British Columbia, one of canadian provinces most affected by overdoses of opioids, announced on Wednesday, August 29, have launched legal action against more than forty pharmaceutical companies manufacture or market se powerful analgesics at origin of thousands of deaths in Canada.
By this action, first of its kind in country, provincial government hopes to recover millions of dollars related to cost of emergency services and hospitalizations related to se pain drugs, sold by prescription.
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” It is time that companies [that provide] use of opiates to assume ir responsibility in face of financial and human toll that ir products have resulted for both families, ” argued minister of justice of British Columbia David Eby in a statement.
Nearly 4 000 deaths in 2017
The forty companies continuing operations are primarily american and canadian. They include Purdue Pharma, drug OxyContin is accused of being at origin of epidemic of opiates which affects all of North America.
According to provincial government of British Columbia-manufacturers and distributors of se drugs have had to resort to a “marketing misleading” hiding true risks of opiates.
Purdue Pharma is already subject of several proceedings in United States, particularly on part of city of New York, which claims a half-billion dollars to help fund fight against this epidemic.
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The canadian victims and ir families had on ir side got 20 million canadian dollars (€13.2 million) of american society, a sum deemed insufficient by a judge who has blocked transaction in march.
The crisis of opiates has led to nearly 4,000 deaths in 2017 in Canada, primarily as a result of overdose in fentanyl, a powerful painkiller, according to public health Agency in country. Approximately 90 % of 3 987 deaths in last year have been identified in three provinces : British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta.
