In Upcoming Opioid Case, Lawyers Want To Expose Underbelly Of Johnson & Johnson’s Family-Friendly Image
The upcoming trial will be the first in the United States to result from about 2,000 lawsuits seeking to hold painkiller manufacturers responsible for contributing to the opioid epidemic. In the trial that will be televised live, Oklahoma state lawyers will argue that, until 2016, two of the company’s subsidiaries grew, improved and provided the narcotic ingredients for much of the U.S. prescription opioid supply, failing to intervene as the drugs’ damage grew, and that it targeted children with its marketing. In other news on the drug crisis: jails and addiction medication, nurses' authority, overdose deaths and more.
The Washington Post:
Spotlight Shifts To Johnson & Johnson As First Major Opioid Trial Nears In Oklahoma
Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest health-care conglomerates, nurtures a family-friendly image as it sells Band-Aids and baby shampoo, soaps and skin creams. “We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well,” reads a sentence in the company credo, written in 1943 by Robert Wood Johnson, a member of the company’s founding family. But, by connecting it to an epidemic that has ravaged the country for two decades, Oklahoma’s attorney general plans to expose another side of the company when the first major state trial of the opioid era begins later this month. (Bernstein, 5/4)
NPR:
A Federal Court Ruling May Nudge More Jails And Prisons To Offer Addiction Meds
This week, a federal appeals court addressed the right to treatment for an inmate who suffers from opioid addiction, a move that legal advocates say could have wide repercussions. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston ruled that a rural Maine jail must provide Brenda Smith with medication for her opioid use disorder. One of her attorneys, Emma Bond, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Maine, says the new ruling has the potential to create a "big signal" for jails across the country and combat the social barriers preventing incarcerated people from receiving treatment. (Arnold, 5/4)
KQED:
Could Expanding Nurse’s Scope Of Care Help Fight The Opioid Epidemic In California?
Buprenorphine can be prescribed by both doctors and nurses who have taken specific training and received a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration. ...In California, however, the role of nurses is limited: They can prescribe the medicine, but only under the oversight of a doctor. That requirement is controversial. Some say it is an extra hurdle that restricts access to medications, while others say it is an appropriate limit of a nurse's scope of care. (Klivans, 5/3)
MPR:
Lawmakers Try To Dislodge Opioid Response Bill
Plans passed by the House and Senate to respond to Minnesota's epidemic of opioid abuse overlap in many areas. ... But as public deliberations resume Monday with a House-Senate conference committee, a key sticking point remains. Lawmakers are struggling with how the fees are structured. (Bakst, 5/6)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Overdose Deaths: Milwaukee Rolls Out New Effort On Opioids
Dubbed the Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative, the effort puts into practice the recommendations of the Milwaukee City-County Heroin, Opioid, and Cocaine Task Force. It aims to save lives by finding trends in data while also providing more direct avenues to treatment and providing in-school education. (Dirr, 5/3)
North Carolina Health News:
Substance Abuse And Eating Disorder Often Go Hand-In-Hand
Experts say people use substances and behaviors associated with eating disorder to self-treat underlying, often undiagnosed, mental health issues. However, there’s an overall lack of eating disorder specialists in North Carolina and even fewer who are equipped to treat co-occurring disorders, even as there’s a dire need. In the U.S., about 20 million women and 10 million men will experience an eating disorder at some point, according to the association. (Knopf, 5/6)
