Trump urges lawsuit against opioid companies, tougher sentences for dealers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a federal lawsuit against opioid companies and stiffer penalties for drug dealers, arguing that the government must take a strong approach to combat an opioid addiction epidemic.

Trump said that he had urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take legal action.

“Hopefully we can do some litigation against the opioid companies,” Trump said at a summit hosted by the White House on the nation’s opioid crisis.

Hundreds of states, counties and cities have sued drugmakers and distributors, saying that manufacturers have deceptively marketed opioids and distributors have failed to take action against indications the painkillers were diverted for improper uses.

T rump urges lawsuit against opioid companies, tougher sentences for dealers

Interesting news piece about the president's remarks at an opioid summit held Thursday, March 1st, 2018. Not sure how much I care for it. I'm not an 'opioids' fan, at all. I'm also not a fan of unjustly harsh penalties fro drug dealers either. On the other hand, I am in favor of holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for pushing their poisonous pain killers with abandon, so there is that.

It is interesting to note that this article's title was the least disparaging one I could find in my cursory research of the msm stories on it prior to posting. No mention on Fox. CNN, NBCnews, ABC News, and CBS news all seem to have titled the article appropriately in a free for all attempt to put 'Trump' and 'Death Penalty' in an article title together. CNN, as far as I could find, hasn't written anything more to their website than a short paragraph and links to videos. I guess you have to watch the videos to get CNN's story. I hope you'll forgive me for not linking them...

A little more from the Reuters story:

On Tuesday, Sessions announced that the federal government would seek reimbursement from major drug companies and distributors to recoup costs from the opioid epidemic. The Justice Department will file a“statement of interest” in consolidated litigation on opioids.

It was not immediately clear whether, in his remarks at the summit, Trump was referring to that Justice Department action or pressing for further steps.

And of course the death penalty alluding quote:

“Some countries have a very, very tough penalty - the ultimate penalty,” he said.“And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do.”

The Libertarian in me cannot like this intention of increasing drug penalties, but again this same Libertarian sees no problem with holding the pharmaceutical companies responsible. It seems to me to be a sensible approach, holding these corporations accountable for their parts in ruining people's lives. Increasing penalties for drug dealers on the other hand is a totalitarian element of government, in my opinion. Discuss.

www.cnn.com...
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a reply to: TheBadCabbie

Nothing new given the current state of the debate. I will say before people try to make the argument - the people who are arrested and jailed at the federal level for drug crimes are the dealers and couriers and deal in felony amounts (distribution and manufacturing). The bulk of people in jail / prison on lesser drug charges are at the state / local level.

Just some background info for the thread.

a reply to: TheBadCabbie

It's where the Libertarian approach fails, in my opinion. One handles the issue in front of one. If the solution is stiffer consequences, then so be it. Balance.

Don't expect much support from any MSM on this issue. Big Pharma is their biggest advertiser and revenue source.

As much as I think that the pharmaceutical companies need to be held accountable in some way, suing them over what others do with their product seems ridiculous. That would be like suing a gun manufacturer over a school shooting.

Now if we want to talk stricter regulations with harsher punishments then I'm all for it.

I also want to say that Trump's seeming hard on for Duterte is disturbing. The man is a monster. Admiring his drug policy would be like admiring Stalin's transportation policy. Sure he got the trains to run on time but it was at the cost of many lives.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Ridiculous.

Some folks are all about action. Action, ACTION and ACTION NOW.

Duterte is taking a blunt approach, something most of us could only dream of in the sense of quick and absolute justice.

If Mexico adopted a policy to hunt and kill cartels, you would probably react the same way.

What did you expect? Trump has stated he will give terrorist no quarter, its in effect, the same thing.

a reply to: Arnie123

So you agree that anyone in possession of any illegal narcotic should be killed?

When are people going to learn that tougher sentences dont work? People who use and abuse drugs will only stop when they want to. Thats it. Same with mass murderers, gang bangers, fast drivers, etc. People break laws, only when people choose to be more morally responsible with themselves and how they are involved in others lives will they change.

a reply to: Arnie123

Duterte is taking a blunt approach, something most of us could only dream of in the sense of quick and absolute justice.

A little harsh. Although there aren't many civilized countries that even still have the death penalty for anything. Which makes a death penalty for drugs seem really harsh.

Uh oh, I hope you mean everyone except current sitting presidents.... ssnniiffff

Never go full Duterte.

The opioid crisis in my local area is at crisis epidemic levels for the last year.

Glad to hear it's getting national attention.

I agree with stiffer penalties for drug dealers, any drug dealer that sells fentanyl as a less powerful opioid causing the user to OD should be charged with murder.

And if the dealer kills 3 or more with a fentanyl lased opioids gets the death penalty that its there problem when they fry for it. sure would cut down on drug dealers quick.

Its just like someone selling a alcoholic drink with cyanide in it.

Lawsuits against Opiod companies will raise the price of prescriptions for everyone.

Just like Georgia removing Delta airline's tax break will reduce the pay for employees.

Action - Reaction

What percentage of the Opioid Crisis should be assigned to:

1. Doctors?

2. Drug Dealers?

3. Person that's hooked?

4. Opioid manufacturer?

Maybe 20% / 10% / 40% / 30% ??

originally posted by: Arnie123
a reply to: Xcalibur254

Ridiculous.

Some folks are all about action. Action, ACTION and ACTION NOW.

Duterte is taking a blunt approach, something most of us could only dream of in the sense of quick and absolute justice.

If Mexico adopted a policy to hunt and kill cartels, you would probably react the same way.

What did you expect? Trump has stated he will give terrorist no quarter, its in effect, the same thing.

Now if only trump adopts the duterte approach to gun control, I bet you find yourself eating those words.

I keep hearing the same BS self supporting statistics coming from my doctor. They use it as a excuse and a reason to not prescribe any. Doctors also have to pay a premium be licensed to write those scripts and that might be why. So the argument is that 22k people died in one year from prescription drugs. So everyone is to suffer now and beg for pain meds and go without any relief of pain? You cannot call yourself a doctor of medicine and not prescribe pain medicine. That is a direct conflict of medicine ethics.

Oh yeah I have heard it all. They also will tell you that they are very hard on your organs. True, but that isn't because of the small amount of opioids. It's from the Tylenol. So what do the doctors recommend you do? Take 4 Ibuprofen and 2 Tylenol. I have a aunt that did just that and now after years of doing what was recommended by her doctor, is now on a dialysis machine. The fact of the matter is that opium and other herb plants have been prescribed literally for thousands of years. It's in every culture around the world. This is fact and cannot be disputed. So now they want to rewrite the history of modern medicine and go back to the stone age?? Really the number of deaths is nothing in comparison to other things that caused massive death that are completely legal.

Alcohol alone has claimed 80k lives in that same year. What about the 500k people that died from cigarettes in that same year? They want to focus on the fly, but totally ignore the 1000lb gorilla. The tobacco companies slaughtered half a million people and no one even raises a eyebrow. Just within the last 5 years I have lost 4 family members to cancer. Last year my neighbors lost their mother from cancer and her kids are living there fending for themselves. Hey lets cut SNAP too cause them young teen kids don't deserve to eat either. Yeah there is a crisis alright.

a reply to: sean

"So what do the doctors recommend you do? Take 4 Ibuprofen and 2 Tylenol."

I asked a doctor about mixing those years ago, he said "don't ever".
He looked horrified at the thought.

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: TheBadCabbie

Nothing new given the current state of the debate. I will say before people try to make the argument - the people who are arrested and jailed at the federal level for drug crimes are the dealers and couriers and deal in felony amounts (distribution and manufacturing). The bulk of people in jail / prison on lesser drug charges are at the state / local level.

Just some background info for the thread.

Valid points, Xcathdra. The penalties are already pretty harsh though aren't they?

originally posted by: nwtrucker
a reply to: TheBadCabbie

It's where the Libertarian approach fails, in my opinion. One handles the issue in front of one. If the solution is stiffer consequences, then so be it. Balance.

Don't expect much support from any MSM on this issue. Big Pharma is their biggest advertiser and revenue source.

I'd rather see it all legal myself. Put it in a bottle marked poison, call it a day. Cap the price perhaps, if anything. We could worry about more important things.

If we're going to go after the pill problem though, I'd rather see the manufacturers get hit than anything else. I'd also rather see the courts work than new laws be passed. Bring charges where there is criminal activity. Suits should be filed where these companies have liability, especially in cases where they've broken the law. Penalties for distribution are already pretty harsh, increasing them won't help our problem in my opinion.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
As much as I think that the pharmaceutical companies need to be held accountable in some way, suing them over what others do with their product seems ridiculous. That would be like suing a gun manufacturer over a school shooting.

Now if we want to talk stricter regulations with harsher punishments then I'm all for it.

Disagree. The firearms manufacturers' potential liabilities are not the pharmaceutical manufacturers' potential liabilities. You can try to equate them all you want, it doesn't make them the same. Yeah I get it they both make stuff that can kill you and all that, but still. Not the same thing at all.

I also want to say that Trump's seeming hard on for Duterte is disturbing. The man is a monster. Admiring his drug policy would be like admiring Stalin's transportation policy. Sure he got the trains to run on time but it was at the cost of many lives.

I actually agree with you there he does seem to like him quite a bit which is kinda lame. Not much different from the 'rocketman' in terms of tyrannical tendencies. On the other hand, he can't just publicly piss in the guy's corn flakes and then expect to be able to add that extra runway to the airbase or whatever when he wants to. Maybe the media is just hanging up on it too much.