PRINTER'S NO. 3578
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
943
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY CALTAGIRONE, READSHAW, VEREB, ROZZI, O'BRIEN,
NEILSON AND ACOSTA, JUNE 21, 2016
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, JUNE 21, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Governor and the Office of Attorney General to file
lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that produce opioid
drugs.
WHEREAS, Certain pharmaceutical companies mislead the public
about the addictiveness of powerful prescription opioid drugs;
and
WHEREAS, Certain pharmaceutical companies engaged in fraud,
conspiracy and negligence in the development and marketing of
highly addictive opioid drugs; and
WHEREAS, Certain pharmaceutical companies used sophisticated
and highly deceptive and unfair marketing campaigns to reverse
the medical community's understanding of opioids to increase
opioid drug use; and
WHEREAS, Certain pharmaceutical companies knew that prolonged
use of opioids was addictive and subject to abuse and that
opioids should be used only as a last resort; and
WHEREAS, Certain pharmaceutical companies knew that prolonged
use of opioids caused the effectiveness of the drugs to wane,
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requiring an increase in dosage and markedly increasing the risk
of significant side effects and addiction; and
WHEREAS, Certain pharmaceutical companies used misleading
science to convince the medical community to increasingly
prescribe opioid drugs; and
WHEREAS, Prescription opioids are narcotics that are derived
from or possess properties similar to opium and heroin; and
WHEREAS, Certain pharmaceutical companies spent hundreds of
millions of dollars to promote their products knowing they were
misleading the public regarding the dangers of their products;
and
WHEREAS, The actions by certain pharmaceutical companies have
resulted in billions of dollars in profits for these companies;
and
WHEREAS, Americans represent only 4.6% of the world's
population but consume 80% of the world's opioids and 99% of the
global hydrocodone supply; and
WHEREAS, Opioid sales generated $8 billion in revenue for
drug companies in 2012, and the projection for 2016 is $15.3
billion; and
WHEREAS, Instead of medical breakthroughs, it was the
marketing efforts of certain pharmaceutical companies that
rationalized prescribing opioids for chronic pain and opened the
floodgates of opioid use and abuse; and
WHEREAS, In a recent Drug Threat Assessment, the Drug
Enforcement Agency reported that in 2013, more than 46,000
individuals in the United States died from a drug overdose and
more than half of those deaths were caused by prescription
painkillers or heroin; and
WHEREAS, There are 78 deaths each day due to heroin, fentanyl
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and opioid medications in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Recent data for Pennsylvania shows that 10,394,466
prescriptions for opioid medications were filled by individuals
during 2015; and
WHEREAS, A report from the Drug Enforcement Agency identified
approximately 2,497 drug-related overdose deaths in this
Commonwealth during 2014; and
WHEREAS, This Commonwealth is in the midst of an opioids and
heroin epidemic causing thousands of overdose deaths and
destroying communities and families; and
WHEREAS, The financial toll of this epidemic on the limited
resources of the Commonwealth will be staggering; and
WHEREAS, States have historically filed lawsuits against
industries that engage in illegal business practices, such as
the tobacco industry in the 1990s, in order to protect its
citizens; and
WHEREAS, Any funds recovered should be placed in a reserved
account to be used for drug, alcohol and mental health treatment
programs; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge the Governor
and the Office of Attorney General to initiate lawsuits against
pharmaceutical companies that engaged in practices that caused
the opioids epidemic within this Commonwealth.
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