Commission takes aim at opioids
A formal resolution declaring the epidemic a ‘public nuisance’ positions the city with other governments that have sued drug manufacturers.
The Rome City Commission took aim at the opioid epidemic Monday, with a resolution officially declaring overuse of the prescription painkillers a public nuisance.
“I wish we could use stronger language than ‘nuisance,’” Mayor Jamie Doss said. “It’s a crisis.”
City Attorney Frank Beacham said the word is a legal term that positions the city to take action if the board so desires.
The resolution declares that “certain manufacturers and distributors” knowingly hid the risks and addictive nature of the medications, and now governments are bearing the financial and societal burdens.
“(T)he City of Rome shall pursue such legal action as is available ... either by itself or in concert with others, and to the full extent of the law,” the resolution continues.
Commissioners went into closed session Monday to discuss pending litigation but took no vote.
Numerous state and county governments have recently filed suit against pharmaceutical companies, contending misleading marketing practices have fueled the opioid epidemic.
The city of Philadelphia became the latest on Wednesday, with a 160-page brief seeking to recover the costs of treatment and other expenses from at least 10 named regional manufacturers.
“We need them to stop claiming these drugs are necessary for long-term chronic illness,” City Solicitor Sozi Pedro Tulante said of the pharmaceutical makers. “They clearly are not.”
Rome’s resolution cites President Donald Trump’s Oct. 26, 2017, declaration of a public health emergency and Georgia numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
From 2014 to 2015, the state recorded a 64-percent increase in deaths from synthetic opioids — tramadol and fentanyl — and a 37 percent increase in heroin deaths.
“In 2006, opioid drug overdose deaths were 31.5 percent of all overdose
deaths and, in 2015, accounted for 68.8 percent of overdose deaths in Georgia,” the resolution states.
Also, 17.7 percent of the high school students in the state reported taking prescription painkillers without a doctor’s prescription.
On Friday, the National Governors Association issued a bipartisan list of recommendations calling on the Trump administration and Congress to provide more money and coordination for the fight against the drugs, which are killing more than 90 Americans a day.