General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe governments struggle to hold opioid manufacturers accountable
To combat an escalating opioid epidemic, the Drug Enforcement Administration trained its sights in 2011 on Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, one of the nations largest manufacturers of the highly addictive generic painkiller oxycodone.
It was the first time the DEA had targeted a manufacturer of opioids for alleged violations of laws designed to prevent diversion of legal narcotics to the black market. And it would become the largest prescription-drug case the agency has pursued.
Ultimately, the DEA and federal prosecutors would contend that the company ignored its responsibility to report suspicious orders as 500 million of its pills ended up in Florida between 2008 and 2012 66 percent of all oxycodone sold in the state. Government investigators alleged in internal documents that the companys lack of due diligence could have resulted in nearly 44,000 federal violations and exposed it to $2.3 billion in fines, according to confidential government records and emails obtained by The Washington Post.
But six years later, after four investigations that spanned five states, the government has taken no legal action against Mallinckrodt. Instead, the company has reached a tentative settlement with federal prosecutors, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Under the proposal, which remains confidential, Mallinckrodt would agree to pay a $35 million fine and admit no wrongdoing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/dea-mallinckrodt/?utm_term=.0f1b839f048a&wpisrc=al_alert-national&wpmk=1
IdiotsforPalin
(168 posts)Things will not get better.
kimbutgar
(20,882 posts)Reagan incarcerated a lot of crack users and but turned a blind eye to cocaine the rich white person drug. I knew rich white coke heads in 80's. it's a destructive drug like these opioids today.
Squinch
(50,774 posts)illness deserving of empathy.
Gosh. What a coincidence!