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Welcome to the official home and wonderful world of Pulitzer Prize Winning Political Cartoonist Michael P. Ramirez, daily editorial cartoonist for the Las Vegas Review Journal |
The opioid crisis and modern drug dealers
We are all struggling with the tsunami of drug use and addiction in Alaska. The paper has a new shooting or drug-related violent crime as a news report almost every day. One of the recent proposals to deal with the wave of drug-related crimes in Alaska was to get tougher on the criminals. One recent proposal is to charge individuals with a felony as “drug dealers” if they are apprehended with drugs in quantities deemed likely related to personal use on two or more occasions. This won’t help. Jail doesn’t work. Treatment does. read more Opioid crisis lawsuits: 10 things to know about the drug industry’s legal reckoning By GEOFF MULVIHILL ASSOCIATED PRESS |AUG 27, 2019 | 7:34 AM CHICAGO TRIBUNE On Aug. 26, a judge ruled in favor of the state of Oklahoma and ordered Johnson and Johnson to pay $572 million to a plan to abate the opioid crisis. Two former Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries produced much of the raw opium used by other manufacturers to produce the drugs. (Associated Press) Oklahoma’s $572 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson will likely be followed by more trials and legal settlements seeking to hold a drug company accountable for a U.S. opioid crisis that has ripped apart lives and communities. read more Opioid-case judge finds firm at fault; Johnson & Johnson told to pay $572M Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports | August 27, 2019 at 7:26 a.m. NORMAN, Okla. -- An Oklahoma judge on Monday found Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries responsible for fueling the state's opioid crisis, and he ordered the consumer products giant to pay the state $572 million. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman's ruling followed the first state trial of an opioid manufacturer. The ruling could help shape negotiations over roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state, local and American Indian governments against drug companies. Those suits have been consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio. "The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma," Balkman said before announcing the judgment. "It must be abated immediately." The landmark ruling marked a victory for Oklahoma's attorney general, Mike Hunter. In 2017, the Republican accused drugmakers of creating "a public nuisance," citing a law that has traditionally been used against loud neighbors, polluters and anyone else who has used property in ways that harmed others. read more |
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