This afternoon an Oklahoma judge will deliver a landmark ruling that will determine Johnson & Johnson's responsibility for the opioid epidemic in the state—to the tune of $17.2 billion in possible damages, CNN reports.
August 23, 2019
As many as 250,000 newborns exposed to opioids in utero are caught in a legal tussle between lawyers seeking a separate trial for them and a judge who has rebuffed their requests. As a nationwide prescription opioid lawsuit heads to trial in a couple months in Ohio, lawyers…
August 14, 2019
In a new report and accompanying book, Brown University political scientist Peter Andreas lays out the inextricable relationship between war and psychoactive substances. Some examples:
August 12, 2019
There’s a problem with US President Trump’s new plan giving states, wholesalers, and pharmacies a green light to import cheaper drugs from Canada: Canadians are not on board. They say it will exacerbate their own drug shortage. Health officials and industry reps will meet…
July 26, 2019
Across the MENA region, tramadol abuse is on the rise. The synthetic opioid is 1/10th the strength of morphine and lightly regulated. But it’s not benign. Tramadol causes a heroin-like euphoria with high addiction potential and dangerous side-effects including aggression…
July 17, 2019
76 billion. The number is far beyond human imagination—but not for America’s drug companies, which sold 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills from 2006-2012. A US district judge in Cleveland on Monday ordered a portion of a massive government database opened…
July 15, 2019
By Inon Schenker & Emma Brofsky “Poop” is not something we like to talk about publicly much less smell or see.
July 5, 2019
After 26 heroin overdoses in a single day, Huntington, West Virginia authorities were desperate for solutions. They eventually turned to big data. New patient-tracking software streamlined police, medics and mental health providers and identified hot spots in need of…
June 27, 2019
Drugmakers, doctors and regulators have been blamed by many for America’s opioid crisis. But judges are also culpable, a Reuters investigation found. Numerous judges who have—and are—adjudicating cases against Purdue Pharma have allowed damning evidence against the…
June 20, 2019
David Sackler says his family isn’t to blame for the opioid crisis. In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Sackler hit back against widespread accusations that the family firm, Purdue Pharma, spurred the crisis with aggressive and misleading marketing of OxyContin.