Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has announced that he has joined a coalition of 40 other state attorneys general seeking information from manufacturers of prescription opioids. The coalition is another step in the multi-state investigation into the impending nationwide opioid epidemic.
The attorneys general served Civil Investigative Demands on several opioid manufacturers, including Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan, and Purdue Pharma. The demands subpoena documents related to the marketing and sale of prescription opioids. The attorneys general also subpoenaed information from several opioid distributers, including AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.
Attorney General Marshall weighed in on the importance of the coalition in a press release on Tuesday.
“Opioid abuse has reached a crisis level in Alabama and in many portions of the country, and earlier this year I joined with fellow attorneys general in investigating what role opioid manufacturers may have had in creating or prolonging the opioid abuse epidemic, and to establish the appropriate course of action to help solve this crisis. Our investigation continues as we seek information from drug manufacturers and distributors to help determine whether they engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids.”
Marshall was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey in August to serve as a co-chair on the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. The council is charged with examining the opioid crisis and discovering ways to reduce its harmful impact on Alabamians. It held its first organizational meeting on September 5.
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Opioids have become the main contributor to drug overdoses both nationwide and in Alabama over the past few years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 33,091 opioid related deaths in the United States in 2015, including 736 in Alabama. Opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999. These staggering statistics have led to unprecedented work by legislators and officials across the nation to curtail the harmful effects of this epidemic.
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