How an epic legal battle brought a secret drug database to light

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DEA’s Secrets and Lies –

Aug. 2, 2019 – She’s one lawyer of hundreds involved in a sprawling, costly, enormously complicated agglomeration of lawsuits filed against nearly two dozen big drug companies and now being litigated in federal court in Cleveland. The plaintiffs are approximately 2,000 cities, counties, Native American tribes and other local government entities. They accuse the drug manufacturers of understating the risks of the opioids, and accuse the distributors of failing to monitor suspiciously large orders.

These consolidated lawsuits have parallels with the lawsuits against major tobacco companies two decades ago. Joe Rice, one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in the opioids case, also led the tobacco litigation on behalf of dozens of state attorneys general. That case resulted in a landmark 1998 settlement in which the companies agreed to cease certain marketing practices and pay out more than $200 billion over the course of 25 years.