Clark County and Vancouver have joined the thousands of municipalities across the country suing for damages wrought by opioids.
Earlier this month, the city of Vancouver filed a 139-page lawsuit that names the Sackler family, owners of OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, as well as health care giant Johnson & Johnson and pharmacy Walgreens Co.
Clark County filed a similar suit last year, citing the drug’s drain on public resources.
The exact cost of the local opioid crisis is unknown, said Assistant City Attorney Dan Lloyd. But he added that it’s definitely “not insignificant.”
“The city’s efforts to address homelessness over the past few years are well documented, and the opioid crisis has undoubtedly played a major role in that,” he told The Columbian on Oct. 3.
The county’s 2018 suit has since joined a broad legal action representing 23 states and more than 2,000 localities in the Northern District of Ohio. It’s likely the Vancouver lawsuit will go the same way, Lloyd said.
The Ohio case has already reached a tentative settlement that would see the Sacklers pay out roughly $3 billion over several years and relinquish control of the company. Details of that deal, like how the money will be divvied up among the plaintiffs, haven’t been decided.
Communities affected by opioids feel the financial burden “through the need for increased emergency medical services, but also through increased drug related offenses affecting law enforcement, corrections, and courts, and through additional resources spent on community and social programs,” the Vancouver lawsuit states. The drug crisis also impacts the next generation, the suit adds, “who are growing up in the shadow of the opioid epidemic.”
