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October 21 opens in the United States an emblematic trial: that of opiates. Manufacturers and distributors of pain medication are accused of encouraging doctors to over-express these very powerful treatments without informing about the risks of addiction.
The file brings together no less than 2,300 complaints from local authorities who hope to make the pharmaceutical industry pay for the huge costs generated by this crisis, estimated at nearly 80 billion dollars a year in health costs, lost productivity and cost. for the penal system.
Originally, 24 laboratories and large pharmacy chains were prosecuted. But until the last moment, these companies struggled to find amicable agreements and put their hands in their pockets. Purdue Phama , considered one of the main culprits of this disaster, has thus agreed with 23 states and more than two thousand cities and counties, proposing to pour 10 billion to 12 billion dollars.
State of emergency in 2017
The Johnson and Johnson company will pay two counties a little more than $ 20 million to avoid a lawsuit that could have resulted in a much larger fine. Last August, an Oklahoma judge sentenced him to pay more than $ 450 million.
But Johnson and Johnson is still targeted by many other complaints. Except last-minute theatrical events, the agreements made by some of the accused will not have been enough to obtain the postponement of the trial which begins on October 21st.
From 1999 to 2017, before US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency , 400,000 Americans died from over-consumption of opioids.
► See also: The opiate crisis ravages the United States