submitted by Matthew Masterson
As evidence continues to mount that the opioid epidemic is a direct result of the purposeful action of the pharmaceutical industry, including its manufacturers and distributors, the Rensselaer County Legislature voted unanimously at its July 11, 2017 meeting to authorize the County to retain a law firm and begin litigation against manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.[Private]
The New York City based firm of Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC will be retained to represent Rensselaer County at no cost to Rensselaer County taxpayers. Napoli Shkolnik also represents Nassau County in a similar lawsuit.
“We’ve seen research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 259 million prescriptions for opioids were written in 2012 alone. That’s enough to give every adult in America a bottle of pills and no one with an ounce of common sense could believe the pharmaceutical industry didn’t know what it was doing,” said Legislator Todd Tesman.
“The opioid addiction crisis is wreaking havoc across our communities and this lawsuit seeks to hold accountable those pharmaceutical companies that misled doctors and patients into thinking that these medications were not addictive and thus could be widely used. Our effort seeks to prevent the crisis from growing even farther,” stated Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen M. Jimino.
The lawsuit will seek to recover costs to the County as a direct result of the purposeful over-prescription of opioids. These costs include, but are not limited to: increased substance abuse programs, insurance and Medicaid costs, and increased law enforcement costs.
“Far too many people, including some in my hometown of Hoosick, have overdosed. I was proud to support authorizing the County to begin this much needed litigation,” said Legislator Jeff Wysocki. [/Private]