THEY SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH FACES –
Dec. 8, 2021- “For more than two decades, opioids have wreaked havoc on New Yorkers and Americans across the nation — causing pain, addiction and death,” Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our ongoing trial has been about the role companies like Allergan and its predecessors played in helping grow this epidemic, profiting while Americans suffered. As part of the settlement, Allergan will be barred from selling opioids in New York for the next 10 years. Katharine Nichols, a spokeswoman for AbbVie, the parent company, said that in 2020 Allergan had already voluntarily discontinued its branded prescription opioid business, which according to the company made up less than 1 percent of prescriptions nationwide.
In New York, the settlements could reach $1.7 billion if certain conditions are met, and the money will be distributed to communities hit by the opioid crisis. The money will be used to pay for addiction prevention programs and treatment services, according to the attorney general’s office, in an effort to mitigate the harm that lawyers argued the companies caused.
