AAC
manufacturers, distributors, and criminally-convicted Arkan- sas pharmacies and healthcare professionals to seek a compre- hensive remedy to the Arkansas Opioid Epidemic. We’d like to again thank the 72 county judges who select- ed the legal team assembled by the Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC), including the AAC and several private law firms to represent the counties in this historic case. We are honored and humbled, and we are working as hard as we can toward the goal of securing a comprehensive solution to the Arkansas Opioid Epidemic. In the unified effort that we have named Opioid Justice for a United Arkansas, we seek a remedy for all of Arkansas, includ- ing all Arkansas counties and most importantly, Arkansas communities, Arkansas families, and Arkansas addicts.
I T
Te original com- plaint was filed on March 15 in Crittenden County Circuit Court. Te complaint alleges that since the late 1990s, opioid manufacturers have engaged in a multi- million dollar marketing scheme designed to mis- lead doctors and patients about the benefits and risks of prescription opi-
LITIGATION LESSONS Opioid justice for a united Arkansas
n a unique and unprecedented display of unity and collective action, nearly every Arkansas county has joined with a collection of Arkansas cities and the state as co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against 65 opioid
he complaint contends that prescription opioids have devastated public health and welfare in Ar-
kansas. Drug-poisoning deaths are now the leading cause of death in the United States — outnumbering those caused by firearms, car crashes, suicide, and homicide — and Arkansas has been at the forefront of the nation- al epidemic. Arkansas’ near tripling in overdose deaths since 2000 coincides with a span in which opioid sales have quadrupled in Arkansas.
oids, and to persuade doctors and patients that opioids should be prescribed long term to treat chronic pain. According to the complaint, the drug companies’ marketing campaign was wildly successful and reversed the widespread medical un- derstanding that opioids are addictive drugs, unsafe in most circumstances for long-term use. And according to the com- plaint, the deceptive marketing efforts of the drug companies created and fueled the opioid epidemic so that opioids are now the most prescribed class of drugs and generate billions of dol- lars in revenue for drug companies every year. Te complaint contends that prescription opioids have dev-
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astated public health and welfare in Arkansas. Drug-poisoning deaths are now the leading cause of injury and death in the United States — outnumbering those caused by firearms, car crashes, suicide, and homicide — and Arkansas has been at the forefront of the national epi- demic. Arkansas’ near tripling in overdose deaths since 2000 coin- cides with a span in which opioid sales have quadrupled in Arkansas. In 2016, Arkansas saw the number of drug overdose deaths rise to 401 — at least 335 of which were opioid-related. Tere are now more opioid pre- scriptions in Arkansas than people. Arkansas has the second highest opioid prescription rate in the country: 114.6 opioid prescriptions for every 100 persons. Drug companies sold over 235 million opioid pills across Arkansas in 2016, making opioids the top- selling class of prescrip- tion drug in Arkansas and more than twice as prevalent as the next highest selling prescrip- tion drug class. Accord- ing to the complaint, Arkansas is now awash in opioids and engulfed in a public health crisis, the likes of which has
Colin Jorgensen Risk Management Litigation Counsel
not been seen before. In addition to the direct problems of adult addiction, abuse, and overdose, the opioid epidemic has created a ripple effect, touching lives across all demographic groups and straining public resources. Te Arkansas Opioid Epidemic strains law enforcement,
courts, hospitals, and jails and prisons. It contributes to com- munity blight, lost productivity, and lost tax revenue for state and local government. Arkansas’ prosecutors and other state officials, county judges, mayors, sheriffs, police chiefs, coro- ners, and other local officials desperately want to do what they can to remediate this epidemic. We need to increase public
COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2018
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