The opioid crisis has led to 893 deaths from 2016 to 2020 in the state. | Pixabay
The opioid crisis has led to 893 deaths from 2016 to 2020 in the state. | Pixabay
A pharmaceutical company agreed on a settlement for its role in the opioid crisis with the state of Iowa receiving a significant amount of monetary compensation.
Republican Attorney General Tom Miller said in a press release that the state will receive $25 million of a $4.3 billion settlement from Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, the Des Moines Register reported.
The company was involved in the marketing of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, which has resulted in over 3,000 lawsuits regarding the company’s contribution to a crisis that has killed more than 500,000 Americans, the Des Moines Register reported.
James B. Ray, who holds a Doctor of Pharmacy and is a clinical associate professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Iowa, said there were a litany of reasons people turn to using opioids.
"Some people have taken prescription opioids for pain and utilized the opioid for medicating other issues in their life," Ray told Iowa Times. "If the source of the prescription opioid is no longer available or significantly limited, then they turn to other sources. Heroin is no longer the predominant illicit opioid in North America, it is illicit fentanyl (not the pharmaceutically manufactured product)."
Thousands of individual victims in Iowa will receive a share of the settlement, Miller said as he added that the company should be held accountable.
"No settlement could ever be enough to make up for the misconduct by the Sacklers and the company," he said, according to the Des Moines Register. "This agreement is in the best interests of Iowans, however, and will go a long way toward abating the opioid crisis the defendants helped create."
The Iowa Department of Public Health has tracked 893 deaths involving opioids from 2016 to 2020. Prescription painkillers like OxyContin often leave people to transition to street opioids such as heroin and about 60% of the deaths could be directly traced back to pain relievers, state officials said, according to the Des Moines Register.
Responsibility for the safe and effective use of opioids falls to all health care providers, not just physicians, Ray said.
"Becoming better educated about how to manage pain is an important role all healthcare providers can assume,” he said. “Unfortunately, not enough time is dedicated to training healthcare professionals about how to effectively assess and manage pain and the important elements of risk management related to the use of drugs like opioids in North America."
A study published in April by the Centers for Disease Control put the economic impact of the opioid crisis on the state at $6.1 million in 2017, the Des Moines Register reported.
"Purdue officials repeatedly made false and deceptive claims that OxyContin was safe and suitable for a wide range of pain patients," the Attorney General's office alleged in the state’s lawsuit against Purdue in 2019. Thirty-six Iowa counties filed lawsuits of their own, the Des Moines Register reported.
Ray said the opioid epidemic goes beyond just opioids, but drugs in general along with individuals seeking to medicate themselves for a variety of reasons.
"Hopefully, local health departments, in partnership with civic and community leaders will work toward developing recovery support services and implement harm reduction strategies across the state," he said.
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