RIDGE POLITICAL REVIEW
  • Home
  • Domestic
  • International
  • Opinions
  • Economics
  • Local
  • About
  • Contact
  • All Articles

All Articles

Ohio Fights Back On Opioid Epidemic

10/14/2017

0 Comments

 
By Emily Pan

On May 31st, 2017 Ohio became the second state to sue companies such as Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan for fueling the ongoing Opioid addictions. Ohio primarily took legal action because companies underestimate the detrimental risk of opioid addiction and overstated their benefits in easing chronic pains. In 2015, both Mississippi and Kentucky sued the same companies for the same claims; they settled the case eventually. However, in neither cases did these companies admit to any wrongdoing.

In recent years, the opioid addiction in Ohio alone has increased significantly. In 2016, roughly 20% of Ohio’s population had been prescribed an opioid (1). In just 4 years, 3.8 millions prescriptions were made out for opioids as painkillers including oxycontin and percocets (2). Many people turn to pharmaceutical companies for blame, and with good reason. Companies often trivialize the side effects of opioids and merely highlight the benefits of using them for pain relief. One company, Purdue Pharma, purposely misled consumers in order to trigger an addiction to their opioids. The company marketed their drug as a pain reliever that lasts for 12 hours yet they knew it lasted for a much shorter period. With consumers believing the drug could last for 12 hours, they suffered strong withdrawal symptoms and slowly became addicted (1).

While the main group affected by these companies are the consumers, states have also been largely affected. This is because each year, millions of dollars are spent on purchasing opioids as painkillers for programs like Medicaid, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, and various state programs to diminish drug use.  If these companies truthfully stated the major side effects of their medications, states would not need to allocate money to buying these drugs, and thousands of deaths could be prevented (2). Furthermore, babies born from mothers with opiate drug addictions suffer many health risks and require states to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to help them.

Although one might believe the state of Ohio has an easy case to make since companies mislead consumers, there are many setbacks. The companies that are being sued claim that the only cause for opioid addiction is the consumer themself. Law professor Lars Noah explains that it is difficult for lawsuits to specifically target the deceptive marketing of companies when consumers fail to use the opioids as directed. When consumers do not follow the directions given with opioids, the courts blatantly state that they believe the problems caused by opioids are results from the actions from consumers, not the companies. Additionally, these companies often place the blame on doctors who prescribed the medication in the first place.

Ultimately, it proves to be extremely difficult to pinpoint the cause of the opioid addiction epidemic. It is impossible to place the blame on one group. While companies largely catalyze citizens to become addicted to these dangerous drugs, doctors sometimes also downplay opioid effects just as companies do. In the end, the common goal should be to stop these fatal addictions and put an end to the thousands of lives lost to them. Perhaps the only solution to ending this epidemic is the fear factor. Emphasizing the side effects of opioid addiction may scare people to stop abusing opioids and eventually decrease the amount of addictions.


​
Citations
  1. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/lawsuit-pharmaceutical-companies-opioids/529020/
  2. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/05/ohios_opioid_lawsuit_against_5.html


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    Aadhavaarasan Raviarasan
    Adam Smith
    Albert Wu
    Alex Liao
    Alex Timoney
    Alicia Jen
    Alison Shim
    Andrea Lan
    Andrew Falduto
    Anvi Mahagaokar
    Atreya Misra
    Ayla D'Silva
    Bardia Vaseghi
    Benny Sun
    Bharat Sanka
    Brandon Lu
    Brian Wen
    Brinda Gurumoorthy
    Caitlin Schiffer
    Camille Shen
    Caroline Margiotta
    Caroline Sha
    Catherine Chen
    Cathy Chen
    Chloe Yang
    Christine Wang
    Daniel Pittaro
    Daniel Zhang
    Davis George
    Deeptanshu Singhvi
    Dilara Shahani
    Ellee Tomaru
    Emily Pan
    Emily Wang
    Erin Flaherty
    Felix Zheng
    Hitha Santosh
    Howard Wei
    Injae Lee
    Jacob Clott
    James Gao
    Jasmine Xie
    Jedson Boyle
    Jennifer Huang
    Joey Walter
    Jonathan Nemetz
    Jon Jen
    Julia Roos
    Kaitlin Smalling
    Katherine Wang
    Katie Kleinle
    Kevin Tang
    Kevin Yang
    Kishan Gandham
    Kunal Damaraju
    Kyanna Ouyang
    Logan Aviles
    Lucas Canteros-Paz
    Maggie Hsu
    Mariam Khan
    Mark Stachowski
    Mason Krohn
    Meghan Mangini
    Michael Shaw
    Mimi Petric
    Namita Kalghatgi
    Noah Smith
    Oliver Tang
    Omar Bekdash
    Pasha Saidi
    Priya Mullassaril
    Raheel Abubakar
    Ranen Miao
    Rayhan Murad
    Robert Johnson
    Ryan Walsh
    Saamia Khan
    Saloni Singhvi
    Sam Klein
    Sarah Ouyang
    Shaina Spector
    Shaurya Ganjoo
    Shiam Kannan
    Sunjay Melkote
    Tim O'Shea
    Tim Tang
    Vicki Liu
    Victoria Lu
    Vivek Gurumoorthy
    Wei Wen
    Willa Yu
    Zayna Kutty

rpr

About
Home
Read All
​
Contact

Sections

International
Domestic
Economics
​Opinions
Local
​
Search Site
© COPYRIGHT 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Domestic
  • International
  • Opinions
  • Economics
  • Local
  • About
  • Contact
  • All Articles