Mariana Ramos
The average life expectancy in the U.S. used to be 78.6 years in 2016, a decline from 78.7 years in 2015. Drug overdose deaths increased by 21 percent in 2016 from 2015.
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The National Center for Health Statistics, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released the figures on Thursday in reports on life expectancy and drug overdose deaths. The results are jarring to say the least, and Chicago attorneys are sick of big pharma making money off of it.
Drug overdose deaths rose to a peak 63,000 and they alone are to blame for the overall decline in longevity. Around 42,000 of which involved opioids, according to CDC data.
Although these numbers have been rising steadily since 1999, the 21 percent jump in deaths over 2015 was the largest annual increase so far. Drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl and fentanyl analogs have increased an average of 88 percent each year from 2013 to 2016, helping to drive the surge.
Heroin was tied to 15,500 deaths and prescription painkillers to 14,500 deaths. The balance of the overdose deaths involved sedatives, cocaine and methamphetamines.
More than one drug is often involved in an overdose death. The highest drug death rates were among users ages 25 to 54.
Illinois attorney’s are tired standing idly by as the numbers get worst. Several counties in the state are suing pharmaceutical companies and physicians over the consequences of excessive opioid use.
State’s Attorneys from DuPage, Lake, Will, McHenry and Kane counties are banding together to file lawsuits against several major pharmaceutical companies and several doctors alleging they are to blame for the opioid crisis.
The lawsuits accuse the defendants of using a deliberate and intentionally fraudulent marketing campaigns to encourage the use of opioids for long term pain management.
Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said prescription pain killers like OxyContin were originally developed for cancer patients for short term pain treatment. Doctors, believing the drugs were safe, prescribed them and in many cases created drug addicts, McMahon said.
The States Attorneys said many of those prescription drug addicts eventually turn to heroin.
“The source of this crisis is not on street corners but in board rooms,” said Mike Nerheim, Lake County State’s Attorney.
The lawsuits are seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the millions of dollars that the counties spend each year to combat drug related crimes, and the public nuisance created by the companies’ deceptive marketing campaigns.
The lawsuits also cite the millions of dollars spent each year for health care costs from prescription opioid dependency. There will be no legal costs to taxpayers.
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Private law firms who are representing the counties will receive 25 percent of whatever money is recovered as payment. The lawsuits are expected to take years to wind through the courts.
“We don’t expect to lose,” said James Glasgow, Will County State’s Attorney.
