Justice Dept. Sues AmerisourceBergen Over Role in Opioid Crisis
More than 90,000 people died in the United States from drug overdoses in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioids were involved in close to 75 percent of those deaths.
Understand fentanyl’s effects. Fentanyl is a potent and fast-acting drug, two qualities that also make it highly addictive. A small quantity goes a long way, so it’s easy to suffer an overdose. With fentanyl, there is only a short window of time to intervene and save a person’s life during an overdose.
Stick to licensed pharmacies. Prescription drugs sold online or by unlicensed dealers marketed as OxyContin, Vicodin and Xanax are often laced with fentanyl. Only take pills that were prescribed by your doctor and came from a licensed pharmacy.
Talk to your loved ones. The best way to prevent fentanyl use is to educate your loved ones, including teens, about it. Explain what fentanyl is and that it can be found in pills bought online or from friends. Aim to establish an ongoing dialogue in short spurts rather than one long, formal conversation.
Learn how to spot an overdose. When someone overdoses from fentanyl, breathing slows and their skin often turns a bluish hue. If you think someone is overdosing, call 911 right away. If you’re concerned that a loved one could be exposed to fentanyl, you may want to buy naloxone, a medicine that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose and is often available at local pharmacies without prescription.
In the complaint, investigators cited five examples of violations, including at two pharmacies, one in Florida and one in West Virginia, where they said AmerisourceBergen knew that its drugs were likely being sold in parking lots for cash. They also cited violations involving pharmacies in New Jersey whose employees had been charged with drug offenses.
A fifth pharmacy, in Colorado, was the largest purchaser of oxycodone 30-milligram tablets in the state; investigators said that AmerisourceBergen knew this and continued to supply the pharmacy, even though 11 of its customers were identified as possibly having drug addictions. At least two of them later died of overdoses, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit is separate from a federal criminal inquiry into the company’s actions and a $26 billion settlement reached in February by several drug companies, including AmerisourceBergen, based in Conshohocken, Pa., in thousands of civil claims in state courts related to the opioid crisis.
“For years, AmerisourceBergen put its profits from opioid sales over the safety of Americans,” said Philip R. Sellinger, the U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey, in a call with reporters.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/29/us/politics/amerisourcebergen-opioids-lawsuit.html