More than 6,000 Oklahomans have died of painkiller overdoses since 2000, the state charged in court papers, as the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies reached 479 every hour in 2017.

400,000 nationally.

Johnson & Johnson’s products — two prescription opioid pills and a fentanyl skin patch sold by its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals — were a small part of the painkillers consumed in Oklahoma. But Hunter painted the company as a “kingpin” of the drug trade because two other companies it owned grew, processed and supplied 60 percent of the ingredients in painkillers sold by most drug companies.

“At the root of this crisis was Johnson & Johnson, a company that literally created the poppy that became the source of the opioid crisis,” the state charged.

Gotta cover up the Afghanistan war on terror connection - and the Chinese connection... but that comment I bolded, about being the company that literally created the poppy. Uh... what?

With more than 40 states lined up to pursue similar claims against the pharmaceutical industry, the ruling in the first state case to go to trial could influence both side’s strategies in the months and years to come.

I bet... it's called a template. A way to appease the pubilc and not crush the drug maker.

state attorneys had wanted the conglomerate to pay $17.5 billion over 30 years for treatment, emergency care, law enforcement, social services and other addiction-related needs. But the judge concluded it would cost $572 million to remedy the drug crisis in the first year

Uh... yeah... hate to be the bearer of bad news but... that's not going to fix much of anything. Court and victims got played. What mock justice.

The state also said that Johnson & Johnson took active part in the pharmaceutical industry’s effort tochange doctors’ reluctance to prescribe opioids by mounting an aggressive misinformation campaign that targeted the least knowledgeable physicians.

That, I believe.

Oklahoma settled in March with Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of OxyContin, accepting $270 million from the company and its owners, the Sackler family. Most of that will go to a treatment and research center at Oklahoma State University, although the federal government is seeking a portion of the money.

In May, two days before the trial began, the state settled with Teva Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli-based manufacturer of generic drugs, for $85 million.

Oklahoma is just running through pharma-companies like toilet paper at a chili-festival.

Legally, the trial centered on the state’s novel, perhaps unprecedented, attempt to claim the drug company created a public nuisance in the state of Oklahoma. Historically, that law has been used against loud neighbors, brothels and polluters who used their properties in ways that harmed others. The remedy has been to force them to stop.

But in this case, Oklahoma, citing the law, said the drug company’s conduct did “annoy, injure and endanger the comfort, repose, health and safety of others,” as well as “render Oklahomans insecure in life and in the use of property.”

Clever I suppose, but a bit risky.