Washington state's attorney general on Monday argued in court that three large drug distributors' excessive shipments of pain pills helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic, calling it the 'worst man-made public health crisis in history,' as the state sought to recoup an estimated $95 billion.
Lawyers for the state, led by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, said the companies fell short of their legal obligations to operate systems to prevent the diversion of pain pills from legitimate uses and to stop suspicious orders of opioids from going to pharmacies.
"Indeed, we know they were aware of the harms flowing from their conduct because in private correspondence company executives mocked individuals suffering the painful affects of opioid dependence," Ferguson said in his opening statement. "The consensus was that pain needed to be treated more aggressively and opioids were the right way to do it," she said.AmerisourceBergen lawyer Robert Nicholas, citing a government watchdog report, said the company reported all suspicious orders to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration but that agency failed to act on them.
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