Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/799197
ByPhuongLe TheAssociatedPress EVERETT,WASH. Asdeaths from painkillers and her- oin abuse spiked and street crimes increased, the mayor of Everett took major steps to tackle the opioid epidemic devastat- ing this working-class city north of Seattle. Mayor Ray Stephanson stepped up patrols, hired social workers to ride with officers and pushed for more permanent hous- ing for chronically home- less people. The city says it has spent millions combat- ing OxyContin and heroin abuse—andexpectsthetab to rise. So Everett is suing Pur- due Pharma, maker of the opioid pain medication OxyContin, in an unusual case that alleges the drug- maker knowingly allowed pills to be funneled into the black market and the city of about 108,000. Everett alleges the drugmaker did nothing to stop it and must pay for damages caused to the community. Everett's lawsuit, now in federal court in Seattle, ac- cuses Purdue Pharma of gross negligence and nui- sance. The city seeks to hold the company account- able, the lawsuit alleges, for "supplying OxyContin to obviously suspicious phar- macies and physicians and enabling the illegal diver- sion of OxyContin into the black market" and into Ev- erett, despite a company program to track suspi- cious flows. "Our community has been significantly dam- aged, and we need to be made whole," said Stepha- nson, who grew up in Ever- ett and is its longest-serv- ing mayor, holding the job since 2003. He said the opioid crisis caused by "Purdue's drive forprofit"has overwhelmed the city's resources, stretch- ing everyone from first re- sponders to park crews who clean up discarded sy- ringes. The lawsuit doesn't say how much money the city is seeking, but the mayor says Everett will at- tempt to quantify its costs in coming months. Connecticut-based Pur- due Pharma says the law- suit paints a flawed and inaccurate picture of the events that led to the crisis in Everett. "We look forward to pre- senting the facts in court," the company said in a state- ment. Purdue said it is "deeply troubled by the abuse and misuse of our medication," and noted it leads the in- dustry in developing med- icines with properties that deter abuse, even though its products account for less than 2 percent of all U.S. opioid prescriptions. In 2007, Purdue Pharma and its executives paid more than $630 million in legal penalties to the fed- eral government for will- fully misrepresenting the drug's addiction risks. The same year, it also settled with Washington and other statesthatclaimedthecom- pany aggressively marketed OxyContin to doctors while downplaying the addiction risk. As part of that settle- ment, it agreed to continue internal controls to iden- tify potential diversion or abuse. While numerous individ- uals and states have sued Purdue, this case is differ- ent because Everett is get- ting at the results of addic- tion, said Elizabeth Porter, associate law professor at the University of Washing- ton. She thinks Everett may have a shot at winning, though it will have to over- come some legal burdens, including showing that di- verted OxyContin from rogue doctors and pharma- cies wasasubstantial factor in the city's epidemic. Stephanson said he was "absolutely outraged" after the Los Angeles Times re- portedlastsummeritfound Purdue had evidence that pointed to illegal traffick- ing of its pills but in many cases did nothing to no- tify authorities or stop the flow. That newspaper inves- tigation prompted the city's lawsuit. In response to the news- paper's reporting, Purdue said in a statement that in 2007, it provided LA-area law enforcement informa- tion that helped lead to the convictions of the criminal prescribers and pharma- cists referenced by the Los Angeles Times. The com- pany also pointed to court documents that showed a wholesaler alerted the Drug Enforcement Administra- tion about suspicious activ- ity at a sham clinic noted in the newspaper's story. Still, Everett contends Purduecreatedamarketfor addicts that didn't exist un- til the company let its pills flood the streets. The region saw two spikes in overdose deaths: first from OxyContin and other opioid painkillers in 2008 and then, after the drug was reformulated in 2010, a spike from heroin as people switched to a potent but cheaper alternative, of- ficials said. The city contends Pur- due's wrongful conduct fu- eled a heroin crisis in Ever- ett. Between 2011 and 2013, nearly one in five heroin-re- lated deaths in Washington state occurred in the Ever- ett region. In response to the drug epidemic, Everett last year began sending social workers on routine pa- trols with police officers. Sgt. Mike Braley says the community outreach and enforcement team strikes a balance between en- forcement and connecting people to addiction treat- ment, mental health and other services. OPIOID EPIDEMIC Cityallegesdrugmakerlet OxyContin flood black market By Sadie Gurman The Associated Press WASHINGTON Attorney General Jeff Sessions is promising his Justice De- partment will lead the charge in helping cities fight violent crime, and police chiefs are ready with their wish-lists. More technology to trace guns after shootings. More grant money. More intelli- gence analysts to help dis- mantle gangs. More protec- tive gear and equipment. As the head of one police offi- cers' union put it, "We need more of everything." But Sessions, who cut his teeth as a federal prosecu- tor in Mobile, Alabama, at the height of the drug war in the 1980s, has inherited a federal government that built itself to fight terrorism since9/11and,morerecently, to combat cybercrime. Since taking office, Ses- sions has spoken repeat- edly about a spike in mur- ders. He and President Don- ald Trump ordered the creation of a crime-fighting task force, bringing together the heads of the major law enforcement agencies. And they seem to be counting on tighter border security to stop a flow of drugs and re- duce crime. But they have yet to offer new money for crime-fight- ing, especially in the face of Trump's plan to slash non- military budgets. More clar- ity could come Thursday whentheadministrationun- veilsitsbudgetproposal.Ses- sions also has not said how federal law enforcement will be able to juggle priorities. "He'llfindoutveryquickly that you can't pull people off all these other things just to go do that," said Robert An- derson, who was the FBI's most senior criminal inves- tigator until his retirement in 2015. Anderson joined the bureau in the 1990s, when combating violence and drugs was its top challenge. "Now he's walking into a much different Justice De- partment and FBI." Kerry Sleeper, assistant directoroftheFBIofficethat workswithlocallawenforce- ment,saidthatafterdecades ofdeclinesinviolence,police chiefs are coming to grips with a new uptick and ask- ing for federal help. What they'd like to see: — In Milwaukee, Police Chief Edward Flynn said he would like an expansion of the work done in that city by the Justice Department's Vi- olenceReductionNetwork.It teams officers with deputy U.S. marshals and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex- plosives and the Drug En- forcementAdministrationto target high-crime areas. "It's encouraging to have an in- coming administration take an interest in the spikes in violence in central cities," he told The Associated Press. — In Baltimore, which re- corded 318 homicides last year, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis has said he wouldlikefederalagenciesto double the number of agents assigned to cities experienc- ing spikes in violence. — In Chicago, singled out by the White House for its surgeinshootings,PoliceSu- perintendent Eddie Johnson has said he would welcome more agents and money for mentorship and after-school programs to help kids in vi- olent neighborhoods and, in turn, reduce crime. Other cities want help processing evidence, trac- ing guns and prosecuting drug traffickers and dealers as they combat heroin and opioid addiction. US ATTORNEY GENERAL Tight budgets could complicate Sessions' vow to fight crime ELAINETHOMPSON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A discarded syringe in the dirt under a highway overpass where drug users are known to congregate in Everett, Wash. ER IC R ISBE RG — T HE A SS OC IA TE D P RE SS Oa kl an d p ol ic e d et ec ti ve s a nd FB I a gen ts w or k t og et her in t he o ffi ce s o f t he O ak la nd S af e S tr ee ts T as k Fo rce i n Oa kl an d S ta nd in g a t le is O ak la nd h om ic id e de te ct iv e Ja so n T ur ner . You'reInvited iTodos están invitados! to Los Molinos High School SpringShowcase on Wednesday, March 22nd @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm 7900 Sherwood Blvd., Los Molinos Come & Experience Why Los Molinos High is Unique! 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