Orlando city leaders have voted to join other governments across the United States in suing drug-makers and distributors over the opioid epidemic.
“By now, most Americans have been affected, either directly or indirectly, by the opioid disaster. But few realize that this crisis arose from the opioid manufacturers’ deliberately deceptive marketing strategy to expand opioid use, together with the distributors’ equally deliberate efforts to evade restrictions on opioid distribution,” according to the complaint filed in United States District Court, Middle District Of Florida.
Since 2016, the District 9 Medical Examiner’s Office, covering Orange and Osceola counties, has accounted for more than 1,000 deaths related to the drugs since 2016 — 339 last year. Through September, the office has counted 160 opioid-related deaths.
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“This suit takes aim at the two primary causes of the opioid crisis: (a) a marketing scheme based on the false and deceptive marketing of prescription opioids, which was designed to dramatically increase the demand for and sale of opioids and opioid prescriptions; and (b) a supply chain scheme, pursuant to which the various entities in the supply chain failed to design and operate systems to identify suspicious orders of prescription opioids, maintain effective controls against diversion, and halt suspicious orders when they were identified, thereby contributing to the oversupply of such drugs,” according to the complaint.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in 2016, District 6, which is Pasco and Pinellas Counties, experienced the highest number of oxycodone deaths in Florida.