The government of Red River County, Texas has filed suit against Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and several other pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of contributing to the current opioid dependence crisis.

According to the opioid dependence lawsuit, the U.S is undergoing an epidemic of opioid addiction, allegedly caused by the “fraudulent marketing and sales of prescription opioids … that has resulted in addiction, criminal activity, and loss of life.”

The County says, is that the opioid crisis has been described as “the AIDS epidemic of our generation, but even worse.”

The opioid dependence lawsuit maintains that alleged health care providers have prescribed more than 289 million prescriptions for opioids. This is alleged to be enough for every adult in the U.S. to have more than one bottle.

According to the County, almost 2 million Americans in 2014 were addicted and had abused opioid medications. The same year, more people died from an opioid overdose than in any other year.

In Americans under 50 years old, accidental drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of death, and two-thirds of those deaths are due to opioid overdoses, the County says.

The cost of the opioid dependence epidemic tallies up to $78.5 billion, according to the complaint. This total includes costs related to “lost productivity and increased social services, health insurance costs, increased criminal justice presence and strain on judicial resources, and substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation.”

The opioid dependence lawsuit claims this epidemic didn’t just happen on its own. The County holds the defendants responsible for over-marketing prescription opioids for uses that created an unacceptable risk of addiction.

Opioid prescriptions include drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Opana, Percocet, Percodan, Roxicodone, and Avinza. Other opioid medications also include Fentanyl, Fentora, Duragesic, Ultram, and Ultracet.

In the past, opioid prescriptions were only used for short-term acute pain and for end-of-life palliative care. The opioid dependence lawsuit states that opioid prescriptions were considered to be “too addictive and debilitating for treating chronic pain, such as back pain, migraines, and arthritis.”

However, the opioid dependence lawsuit states that by the late 1990’s and early 2000s, that all changed. Defendants, such as Purdue Pharma and many others, began marketing and representing these medications as a treatment for chronic pain. They allegedly persuaded doctors and the medical community that they should be used for such conditions.

The opioid dependence lawsuit alleges that these defendants have spent and continued to spend millions of dollars to promote prescription opioid medication. They allegedly continue to promote the benefit of these drugs from chronic pain but never fully warn patients and consumers of their risks in doing so.

They allegedly downplayed the serious risks that such opioids may cause including the serious risk of addiction.

The Opioid Dependence Lawsuit is Case No. 5:17-cv-00185, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Texarkana Division.

In general, opioid addiction lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual opioid addictino lawsuit or opioid addiction class action lawsuit is best for you. Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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