Like tobacco cases, opioid lawsuits not just blowing smoke

No one should be surprised at what corporate America will do for a buck, anymore.
The National Prescription Opiate Litigation could be referenced as Exhibit No. 1.
It includes federal lawsuits in one consolidated legal action brought by more than 1,500 counties, municipalities, hospitals and others to hold drug companies responsible for the opioid epidemic.
At least 330 other  opioid-related cases are pending in lower courts in at least 45 states.
This week, 27 hospitals in West Virginia, many under the umbrella of  Mon Health System and WVU Health System,  and 10 others  in Kentucky filed a separate lawsuit in the raging opioid epidemic.
For far too long, the public has been under the delusion that the only drug dealers are suspicious characters operating in the shadows of rundown houses.
However, it’s become increasingly clear that the most dangerous pushers work in towering, brilliant, glass-enclosed, expensively furnished buildings and offices.
From the outside looking in to these building you wonder what kind of people own and oversee these headquarters, manufacturing facilities, research and development sites and technical offices.
Wonder no more, because apparently the one defining characteristic of these people, these families, these corporations is money.
We suspect all these cases will  show is that it was about the money. That’s what they cared about — all they cared about — was the money.
That’s not to say most of us don’t care about money, too. We do. But most of us won’t sell  our souls for any amount of money or knowingly participate in a fraudulent and deceptive marketing practice to promote long-term use of drugs fueling a deadly epidemic.
And this is not new. In 2007, Purdue executives pleaded guilty in a federal case to falsely advertising OxyContin as “less addictive” and “less subject to abuse and diversion” than other pain medications.
The company paid $600 million in criminal and civil fines to the federal government, and $20 million to 26 states.
But, like rogue bars willing to pay a $5,000 fine to make $20,000 for suspending the rules for a night, these companies pay millions in settlements while earning billions.
It’s true, fewer pain pills are being prescribed and marketing of  painkillers directly to doctors is more judicious.
Yet, like the tobacco industry in the 1990s, the companies wilted under media attention grew and settlements got bigger, bankrupting some.
Most expect large segments of the pharmaceutical  industry to follow suit in the future.