Swordsmyth
06-16-2017, 10:10 PM
Three Tennessee district attorneys are the latest prosecutors to file suit against the drug makers, joining a group that includes the attorneys general of Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi, New York and Santa Clara and Orange County in California – not to mention the Cherokee Nation (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-24/cherokee-nation-files-lawsuit-against-big-pharma-over-opioid-epidemic). But the Tennessee prosecutors' approach differs from their peers in one unique way:
They are suing under the state’s long-ridiculed and rarely used “crack tax” law, which would hold Big Pharma liable for damages as if they were street-level drug dealers, the Knoxville News Sentinel (http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/06/13/tennessee-counties-slap-big-pharma-lawsuit-over-opioid-epidemic-costs/390328001/)reported.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user245717/imageroot/2017/06/10/lawyer_0.JPG (http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user245717/imageroot/2017/06/10/lawyer.JPG)
While the companies targeted by individual states differ, prosecutors are all alleging similar misconduct: That the pharmaceutical companies leaned on researchers to play down the drugs’ addictive qualities, while spending millions on marketing them to both patients and doctors.
More at: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-14/tennessee-counties-sue-opioid-makers-using-local-crack-tax-law
They are suing under the state’s long-ridiculed and rarely used “crack tax” law, which would hold Big Pharma liable for damages as if they were street-level drug dealers, the Knoxville News Sentinel (http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/06/13/tennessee-counties-slap-big-pharma-lawsuit-over-opioid-epidemic-costs/390328001/)reported.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user245717/imageroot/2017/06/10/lawyer_0.JPG (http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user245717/imageroot/2017/06/10/lawyer.JPG)
While the companies targeted by individual states differ, prosecutors are all alleging similar misconduct: That the pharmaceutical companies leaned on researchers to play down the drugs’ addictive qualities, while spending millions on marketing them to both patients and doctors.
More at: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-14/tennessee-counties-sue-opioid-makers-using-local-crack-tax-law