Opioid epidemic has the US in its grip

Who is responsible?

Doctors, politicians, law enforcement officials and parents of those who have died ask the same questions: Who is responsible for the opioid epidemic? Does it represent an individual failure or a fatal flaw in US healthcare?

There is no easy answer.

OxyContin requires a doctor's prescription. While doctors running "pill mills" have written fraudulent prescriptions for vast quantities of OxyContin, is the maker of the drug responsible for its misuse any more than the manufacturer and marketer of an automobile involved in a hit-and-run accident or terrorist attack liable for the carnage caused?

Judges have said the manufacturer is responsible, and companies making opioids are apparently eager to settle the lawsuits.

Purdue Pharma offered to settle a case filed by Oklahoma in a state court for $270 million, a proposal that would have included $200 million for a new center at Oklahoma State University to study and treat opioid addiction.

Last month, an Oklahoma judge ruled in a similar case that rival company Johnson& Johnson must pay $572 million for its aggressive sales tactics related to opioids. The company said it would appeal the judge's ruling to a higher court. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, a Republican, is now focusing on a $17 billion claim that the company "abate" the "public nuisance" caused by opioid addiction, an argument that could easily be extended to Purdue Pharma and other drugmakers.