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0 <br />CLAIMS AGAINST OP10I1) DISTRIBUTORS AND MANUFACTURERS <br />The country is in the midst of a public health crisis stemming from the flood of opioids <br />pouring into her cities and counties. The opioid epidemic has been fueled by the greed of the <br />corporate elite, such as Fortune 500 behemoth McKesson Corp., failing to detect and report <br />"suspicious" orders of opioids, despite being required to do so by federal and state law. In January <br />2017, McKesson, the largest drug distributor in the nation., was fined a record $150 millionn by the <br />federal government for its blatant failure to report suspicious orders in violation of federal lax. <br />Cardinal Health, another nienther of the "Big Three" drug distributors, was fined $44 ►pillion for <br />its own failures to report suspicious narcotic orders to the DEA. <br />Substantially all prescribed opioids must flow through the distributors: federal law requires <br />that opioids be distributed through a closed system. The role of the distributors in this chain is to <br />spot and report red flags in the distribution chain. <br />McKesson, Cardinal and their distributor cronies admit that they are the gatekeepers — the <br />watch dogs — for preventing opioid abuse, stating: "distributors are uniquely situated to perform <br />due diligence in order to help support the security of the controlled substances.. and reduce the <br />possibility that controlled substances within. the supply chain will reach locations they are not <br />intended to reach. "I The distributors make this admission in the Industry Compliance Guidelines <br />they themselves created to comply with legal mandates — and then wholly ignored. <br />Instead of instituting controls to stop opioid abuse and alerting authorities to suspicious <br />orders, the distributors instead have chosen to abuse their privileged position, lining their pockets by <br />shipping massive quantities of drugs to pharmacies and dispensaries without performing any <br />checks. The cities and counties impacted by effects of this corporate greed are left to pay the freight <br />for this malfeasance through increased healthcare and law enforcement costs - and through the lives <br />of their citizens. <br />Cities and counties have the means to hold these distributors accountable for their actions <br />and to stop the influx of these powerful drugs. Federal and many state laws require distributors <br />identify, investigate, and report suspicious orders of controlled substances. <br />The distributors' known violations of these laws give rise to strong claims for significant <br />equitable and monetary relief. Distributors of opioid medications are vulnerable to damage claims <br />and penalty actions under theories such as public nuisance, negligence, and RICO. Potentially <br />recoverable damages may include (1) money wrongfully paid for opioids through government - <br />payor programs including employee insurance; (2) costs for providing medical care, additional <br />therapeutic, and prescription drug purchases, and other treatments for patients suffering from <br />opioid - related addiction or disease, including overdoses and deaths; (3) costs for providing <br />treatment, counseling, rehabilitation services; (4) costs for providing treatment of infants born with <br />' See Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) Industry Compliance Guidelines: Reporting <br />Suspicious Orders and Preventing Diversion of Controlled Substances ( "Industry Compliance Guidelines" or <br />"Guidelines "). <br />1 <br />