Oklahoma Judge Rules Against Johnson and Johnson in Opioid Trial

An Oklahoma judge found that Johnson & Johnson is liable for fueling the opioid crisis in the state, ordering the company to pay $572 million to help mitigate the damage in the coming years. The ruling comes in the first case brought by a state, against a drug company, that has made it to trial. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter argued in the case that opioid overdoses killed 4,653 people in the state from 2007 to 2017. Judge Thad Balkman agreed that the crisis was overwhelming. “The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma. It must be abated immediately,” Balkman said. The state then argued that Johnson & Johnson launched a misleading marketing campaign that exaggerated the ability of the drug to treat chronic pain and downplayed the risk of addiction. “What is truly unprecedented here is the conduct of these defendants on embarking on a cunning, cynical and deceitful scheme to create the need for opioids," Hunter said. Before the trial began, Oklahoma settled with two other companies the state claimed also contributed to the opioid epidemic: Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, agreed to pay $270 million, and Teva Pharmaceutical agreed to pay $85 million. The ruling this week in favor of Oklahoma could now influence a case in Ohio that consolidated 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state and local governments. Lead attorney for Johnson & Johnson, Larry Ottoway, however, said that opioids are a critical part of caring for people with chronic pain, and that doctors prescribe them for valid reasons. “This problem of untreated chronic pain afflicts people here in Oklahoma,” Ottoway said. “The FDA label clearly set forth the risk of addiction, abuse and misuse that could lead to overdose and death. Don't tell me that doctors weren't aware of the risks.” Johnson & Johnson is now expected to appeal the ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, in part because they said the state’s estimates for abating the crisis—between $12.6 billion and  $17.5 billion over the next 20 to 30 years—were inflated. [Associated Press; NPR]

ICE COOPERATION | North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that would require sheriffs to comply with requests from the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The bill had passed along party lines in the Republican-controlled legislature, but Cooper, a Democrat, said that the implementation would be unconstitutional, as it would require sheriffs to hold detainees longer than their jail sentences required if ICE requests it, which could leave sheriffs vulnerable to legal action. “This legislation is simply about scoring partisan political points and using fear to divide North Carolina. This bill, in addition to being unconstitutional, weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating sheriffs to do the job of federal agents, using local resources that could hurt their ability to protect their counties,” he said. Republican lawmakers, including state Sen. Chuck Edwards said that the veto was also a political move. “He is more concerned about protecting the ‘rights’ of people in this country illegally who are in jail for committing crimes than he is about protecting the safety of our communities and the citizens that live in them,” Edwards said. Sheriffs were divided on the bill, as many liberal sheriffs ran recently on the promise to end cooperation with ICE, which some, including Sheriff Garry McFadden of Mecklenburg County, saw as illegal, because the detainment requests were not accompanied by warrants. “All I’m asking ICE to do is this: Bring me a criminal warrant, and I’ll hold anybody for you. Other than that, you’re gonna fight with me the whole time. We wanted this to settle down so we can go on to our real work in our communities. Politics and law enforcement shouldn’t be mixed. It has created a hostile environment in our community,” he said. [The Atlantic; Raleigh News & Observer]

LAND TRUST | Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed an agreement with the state’s Mattaponi Tribe, formally transferring over 100 acres of land to their reservation, which will double the size of the current space. The land of the current reservation has been significantly reduced from its original boundaries from the 1600s. But in the past decade, the Mattaponi have purchased back acres of private land to recreate the reservation. The land that Northam signed over to the Mattaponi will be used for the tribe’s cultural preservation, including opportunities for traditional hunting, fishing, and trapping activities, as well as for the construction of new housing for residents. “Expanding the Mattaponi Indian Reservation through this land trust agreement will help preserve the sustainability of the Tribe and its unique history and culture,” said Northam. Secretary of the Commonwealth Kelly Thomasson said the land parcel will help right historical wrongs. “By putting this additional acreage back into trust, the Commonwealth is taking a step towards rectifying the past when we allowed their reservation land to be encroached upon,” Thomasson said. Mark Custalow, Chief of the Mattaponi, said that he appreciates the governor’s support of tribal land returns. “The Mattaponi people and myself worked hard in getting this land put into trust for future generations to enjoy…[This is] truly a monumental day in the history of our people,” he said. [ABC 13; Augusta Free Press] 

CHEMICAL SPILL | A national park in Indiana reopened this weekend after a chemical spill caused the death of nearly 3,000 fish earlier in the month. A steel plant had dumped toxic levels of both cyanide and ammonia-nitrogen into a local river that serves as a tributary to Lake Michigan, but did not report the issue until several days later, sparking fury from local residents. John Cannon, the mayor of Portage, Indiana, said that the steel company now needs to be held accountable, even though authorities have now said that the contamination has fallen to levels that are acceptable under the federal Clean Water Act. "The beaches and waterways were essentially potentially contaminated for four days without anyone knowing. The mayor should always know first, but rest assured, [now the] water is safe to drink and water is safe to fish out of and safe to enjoy at the beach," he said. Cannon also said he is looking into a daily monitoring system for the river, and has asked the steel company to replace the 3,000 dead fish with 6,000 live ones. [WNDU; Chicago Tribune]

NOBODY FOR MAYOR | A mayoral candidate in Keene, New Hampshire named Nobody is running on a platform of cryptocurrency freedom and small government reform. Keene has a large community of libertarian activists, in part because of the Free State Project, an effort to encourage libertarians to move to New Hampshire in order to change the government; their resulting activism has led Keene to become a Bitcoin hub in recent years because of its legislation that is seen as friendly to cryptocurrency experimentation. ManyNobody, who legally changed his name from Rich Paul earlier this year, said he is running to “reduce the size and scope of government” as much as possible. “I’m running because Nobody knows how to run your life better than you do, Nobody deserves that kind of power, and Nobody tells the truth anymore, and I want to be that guy,” he said. [New Hampshire Union Leader; Cointelegraph; Keene Sentinel]