Focus on treatment

I read with great dismay the Nov. 8 feel-good story on counties suing drug makers for causing the opioid crisis (“28 counties sue drug-makers contributing to opioid crisis”).

The legal experts being hired by Milwaukee County in anticipation of filing a law suit, along with the law firms mentioned in the article, must be licking their chops. Why? Because they’re going to be the winners, not us taxpayers.

I’m not an attorney, but I know the only way to successfully sue drug makers for damages is to prove intent — that these companies knowingly and intentionally manufactured and distributed opioid-based products with the intent to cause addiction and the related social consequences resulting from it. Such an outcome falls somewhere between improbable and impossible.

The above should sound familiar. This was tried with Big Tobacco, not once, but three times in the ’50s, ’80s and again in the ’90s. Although in the latter there were a few minor victories for plaintiffs, as of 2006, many of these cases were in various stages of appeal and many remain so today. This was also tried with gun manufacturers to no avail.

My prediction: After years of litigation and millions in taxpayer money spent (which could have gone into more and better drug addiction treatment) Big Pharma will admit to no wrongdoing and throw us a bone that will be pennies on the dollar spent. Does this sound familiar? Put our limited resources into where they count — addiction treatment — not toward enriching lawyers in a long, drawn-out, unwinnable lawsuit.

Anthony Aveni Wauwatosa

“Put our limited resources into where they count — addiction treatment — not toward enriching lawyers in a long, drawn-out, unwinnable lawsuit.”