s founding, multi-billionaire Sackler family, will be shielded from any further litigation.
Meanwhile, although progress has been made in reducing opioid overprescribing among adults, a new study published in Pediatrics found that opioids are still being prescribed inappropriately for children. Almost half of the 4 million opioid prescriptions written in 2019 for children and young adults fit high-risk patterns known to increase the chances of overuse of overdose, according to the study. Dentists and surgeons wrote most of the problem prescriptions, and high-volume prescribers wrote more than half of them.
And finally, there’s a growing movement among veterans to push for medical marijuana reform in the 14 states that have not yet enacted comprehensive marijuana legalization. Many of these remaining states are in the traditionally conservative South, which has generally been more reluctant to legalize the drug, even for medical purposes. Medical pot is believed to have benefits in treating PTSD and other debilitating conditions, but more research is needed to establish treatment protocols.