Wisdom of another opioid lawsuit questioned

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“Trump’s directive for a ‘major lawsuit’ [against opioid manufacturers] made at a Cabinet meeting Thursday, ‘doesn’t make sense,’ said James Tierney, former attorney general of Maine. ‘There’s so much leverage that the federal government already has. They don’t need to use a court system.’

.... ‘If the president really wanted to do something about opioids,’ Tierney said, he could implement many of the 56 final recommendations, widely praised, from the commission he appointed Chris Christie to lead two months after taking office.”

Sarah Owermohle, "Wisdom of another opioid lawsuit questioned," Prescription Pulse, Politico, August 20, 2018.

Vice News Interview: Are opioids the new Big Tobacco?

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“A number of Attorneys General began investigating the marketing practices of the opioid industry using a tobacco model. Now the judge could do several things. He’s got to figure out a way to sort through these law suits and to settle them in a way that money goes to public health and doesn’t just waste it the way they did much of the tobacco dollars. We should use it to address the huge issue at the moment which is the inability of addicts, 2.2 million addicts, to get appropriate care.”

Cassandra Giraldo, Here’s why Big Pharma won’t pay for opioid deaths like Big Tobacco pays for cancer, Vice News, Apr 23, 2018.

For the full interview, "Are opioids the new Big Tobacco?," see the April 16, 2018 episode of Vice News Tonight, available on HBO.

BuzzFeed: We Took On Big Tobacco. It's Time To Take On Big Opioid.

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“We need to start discussing the contours of an opioid settlement today, and to demand that public health principles be front and center. Without that discussion, and the priorities that emerge from it, we are destined to repeat past mistakes that must not be repeated.”
— James Tierney

James E. Tierney, "It's Time To Take On Big Opioid Like We Did With Big Tobacco," BuzzFeed News, January 10, 2018.

Related Reading

Several Probes Target Insulin Drug Pricing

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“James Tierney, former attorney general of Maine and a lecturer at Harvard Law School, said the civil investigative demands are not uncommon and the companies ‘may be totally innocent.’

It’s difficult to know exactly what the state and federal prosecutors are looking for, though, Tierney said. The investigations are often sealed from the public, revealed primarily when public companies acknowledge receiving them in their financial filings.”

Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News, "Several Probes Target Insulin Drug Pricing," NBC News, Oct. 28 2017.

Opioids As The New Big Tobacco

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“‘[I]f you’re going to get money, don’t make the mistake in tobacco and let it be used by whatever the legislature wants. They’ll use it to pave roads.’”

James Tierney interviewed on recent lawsuits by state attorneys general against opioid manufacturers that are reminiscent of lawsuits brought by states in the 1990s against the tobacco industry.

Ailsa Chang, "Opioids As The New Big Tobacco," Morning Edition: Planet Money, NPR, June 30, 2017.

Ohio Opioid Suit Echoes Tobacco Cases

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“‘Opioids aren’t tobacco,’ said James Tierney, a former Maine attorney general who was a consultant to the states suing the tobacco industry and helped coordinate their legal and press strategy[...]Opioids, when used medically to relieve pain, can have significant health benefits. ‘Opioids aren’t an inherently evil product,’ said Mr. Tierney. ‘Tobacco companies could never come in and say tobacco products are good for you. There are legitimate purposes for opioids.’”