Joining Milwaukee County and other municipalities, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced today that Dane County has hired law firms to assist the county in filing a federal lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic.
The epidemic has hit Dane County families hard, according to Parisi, with opioid deaths skyrocketing from 13 in 2000 to 85 in 2016.
“Everyone has been affected by this crisis, and it’s only growing,” Parisi said.
Many Dane County offices and agencies have seen an increase in workload in order to help alleviate the epidemic, including local healthcare providers, the medical examiner’s office, sheriff’s department, child-protective services, foster care, Dane County Emergency Management and others.
On average, 21 million opioid pills are dispensed to Dane County residents per year through more than 300,000 prescriptions, according to a press release from the County Executive’s office.
Due to pharmaceutical companies’ actions, misuse of prescription drugs has risen, according to Mary Kolar, Dane County Board supervisor. This prompted the county’s legal action against these companies.
According to Kolar, “aggressive and inappropriate marketing by [these companies] has led to misuse of opioids.” Kolar stressed the point of the lawsuit by indicating that the corporations need to be held “accountable for the tragic results of addiction, including death, that they made billions of dollars from.”
Dane County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan spoke on the partnership with the law firm and the impact that this epidemic has had on the community.
“There’s not one of us that hasn’t known an individual or family in our area [...] that aren’t impacted by this,” she said.
Corrigan said she is excited for Dane County to join other local governments in the fight against large pharmaceutical companies.
Over the coming months, Baron and Budd, the law firm working with Dane and Milwaukee counties, will continue drafting legal arguments along with the county in order to file the federal suit. The law team has not yet identified specific companies to file against.
