While pharmaceutical companies tried introducing opioids to eliminate pain they’ve actually caused more of it for many. The leading cause is overdose. Every 10.7 seconds people are dying from opiates due the largest drug epidemic in American history. In an effort to fight back against these companies President Trump is urging that Attorney General Jeff Sessions sue some of the pharmaceutical companies. He insists that they are responsible for creating a drug crisis.
Trump told Sessions “I’d also like to ask you to bring a major lawsuit against the drug companies on opioids, some states have done it. But I’d like a lawsuit to be brought against these companies that are really sending opioids at a level that it shouldn’t be happening.”
Sessions stated that the Justice Department has supported state lawsuits against opioid companies that officials believe has led to this heartbreaking epidemic. In conjunction to this Trump is adamant about the Justice Department filing a separate federal lawsuit against certain drug companies. Trump was not specific about which companies he would like sued.
Sessions has the Justice Department seeking all legal angles to go after companies that he calls “abusive companies.”
This lawsuit will go beyond the United States. Trump is driven to take legal action against international companies also. China is number one on his list due to contributing to the massive flow of Fentanyl into America.
Trump likened what China is doing to warfare. “You have some pretty big companies sending that garbage and killing our people,” he said. Therefore, he is taking legal action against them.
“We absolutely will,” Sessions replied, when talking about these lawsuits. He added that the Justice Department is in the process of “returning indictments” against Chinese companies tied to the fentanyl.
Sessions also noted that the Justice Department has indicted almost 200 physicians who have unlawfully prescribed opioids.
Due to over prescribing and addiction the “Safe Opioid Prescribing Initiative” was put into effect. Under this initiative the Medical Board collects information on the top two percent of doctors who prescribe the highest amount of opioids and who have many patients. The board also collects data on doctors who have had patients die from opioid overdoses if the last prescription was within two months of the patient’s death.
On a better note, there is news of a possible pain medication being released that treats pain in the same way opioids do but it is a non-narcotic drug.
The function of opioids minimizes pain in a different way than other medication and therefore something likened to it but non-addictive is good news for many.
When you take an opioid, the drug attaches to parts of nerve cells called opioid receptors, where they can block pain but also produce pleasure. When these opioids were first prescribed they did not detail how addictive they were. The goal of a new non-narcotic would strictly treat pain without any type of euphoria.
