Opioids

[Pyperkub]

We were watching shameless the other day, and Frank nominated the Sackler family for the drug hall of fame!

[Isgrimnur]

NPR

After more than a year of high stakes negotiations with billions of dollars on the line, a bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, cleared a major hurdle late Wednesday.

Federal Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, N.Y., moved the controversial deal forward despite objections from dozens of state attorneys general, setting the stage for a final vote by the company's creditors expected this summer.
...
This development brings members of the Sackler family, some of whom own Purdue Pharma and served on the company's board of directors, a step closer to winning immunity from future opioid lawsuits.

According to legal documents filed as part of the case, that immunity would extend to dozens of family members, more than 160 financial trusts, and at least 170 companies, consultants and other entities associated with the Sacklers.

"The Sacklers are paying $4.275 billion and they very much plan and expect to be done with this chapter," said Marshall Huebner, an attorney representing Purdue Pharma, during a hearing last week.

One of the firms that would secure protection from future opioid lawsuits under the deal is Luther Strange & Associates, founded by former U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R-Alabama) who helped Purdue Pharma pitch the bankruptcy plan to Republican state attorneys general.
...
Two dozen states still oppose the bankruptcy deal that's been negotiated largely behind closed doors. They argue it would improperly strip them of authority to sue members of the family for alleged wrongdoing.

[Isgrimnur]

Guardian

A group of US state attorneys general unveiled on Wednesday a landmark $26bn settlement with large drug companies for allegedly fueling the deadly nationwide opioid epidemic, but some states were cool on the agreement.

Under the settlement proposal, the three largest US drug distributors, McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp, are expected to pay a combined $21bn, while drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (J&J), which manufactures opioids, would pay $5bn.
...
Attorneys general from 15 states were involved in negotiating the deal.

Settlement money from the distributors will be paid out over 18 years. J&J will pay over nine years, with up to $3.7bn paid during the first three years.
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About $2.1bn will be deducted from the settlement for attorneys fees and legal costs.

[Isgrimnur]

NPR

Members of the Sackler family who are at the center of the nation's deadly opioid crisis have won sweeping immunity from opioid lawsuits linked to their privately owned company Purdue Pharma and its OxyContin medication.

Federal Judge Robert Drain approved a bankruptcy settlement on Wednesday that grants the Sacklers "global peace" from any liability for the opioid epidemic.
...
The deal grants "releases" from liability for harm caused by OxyContin and other opioids to the Sacklers, hundreds of their associates, as well as their remaining empire of companies and trusts.

In return, they have agreed to pay roughly $4.3 billion, while also forfeiting ownership of Purdue Pharma.
...
In his ruling, Drain, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush, did narrow the scope of legal protections available for the Sacklers and their associates.

Consultants and advisers who worked with Purdue Pharma, including a lobbying firm operated by former Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, will no longer be covered by the liability releases.

[Isgrimnur]

ars

The Department of Justice is fighting to strip the billionaire Sackler family of the sweeping legal immunity granted as part of a controversial $4.5 billion opioid settlement.

The department filed a motion late Wednesday to block the implementation of the settlement until appeals can be heard in a higher court. Attorneys for the department argued that some aspects of the deal could go into effect quickly, complicating the appeal, according to NPR. Along with the DOJ, Connecticut, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Washington state are also preparing to fight the settlement.

The Justice Department also requested an expedited hearing within the next two weeks.

[Drazzil]

ars

The Department of Justice is fighting to strip the billionaire Sackler family of the sweeping legal immunity granted as part of a controversial $4.5 billion opioid settlement.

The department filed a motion late Wednesday to block the implementation of the settlement until appeals can be heard in a higher court. Attorneys for the department argued that some aspects of the deal could go into effect quickly, complicating the appeal, according to NPR. Along with the DOJ, Connecticut, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Washington state are also preparing to fight the settlement.

The Justice Department also requested an expedited hearing within the next two weeks.

If there were ever a family that deserved to be picked clean by lawsuits. It's the Sacklers.

[Isgrimnur]

Guardian

The Oklahoma supreme court on Tuesday overturned a $465m opioid ruling against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, finding that a lower court wrongly interpreted the state’s public nuisance law in the first case of its kind in the US to go to trial.
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The ruling comes a week after a California judge issued a tentative ruling that said local governments had not proven Johnson & Johnson and other drugmakers used deceptive marketing to inflate prescriptions of their painkillers, leading to a public nuisance.

[dbt1949]

Instead of getting rid of opioids they should be allowing easier access. Like MJ they should have opioid farms and grow them in the house.

[Daehawk]

Drugs should all be legal. Let people do as they want at home.

[Kraken]

My friend's son died of an opioid OD last week.

[dbt1949]

There are a lot of people who don't know how to handle such things. I'm sorry for your friend's loss.

[Pyperkub]

There are a lot of people who don't know how to handle such things. I'm sorry for your friend's loss.

Opioids are addictive. It's not a question of knowing how to handle them.

[dbt1949]

I handled them fine.

[Kraken]

There are a lot of people who don't know how to handle such things. I'm sorry for your friend's loss.

Opioids are addictive. It's not a question of knowing how to handle them.

From what I can piece together, this young man developed a repetitive stress injury loading trucks for UPS and was prescribed appropriate pain meds. A couple of days before he died, he crashed his car and was arrested for being intoxicated. He overmedicated due to physical pain and mental trauma from the accident.

This scenario is pieced together from comments that various people made over several hours and might not be accurate. We do know that he was a bright kid who was just starting to build a future with a new job and a beloved girlfriend. He hit a rough patch and fucked up.

[Daehawk]

Took them for 8 years.

[Isgrimnur]

AP News

CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said Tuesday in a verdict that could set the tone for U.S. city and county governments that want to hold pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid crisis.

Lake and Trumbull counties blamed the three chain pharmacies for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1 billion, said their attorney, who in court compared the pharmacies’ dispensing to a gumball machine.

How much the pharmacies must pay in damages will be decided in the spring by a federal judge.

It’s the first time pharmacy companies completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug crisis that killed a half-million Americans over the past two decades.

[dbt1949]

How did these companies "recklessly" distribute these drugs?

[Isgrimnur]

Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 2012 and 2016 — equivalent to 400 for every resident. In Lake County, some 61 million pills were distributed during that period.
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The counties said pharmacies should be the last line of defense to prevent the pills from getting into the wrong hands.

They didn’t hire enough pharmacists and technicians or train them to stop that from happening and failed to implement systems that could flag suspicious orders, Lanier said.

[Isgrimnur]

Supreme Court blocks Purdue Pharma’s $6 billion opioid settlement, will hear challenge

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked for now a $6 billion bankruptcy settlement by Purdue Pharma that would protect its Sackler family owners from civil lawsuits related to the opioid crisis.

The Supreme Court also said it will hear a challenge to the settlement by Purdue, the maker of the opioid OxyContin.

The order Thursday directed parties to file briefs on a question of whether bankruptcy courts can approve a Chapter 11 reorganization that releases claims by non-debtors against not-debtor third parties “without the claimants’ consent.”

[Carpet_pissr]

Supreme Court blocks Purdue Pharma’s $6 billion opioid settlement, will hear challenge

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked for now a $6 billion bankruptcy settlement by Purdue Pharma that would protect its Sackler family owners from civil lawsuits related to the opioid crisis.

The Supreme Court also said it will hear a challenge to the settlement by Purdue, the maker of the opioid OxyContin.

The order Thursday directed parties to file briefs on a question of whether bankruptcy courts can approve a Chapter 11 reorganization that releases claims by non-debtors against not-debtor third parties “without the claimants’ consent.”

That article is not as clear as I wish it was. So they are both blocking a "pro-Sackler" settlement, AND hearing challenges to said settlement?

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

Until recently, Purdue was controlled by the Sackler family, who withdrew billions of dollars from the company before it filed for bankruptcy. The family has now agreed to contribute up to $6 billion to Purdue’s reorganization fund on the condition that the Sacklers receive a release from civil liability.

“We are confident in the legality of our nearly universally supported Plan of Reorganization, and optimistic that the Supreme Court will agree,” Purdue Pharma said in a statement.
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The government, representing the US Trustee, has called the plan “exceptional and unprecedented” in court papers, noting that lower courts have divided on when parties can be released from liability for actions that caused societal harm.
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[Solicitor General Elizabeth] Prelogar said that the release of the Sacklers is not authorized by the bankruptcy code and constitutes an “abuse of the bankruptcy system.”

[Isgrimnur]

Kroger will pay up to $1.2 billion to settle most nationwide opioid claims

Kroger on Friday said it has agreed to pay $1.2 billion to U.S. states, local governments and Native American tribes to settle the majority of claims that it fueled the opioid epidemic through lax oversight of its pill sales.

The settlement would allow for “full resolution” of all claims on behalf of those parties, the company said in a release ahead of its fiscal second-quarter earnings.

[LordMortis]

I need to read the article closer to figure out why all these pharmacies are paying. They aren't prescribers or the producers and presumably don't the reasonable means to encourage consumption, like they might with cough medicine for making garage drugs. Pharmacies are something I think of as a gatekeeper of last resort. They catch and advise you after everyone else has failed to do so. Maybe I've misunderstood all these years.

State and local governments have filed thousands of lawsuits against drug companies and wholesalers accused of contributing to the oversupply of prescription drugs that fueled the opioid epidemic, resulting in a plethora of settlement deals.

I'm missing the connection. And I guess I'm the other way around in my perceptions. After my surgeries this year, getting Norco or Oxy was nearly impossible. Both times I had to go back the to hospital and get my prescription for 10 pills at a time filled there and was lucky to do so.

[Zarathud]

Pharmacies had the ability to see and identify the “pill mill” providers, and alert authorities. Presumably their licenses required it, which is why they’re settling.

And overcompensating for prior failures. That is annoying, but there are weird waves in medical treatment. For a while, my wife received Botox injections to relax a back muscle. Major complications to get it authorized, until it began use for cosmetic facial treatment and it was too easy to get. It was insane — but changed due to profit.

[Isgrimnur]

Kilo of fentanyl stored on top of kids' play mats at day care where 1-year-old died

A kilogram of fentanyl was stored on top of children’s play mats used for napping at the New York City day care where a 1-year-old boy died from exposure to the drug, according to a new federal criminal complaint.

Three other children, ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years, were hospitalized and treated with Narcan and are now recovering, police said. An analysis of urine from one of the victims confirmed the presence of fentanyl, officials said.

Day care operator Grei Mendez and tenant Carlisto Acevedo Brito are now facing federal charges of narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, according to federal prosecutors.

[Daehawk]

I was just thinking of fentanyl today. Why does anyone cut that shit into product?? Its so damn strong you just kill your customers. Used to be drug dealers wanted return business.

[Scuzz]

I was just thinking of fentanyl today. Why does anyone cut that shit into product?? Its so damn strong you just kill your customers. Used to be drug dealers wanted return business.

I am going to guess done in the proper percentages it stretched the product out, more profit. But it has become stronger and sellers don’t know what they are doing. Back when weed was sold you just needed a scale and baggies.

[LawBeefaroni]

I was just thinking of fentanyl today. Why does anyone cut that shit into product?? Its so damn strong you just kill your customers. Used to be drug dealers wanted return business.

I am going to guess done in the proper percentages it stretched the product out, more profit. But it has become stronger and sellers don’t know what they are doing. Back when weed was sold you just needed a scale and baggies.

More and more it's just being used as the product. Fentanyl cut with flour or whatever. Peole suck at math, not to mention chemistry, and fentanyl is abundant, cheap, and a decent analog for a lot of street drugs. It is, after all, a synthetic opioid.


Also, heads-up for xylazine. It's often cut into fentanyl.

[Isgrimnur]

Third Man Sentenced in Michael K. Williams’ Accidental Overdose, Gets 5 Years for Involvement

Luis Cruz was the third person to be sentenced among four defendants involved in distributing fentanyl-laced heroin that led to the actor’s accidental overdose in his Brooklyn penthouse, according to USA Today. The 12 Years a Slave actor, who was 54, bought the heroin from another crew member and died four hours later, authorities said, per the outlet.
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The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced in September that Irvin Cartagena, 40, from Aibonito, Puerto Rico, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, plus five years of supervised release, for conspiring to distribute heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analogue.

In July, 72-year-old Carlos Macci was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison — along with three years of supervised release — in connection to Williams’ death, according to NBC News.

[Isgrimnur]

Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan that shields Sackler family faces Supreme Court arguments today

[Pyperkub]

Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan that shields Sackler family faces Supreme Court arguments today

They are doing their best to buy their way out into bankruptcy...

In the year and a half leading up to the trial, Purdue spent at least $1.2 million on federal lobbying expenses as it worked toward the settlement, an Intercept review of lobbying records shows. If the settlement is approved, the Sacklers will be making a contribution of $4.28 billion, which will leave them with over $6 billion at minimum in total assets — money that will be effectively untouchable by opioid crisis victims, even though it is Purdue going bankrupt, not the Sacklers.

[Isgrimnur]

President Joe Biden's administration has argued that Purdue's settlement is an abuse of bankruptcy protections meant for debtors in "financial distress," not people like the Sacklers. The administration also has said Sackler family members withdrew $11 billion from Purdue before agreeing to contribute $6 billion to the opioid settlement