The Opioid Crisis: All Dollars, No Sense.
Companies have paid millions, hundreds of millions, soon to be billions, of dollars in settlements — what impact does it have on their bottom line?
Drug overdose is the leading cause of death for those under the age of 50 and sixty percent of those deaths are attributable to opioids. It almost goes without saying that in America, the abuse of opioids has reached epidemic proportions.
Independent of the emotional toll addiction takes on family, friends and colleagues it’s costly to the federal and state governments that have to deal with it. According to the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) when you consider public healthcare, treatment facilities, law enforcement, criminal justice and jail expenses, drug abuse costs approximately $75 billion per year.
In the past twelve years, both the state and federal government have decided to hold drug companies and distributors accountable. Companies such as Cardinal Health, McKesson Corporation, Purdue Pharma and Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), but there are many of these companies.
In some cases, these companies have been sued and reached sizable settlements with either the state or federal government, sometimes both…
