Metro Atlanta Governments Sue Drug Makers Over Opioid Crisis

Metro Atlanta Governments Sue Drug Makers Over Opioid Crisis

Introduction

Atlanta and six metro area counties filed a federal lawsuit against more than two dozen drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and prescription drug brokers, arguing that their involvement in the opioid crisis constitutes a public nuisance.

The case is just one of the hundreds filed by Georgia towns and counties demanding compensation from the pharmaceutical industry for its part in the proliferation of addictive and strong painkillers.

Local governments allege they were financially affected because they were forced to pay insurance claims when their employees were supplied opioids they did not require.

According to the complaint, taxpayers have paid millions of dollars each year to battle the public nuisance caused by (the firms') fraudulent marketing strategy, including healthcare expenses, criminal justice and victimization costs, social costs, and lost productivity costs.

The agencies also claim the firms injured individuals in the Atlanta metro region, which has historically been a hotspot for opioid addiction, overdoses, and fatalities.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, 2,390 persons died from drug overdoses in Georgia in 2021, with opioids accounting for 71% of the deaths. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of opioid-related fatalities in the state more than tripled.

The firms have yet to respond in court. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, the principal defendant, did not immediately reply to an AJC request for comment.

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, demands compensatory and punitive damages from the firms in a jury trial. It claims that they conspired to distribute a "patently ridiculous" amount of opioids, in part by distributing disinformation to patients and clinicians that exaggerated the advantages of opioids while downplaying the risk of addiction.

The lawsuit also says that the businesses ignored their legal obligations to safeguard public health while making "enormous profits by flooding the country with prescribed opioids."

The city was joined in the case by Clayton, DeKalb, Forsyth, Fulton, Henry, and Rockdale counties. Cobb County filed a similar public nuisance case against several of the same corporations in 2021, including Publix Super Stores, which countersued the county in February. The case is now proceeding in a federal court in Ohio.