Federal Judge Orders
Release Of Dataset Showing Drug Industry's Role In Opioid Crisis
For the first time, a federal court in Ohio is releasing a trove
of data that offers far more detail about the size and scope of the nation's
opioid epidemic — and about the role played by drug companies and pharmacies
like CVS, Walgreens and Johnson & Johnson that profited from the rapid
growth of prescription opioid sales.
"I don't think America truly understands the scope and
depth, the level of penetration these pills had in their communities,"
says Paul Farrell with the firm Greene, Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweel.
"It's going to be an awakening."
Farrell is one of three co-lead attorneys suing the
pharmaceutical industry as part of the largest consolidated civil lawsuit
related to drug industry's role in the opioid epidemic in the U.S., scheduled
to go to trial in October.
Some drug companies fought in court to keep the information
secret, arguing that it contains proprietary details about their business
practices. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also resisted releasing the
data, arguing that it included sensitive information used by law enforcement.
But a large portion of the searchable database, known as ARCOS, is set to be releasedin an order signed by Judge Dan Polster on Monday. Once available to the public later this week, it will offer a transaction-by-transaction account of how opioid pain pills were made, distributed and sold by pharmacy chains from 2006 through 2012 when the addiction epidemic was growing fast.
The data also shows exactly which communities around the U.S.
were hardest hit, as pharmacies began dispensing more and more highly addictive
medications.
Polster is overseeing the consolidated lawsuit in Ohio
involving more than 1,200 local governments suing 23 of the biggest firms in
the drug industry, ranging from drug manufacturers like Purdue Pharma to
wholesale distributors including McKesson and Cardinal Health.
Also named in the suit are retail
pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens.
While much of the media scrutiny and recent high profile
lawsuits have highlighted how drug manufacturers allegedly fueled the epidemic,
the ARCOS data is expected to clarify the role played by distributors and
pharmacies.
"You'll be able to see the flow, the steady flow of pills —
it's not a trickle, it's a tsunami," Farrell says.
"In my hometown of Huntington, W.Va., there are 24 CVS
pharmacies within 40 miles of my house. From those 24 pharmacies, you'll be
able to see that 80 million [opioid] pills were distributed [over a six year
period]."
The population in that region of the Ohio River valley is
roughly 100,000 people.
The data-sets began to be reported by the drug industry —
manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies — beginning in 2006. They were
compiled by the DEA.
Judge Polster declined to immediately release data to the public
collected after 2012 because of concerns raised by the DEA that it could
interfere with on-going criminal investigations.
In court documents last year, Polster described the data as
"extremely informative," adding that the transaction records reveal
"the precise number of opioid pills delivered to each city and county in
America, partitioned by manufacturer and distributor and pharmacy."
Mike DeAngelis, a spokesman for CVS, one of the nation's biggest
pharmacy chains, declined NPR's request for an interview, citing ongoing
litigation.
But the company issued a statement saying that the pharmacy
chain is "committed to the highest standards of ethics and business
practices" and "dedicated to helping reduce prescription drug abuse
and diversion."
NPR reached out to an attorney representing other pharmacies
targeted in the consolidated lawsuit, but has yet to receive comment.
More than 1,200 local governments have sued players in the
pharmaceutical industry, claiming the industry worsened the opioid epidemic by
aggressively marketing and dispensing prescription pain pills while lying about
the risks.
Defendants in the case include the nation's largest drugmakers,
distributors and pharmacy chains. Despite opioid-related settlements this year
totaling nearly $2 billion, most firms have denied any wrong-doing.
"The plaintiffs' allegations about CVS in this matter have
no merit and we are aggressively defending against them," CVS' DeAngelis
said in his statement to NPR.
More than 200,000
Americans have died from prescription opioid-related overdoses
since the epidemic began in the 1990s, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Attorneys suing drug companies say the data now being released
paints a troubling new picture of how each sector of the pharmaceutical
industry contributed to the crisis.
Illegal Alien Indicted On
Fentanyl Charges In Arizona: 'The Drugs...Are
Enough To Kill Thousands Of People'
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2019/07/01/illegal-alien-indicted-in-arizona-the-drugsare-enough-to-kill-thousands-of-people-n2549254
As the
opioid epidemic continues to ravage families across America, authorities in
Mesa, Arizona have arrested two individuals, including one illegal immigrant,
on charges "of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl
and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl."
The Toledo Blade reports that the U.S. District Court in Toledo indicted Felipe
Penuelas-Rodriguez, 50, and Reyna Trejo, 30, in late June after the pair were
arrested after authorities discovered the two were attempting to distribute
enough fentanyl to kill at least 500,000 individuals.
Penuelas-Rodriguez
and Trejo were both arrested in June "with approximately one kilogram of
fentanyl, as well as approximately 2,100 pills that tested positive for
fentanyl."
While
running background checks, authorities discovered that Penuelas-Rodrguez is an
illegal alien.
“The
drugs seized are enough to kill thousands of people,” U.S. Attorney Justin
Herdman said in a statement. “The fentanyl pills stamped to look like
prescription painkillers are another reminder that there are no safe drugs
available on the street.”
While
it is unclear where these laced pills originated, the narcotics confiscation
follows a similar pattern across America. In February 2019, the United States
Drug Enforcement Agency issued a press release after a similar, albeit much larger, drug bust occurred in New
York City.
“These
arrests highlight a growing trend in illicit street drugs which increases the
risk of drug overdose,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said the time.
“Traffickers are mass producing pseudo-pharmaceutical pills made of heroin,
fentanyl and other illicit drugs in makeshift laboratories throughout New York
City. These pills attract users because they are more convenient and less
conspicuous; but users should beware because they are unregulated and lethal.
DEA and our law enforcement partners are committed to removing such threats and
arresting drug dealers, traffickers and manufacturers.”
“If you take ‘prescription’ pills that did not
come directly from a pharmacy, you are risking your life,” Special Narcotics
Prosecutor Bridget G Brennan added.
Both
men in the Arizona case have pleaded not guilty. The case will be heard by
Judge James Carr.
Trump ‘immigration reform’
ignores real problem
President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable on
immigration and border security at the U.S. Border Patrol Calexico Station in
Calexico, Calif., Friday April 5, 2019. Trump headed to the border with Mexico
to make a renewed push for border security as a central campaign issue for his
2020 re-election. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Trump ‘immigration reform’ ignores real problem
President
Donald Trump participates in a roundtable on immigration and border security at
the U.S. Border Patrol Calexico Station in Calexico, Calif., Friday April 5,
2019. Trump headed to the border with Mexico to make a renewed push for border
security as a central campaign issue for his 2020 re-election. (AP
Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
By HOWIE CARR | howard.carr@medianewsgroup.com
| Boston Herald
OK, so President Trump’s “immigration
reform plan” is nothing more than a campaign document, a talking point, to
impress the likes of the Wall Street Journal (which gave him a big wet kiss of
an editorial Saturday) and the Chambers of Commerce.
But as everyone knows, the problem isn’t
so much who we are keeping out of the country – educated, English-speaking
people with a work ethic – as opposed to the shiftless, lawless hordes we are
allowing to swarm across the southern border in untold numbers.
The problem is most of these
undocumented Democrats are future recipients of at least one welfare handout,
and even worse, they include a sizable contingent of future MS-13 gangbangers,
drive-by shooters, identity thieves and fentanyl dealers.
On Thursday, at the White House, the
president halfheartedly raised the specter of these marvelously educated
foreign college grads being forced to return home. But c’mon, how many MIT and
CalTech grads really get the heave-ho?
When he announced for president in 2015,
Trump famously said, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their
best.”
Now it’s worse, much worse, because it’s not only Mexico
flushing its criminal underclass into the U.S., it’s Honduras, El Salvador,
Guatemala and every other country where they’ve been running TV ads telling
their unwed mothers, winos and freelance criminals that all they need to do is
tell the gringos that they’re seeking “asylum,” and then it’s off to the
welfare free-stuff office.
As the old song goes, “Everything free
in America.”
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recently released its 2018
report on federal sentencing statistics: 42.7 percent of offenders were illegal
aliens. Sixty-three percent of all non-citizens charged with drug trafficking
last year were living in the country illegally.
Look what happened at the Quincy
District Court Friday. ICE was staking it out, looking to grab a Dominican
heroin/cocaine dealer with a phony Puerto Rican identity. He didn’t show.
On Thursday, in Texas, a “Dallas man,” as the Associated
Press described him, was charged with the murders of 11 elderly American women
between the ages of 76 and 94, as he stole their jewelry and other valuables.
In the third paragraph, the AP copped to the truth – the serial killer was “a
Kenyan citizen who was living in the U.S. illegally.”
Here’s another recent headline: “ICE
arrests Salvadoran murder suspect, gang associate in South Dakota.”
Question: Since when is South Dakota a border state?
Answer: Since Barack Obama was president, maybe even before then.
As George W. Bush used to say, they’re only doing the jobs
Americans won’t do. Jobs that apparently include fentanyl and meth dealing, not
to mention dismemberment of their underworld rivals and too many instances of
domestic abuse and drunken driving to even recount? In case you missed it, ICE
has picked up 141 illegal immigrant drunken drivers in recent weeks, just in
New England.
Here’s a recent headline from the
Worcester Telegram: “Three men arrested in Millbury in alleged scheme to
defraud banks.”
“Three men” – that’s the dead-giveaway
phrase. The only remaining question is, in what paragraph will the paper
mention the perps’ immigration status?
In this story, the answer was, the 17th:
“The detective said the three suspects each had passports from Ghana. She said
she was unsure of their citizenship status.”
I’m not unsure at all. Are you?
Next, a few recent press releases from
the feds in New England. First, from the eastern district of Massachusetts:
“Dominican National Pleads Guilty to
Identity Theft/Defendant stole identity of US Army Specialist … Dominican
National Sentenced for Social Security Fraud … Dominican National Pleads Guilty
to Social Security Fraud and Identity Theft … Brazilian National Sentenced for
ATM Skimming.”
Here are a few from Connecticut:
“Third Nigerian National Admits Role in
Business E-Mail Compromise Scheme Targeting CFO’s and Controllers … Mexican
National Convicted of Illegal Reentry for a Third Time … Citizen of Peru Charged
with Illegally Reentering US.”
That Peruvian illegal immigrant was a
drug dealer and warrant defaulter.
Let’s not slight Rhode Island: “15 Individuals Convicted,
Sentenced in Heroin and Cocaine Trafficking Conspiracy.”
Unfortunately, the R.I. U.S. Attorney’s
Office buried the lede about the drug outfit headed by one Juan Valdez: “Eleven
of the ‘Operation Triple Play’ defendants, many of whom had been living in the
United States with stolen identities, including the three brothers who led the
drug trafficking organizations, have or will face deportation proceedings …
Juan Valdez was previously deported from the United States on four occasions.”
Look, I understand,
every resort, restaurant and hotel owner in New England needs H2B visa workers
to get through the resort season. That’s a problem, granted. But the bigger
disaster is this: Illegal immigrant criminals are destroying the United States,
and one of the nation’s major political parties think it’s in its interest to
continue the “fundamental transformation” of America … into a Third World
hellhole.
Two Mexican Nationals Indicted for Transporting About 14,800
Counterfeit Oxycodone Pills Containing Fentanyl
Construction taking place on a
border barrier in Otay Mesa, Calif., on April 3, 2019. (Getty Images/Mario
Tama)
(CNSNews.com) - A federal grand jury in Sacramento, Calif., has
indicted two Mexican nationals who were pulled over in a traffic stop and then
were discovered to be “in possession of approximately 14,799 fentanyl-laced
counterfeit oxycodone pills.”
“A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment Thursday
against Ivan Lopez, 34, of Mexico, and Erick Olivas Lopez, 39, of Mexico,
charging them with conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute at least
400 grams of a substance containing fentanyl,” U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott of the Eastern
District of California announced in a statement released on Thursday.
"The charges are only allegations; the defendants are
presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt," the U.S. attorney's statement said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a two-count
indictment Thursday against Ivan Lopez, 34, of Mexico, and Erick Olivas Lopez,
39, of Mexico, charging them with conspiracy and possession with intent to
distribute at least 400 grams of a substance containing fentanyl, U.S. Attorney
McGregor W. Scott announced.
According to court documents, on April 25, 2019, the defendants
were found in possession of approximately 14,799 fentanyl-laced counterfeit
oxycodone pills, weighing approximately 1.6 kilograms, during a traffic stop in
Sacramento.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Tri-County
Drug Enforcement Team (TRIDENT), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and
the California Highway Patrol. Assistant United States Attorney David W.
Spencer is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Lopez and Olivas Lopez each face a minimum
statutory penalty of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison and a $10 million
fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court
after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal
Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges
are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless
proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
NO
WONDER CROOKED JOE WANTS WIDER OPEN BORDERS!
MEXICO KILLS AMERICA TWICE OVER!
DHS
Secretary: ‘ICE Interdicted Enough Fentanyl Last Year to
K
ill Every American Twice Over’
Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate that according to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is 50 to 100 times more
powerful than morphine. The illicit drug has been attributed to the alarming
increase in opioid overdose deaths throughout the United States.
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2019/03/dhs-secretary-ice-interdicted-enough.html
*
“Mexican Border States Net 320 Pounds of Meth in Two
Days” BREITBART
*
“Eight-Time Deportee Accused
of Trafficking $850,000 in Meth, Cocaine.”
MICHAEL CUTLER
JUDICIAL WATCH:
“The greatest criminal threat to the daily lives of
American citizens are the Mexican drug cartels.”
“Mexican drug cartels are the “other” terrorist threat
to America. Militant Islamists have the goal of destroying the United States. Mexican
drug cartels are now
accomplishing that mission – from within, every day, in virtually every community
across this country.” JUDICIALWATCH
DYING
AMERICA: Poverty, Open Borders, Widespread Homelessness, Housing Crisis,
Opioids, Corrupt Politicians and Then Suicide!
"In a state like Florida, where immigrants make
up about 25.4 percent of the labor force, American workers have their weekly
wages reduced by perhaps more than 12.5 percent. In California, where
immigrants make up 34 percent of the labor force, American workers’ weekly
wages are reduced by potentially 17 percent." JOHN BINDER
*
*
"In the last decade alone,
the U.S. admitted ten
million legal immigrants, forcing American workers to compete against a growing
population of low-wage foreign workers. Meanwhile, if legal immigration
continues, there will be 69 million foreign-born residents
living in the U.S. by 2060. This would represent an unprecedented electoral
gain for the Left, as Democrats win about 90
percent of congressional districts where the foreign-born population
exceeds the national average."
Opioids are fueling
homelessness on the West Coast.
June 14, 2019
The Social Order
California
By latest
count, some 109,089 men and women are sleeping on the streets of major cities in
California, Oregon, and Washington. The homelessness crisis in these cities has
generated headlines and speculation
about “root causes.” Progressive political activists allege that tech companies
have inflated housing costs and forced middle-class people onto the streets.
Declaring that “no two people living on Skid Row . . . ended up there for the
same reasons,” Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, for his part, blames a housing
shortage, stagnant wages, cuts to mental health services, domestic and sexual
abuse, shortcomings in criminal justice, and a lack of resources for veterans.
These factors may all have played a role, but the most pervasive cause of West
Coast homelessness is clear: heroin, fentanyl, and synthetic opioids.
Homelessness
is an addiction crisis disguised as a housing crisis. In Seattle, prosecutors
and law enforcement recently estimated that the majority of
the region’s homeless population is hooked on opioids, including heroin and
fentanyl. If this figure holds constant throughout the West Coast, then at least11,000 homeless opioid
addicts live in Washington, 7,000 live in Oregon, and 65,000 live in California
(concentrated mostly in San Francisco and Los Angeles). For the unsheltered
population inhabiting tents, cars, and RVs, the opioid-addiction percentages
are even higher—the City of Seattle’s homeless-outreach team estimates that 80
percent of the unsheltered population has a substance-abuse disorder. Officers
must clean up used needles in almost all the homeless encampments.
For
drug cartels and low-level street dealers, the business of supplying
homeless addicts with heroin, fentanyl, and other synthetic opioids
is extremely lucrative. According to the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, the average heavy-opioid user consumes $1,834
in drugs per month. Holding rates constant, we can project that the total
business of supplying heroin and other opioids to the West Coast’s homeless
population is more than $1.8 billion per year. In effect, Mexican cartels,
Chinese fentanyl suppliers, and local criminal networks profit off the misery
of the homeless and offload the consequences onto local governments struggling
to get people off the streets.
West Coast
cities are seeing a crime spike associated with
homeless opioid addicts. In Seattle, police busted two sophisticated
criminal rings engaged
in “predatory drug dealing” in homeless encampments (they were found in
possession of $20,000 in cash, heroin, firearms, knives, machetes, and a
sword). Police believe that “apartments
were serving as a base of operations that supplied drugs to the streets, and
facilitated the collection and resale of stolen property.” In other words, drug
dealers were exploiting homeless addicts and using the city’s maze of illegal
encampments as distribution centers. In my own Fremont neighborhood, where
property crime has surged 57 percent over the past two
years, local business owners have formed a group to monitor a network of RVs
that circulate around the area to deal heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamines.
Dealers have become brazen—one recently hung up a spray-painted sign on the side of his
RV with the message: “Buy Drugs Here!”
What are
local governments doing to address this problem? To a large extent, they have
adopted a strategy of deflection, obfuscation, and denial. In her #SeattleForAll public relations
campaign, Mayor Jenny Durkan insists that only one in three homeless people
struggle with substance abuse, understating the figures of her own police
department as well as the city attorney, who has claimed that the real numbers,
just for opioid addiction, rise to 80 percent of the unsheltered.
The
consequences of such denial have proved disastrous: no city on the West Coast
has a solution for homeless opioid addicts. Los Angeles, which spent $619
million on homelessness last year, has adopted a strategy of palliative
care—keeping addicts alive through distribution of the overdose drug
naloxone—but fails to provide access to on-demand detox, rehabilitation, and
recovery programs that might help people overcome their addictions. The city
has been cursed, in this sense, with temperate weather, compounded by
permissive policies toward public camping and drug consumption that have attracted20,687 homeless
individuals from outside Los Angeles County.
No
matter how much local governments pour into affordable-housing projects,
homeless opioid addicts—nearly all unemployed—will never be able to
afford the rent in expensive West Coast cities. The first step in solving these
intractable issues is to address the real problem: addiction is the common
denominator for most of the homeless and must be confronted honestly if we have
any hope of solving it.
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