# Ohio is suing drug manufacturers, alleging they are culpable for the opioid epidemic **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 31, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801 "2017-05-31T22:53:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/41 "2017-08-05T00:43:54Z")
I think many companies got scared after big tobacco got sued and they began to buy off politicians and write laws to protect themselves. Ex. the fast food industries have done this. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/42 "2017-08-05T01:07:43Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I think many companies got scared after big tobacco got sued and they began to buy off politicians and write laws to protect themselves. Ex. the fast food industries have done this. What does that have to do with skyrocketing overdose after the year 2010 where ever year it goes up and up. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/43 "2017-08-05T01:35:32Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Agreed with this, for regular pain. There’s no reason to prescribe heroin for a broken ankle, and I wasn’t in pain anyway. There’s really no reason to prescribe it for wisdom teeth. My oldest’s teeth were impacted and got infected, and she tried one pill because she was having trouble sleeping. I’m sure Advil would have at least helped, without the downside risks. > > Now, for really serious pain like **Buck** ’s wife or **obbn** , it’s a different story. And, we should all be on the same side here because if the opioid epidemic continues, those guys may be screwed. If you actually care, you might want to stop referring to doctor-prescribed hydrocodone/APAP pills as “heroin,” which only helps fuel the hysteria that will lead to their screwing. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/44 "2017-08-05T02:19:16Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > What does that have to do with skyrocketing overdose after the year 2010 where ever year it goes up and up. First a small quote from **Ann Hedonia’s** Minnpost link: > [@](#): > > By 2010, one out of every five doctor’s visits in the U.S. for pain resulted in a prescription for narcotic painkillers, according to a Johns Hopkins University study. And then: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/10/how-an-abuse-deterrent-drug-created-the-heroin-epidemic/?utm\_term=.93b2fd4a9e50](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/10/how-an-abuse-deterrent-drug-created-the-heroin-epidemic/?utm_term=.93b2fd4a9e50) > [@](#): > > The reformulation of the powerful painkiller OxyContin in 2010 is the chief driver of the explosion in heroin overdose deaths in subsequent years, according to a new working paper from researchers at the RAND Corp. and the Wharton School. 2010 seems to be the point when waves of people began switching from legal to illegal drugs, and illegal drugs cause more ODs. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/45 "2017-09-18T00:13:51Z")
Then there is your **helpful** health insurance company: **Amid Opioid Crisis, Insurers Restrict Pricey, Less Addictive Painkillers** > [@](#): > > At a time when the United States is in the grip of an opioid epidemic, many insurers are limiting access to pain medications that carry a lower risk of addiction or dependence, even as they provide comparatively easy access to generic opioid medications. > > The reason, experts say: Opioid drugs are generally cheap while safer alternatives are often more expensive… > > ProPublica and The New York Times analyzed Medicare prescription drug plans covering 35.7 million people in the second quarter of this year. Only one-third of the people covered, for example, had any access to Butrans, a painkilling skin patch that contains a less-risky opioid, buprenorphine. And every drug plan that covered lidocaine patches, which are not addictive but cost more than other generic pain drugs, required that patients get prior approval for them. > > In contrast, almost every plan covered common opioids and very few required any prior approval. > > The insurers have also erected more hurdles to approving addiction treatments than for the addictive substances themselves, the analysis found. > **[Amid Opioid Crisis, Insurers Restrict Pricey, Less Addictive Painkillers...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/health/opioid-painkillers-insurance-companies.html)** > > Drug companies and doctors have been accused of fueling the opioid crisis, but some question whether insurers have played a role, too. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/46 "2017-09-18T00:48:42Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > First a small quote from **Ann Hedonia’s** Minnpost link: > > And then: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/10/how-an-abuse-deterrent-drug-created-the-heroin-epidemic/?utm\_term=.93b2fd4a9e50](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/10/how-an-abuse-deterrent-drug-created-the-heroin-epidemic/?utm_term=.93b2fd4a9e50) > > 2010 seems to be the point when waves of people began switching from legal to illegal drugs, and illegal drugs cause more ODs. So in other words pain killer abuse was going up every year and lots and lots people abusing pain killers so called pain mills!! Than in 2010 the government started going after the doctors giving pain meds out like candy. And people turn to getting pain meds of the street and overdosing is now skyrocketing. So in other words have large part of society hooked on pain meds but alive or large part going underground and getting pain meds of the street and overdosing. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/47 "2017-09-18T02:32:13Z")
At least a wee bit less heroin is headed to Ohio. > **[Black Tar heroin bust in Moline](https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/Black-Tar-heroin-bust-in-Moline-444683973.html)** > > A search of the vehicle found 2 kilograms of black tar heroin wrapped in bundles and concealed in the spare tire of the vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/48 "2017-09-18T02:40:21Z")
This problem will not go away to some thing is done about Fentanyl. It is Fentanyl that is causing all these drug overdose. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/49 "2017-09-18T02:57:05Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > It is Fentanyl that is causing all these drug overdose. No. See: > **[Drug Overdose Death Rates | National Institute on Drug Abuse](https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates)** > > The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collects information on deaths involving many commonly used drugs ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/50 "2017-09-18T03:01:35Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > No. See: > [Drug Overdose Death Rates | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)](https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates) Yes but it is Fentanyl being cut in with these other drugs. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801/51 "2017-09-18T03:02:50Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > This problem will not go away to some thing is done about Fentanyl. > > It is Fentanyl that is causing all these drug overdose. No, it’s illegally produced Fentanyl. The legit Rx is not what’s winding up in the street drug supply. [From here.](https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/fentanyl.pdf) > [@](#): > > Licit fentanyl is diverted via theft, fraudulent prescriptions, > and illicit distribution by patients,physicians, > and pharmacists. > Illicitly manufactured fentanyl is chiefly responsible for the current domestic crisis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-is-suing-drug-manufacturers-alleging-they-are-culpable-for-the-opioid-epidemic/787801.md?page=2)