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Canada’s provinces have joined in the massive legal fight against Purdue Pharma over its introduction of OxyContin two decades ago, allegedly leading to the start of the devastating opioid crisis.
On Nov. 5, the provinces filed a claim for more than US $67 billion against Purdue Pharma in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
According to CBC News, British Columbia is seeking US $9.1 billion, Ontario is seeking US $26.1 billion and Quebec is seeking US $13.5 billion.
“The Canadian number looks large and it is large because it’s a significant problem,” lawyer Reidar Mogerman said. “I believe if you add in claims from U.S. entities you get numbers in excess of $2 trillion US. It’s really staggering.”
Mogerman is representing British Columbia in the class action cost recovery litigation. He compares this OxyContin litigation to legal actions filed over mass public injuries that were caused by tobacco use and asbestos exposure.
“It’s a product we thought was useful and it turned out to be extremely dangerous,” Mogerman said. “The carnage can only be addressed with society-wide tools.”
OxyContin’s Role in the Opioid Crisis
Purdue Pharma introduced OxyContin approximately two decades ago. Addiction experts are now recognizing the release of OxyContin as the start of the widespread opioid crisis.
OxyContin reportedly spread quickly to the streets and caused a significant public health crisis. The opioid crisis has also been linked to an increase in the use of fentanyl which has been blamed for the overdose deaths of more than 4,500 Canadians in 2018.
According to Mogerman, Purdue Pharma was hit by so many claims related to the opioid crisis that it sought bankruptcy protection in the United States. This has reportedly held up the legal process through which legal claims against Purdue Pharma are handled.
Purdue reportedly paid US $634.5 million to settle litigation in the United States after it was accused of misrepresenting OxyContin as less addictive than other prescription pain medications.
Health Canada has not investigated Purdue Pharma, according to CBC News.
Opioids are still available for use in the United States and Canada, but there have been more restrictions on their use and the way in which they are marketed.
Canada’s Opioid Crisis Class Action Lawsuit
Opioid makers are facing the potential of a Canadian opioid crisis class action lawsuit, which may be certified by a Quebec judge this month.
Purdue Pharma’s Canadian entities are included as defendants in the opioid crisis class action lawsuit.
Purdue Pharma has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges in the United States as part of a US $8 billion settlement. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States and violation of federal anti-kickback laws.
“While the guilty plea in the U.S. does not have a direct impact on the Quebec proceedings, the admissions made by Purdue US of its role in a conspiracy to mislead the public about the risks of using opioids are consistent with the allegations made in the Quebec class action proceedings, and gives credence to the allegations that similar activities would have taken place in Quebec and Canada,” lawyer Mark Meland said.
Meland, a lawyer at Fishman Flanz Meland Paquin LLP in Montreal, is working on the Canada opioid crisis class action lawsuit.
British Columbia filed an opioid crisis class action lawsuit last year over allegations drug manufacturers misrepresented opioids as less addictive than other painkillers. Ontario and New Brunswick said they are participating in the opioid crisis class action lawsuit. Last month, Alberta announced that it would be joining the opioid class action lawsuit as part of an effort to recoup health care costs.
Earlier this year, the Alberta city of Grande Prairie said that it would also join an opioid crisis class action lawsuit.
Canada Turned Down Purdue Opioid Settlement Money
Canadian provinces have had a couple of opportunities to receive class action settlement money from Purdue Pharma but withdrew their support over concerns that the proposed amounts were inadequate.
According to CBC News, Canadian provinces nearly agreed to $2 million form a Purdue settlement offer, but withdrew their support after Saskatchewan judges found that the provinces failed to protect public funds.
Purdue also reportedly offered CAD $20 million to settle a Canadian opioid crisis class action lawsuit that was launched in 2007. Approximately 1,600 Class Members are part of that class action lawsuit. The provinces withdrew their support of the proposed Purdue settlement after judges’ expressed concern.
Have you or someone you know been affected by the opioid crisis? Tell us your story in the comments section below.
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25 thoughts onOxyContin Maker Sued by Provinces Over Opioid Crisis
I’ve been on these meds for. Years. I’m totally disabled. N I’ve been to therapy’s. N. Seen drs alllll over. From barrie to Toronto. Pain clinics. I’m now being told I have no quality of life. Just keep me comfortable I’ve been trough. So much. I can’t think properly. N these meds don’t work like I think they should. So here we live. In. Chronic pain 24/7. Also where do I sign up for the class action law suit. I’m just seeing this today. Thanks Gail
My husband was on oxycotin for years. He is in on this class action lawsuit. We are presently separated. I was told he would take anything on the go. Addiction ruined his life.
My husband was on oxycotin for years. He is in on this class action lawsuit. We are presently separated. I was told he would take anything on the go.
Yes I’ve never been the same since that very first OxyContin Yup it shore helped with the pain or at least I thought it did but thing is it would have been better to learn to deal with pain other ways besides painkillers. Like building my pain tolerance up exercising massage therapy notes before I knew they were addictive I was given actually gotten OxyContin way back in early 2000’s I think 2001-2002 was when I had had bad back pain from car accident. Not sure why everyone wasn’t I informed about these lawsuits. Cuz I’ve been to detox 3 times & then even after that I asked for methadone & doc. Said no he’d rather me be on painkillers cause he didn’t agree or have any use for methadone he didn’t agree with the way they ran the programs or how they treated there patients with that I do agree with cause we aren’t treated like a normal human being more like a prisoner even if you’ve never been prison. U don’t have a life at all. Witch he was right on that. So he put me back on OxyContin & Morphine. Then at the end of me being prescribed OxyContin I was up to 60mg 4 times a day. & then whatever I could get I’d take then my script was taken away just like that so I had to buy them all on the street @ $50. A pill for 80mgs. After yrs. Of taken by mouth then I started taking them up my nose & then that was hell lost everything & almost everyone including myself a few times. Then finely I thought methadone was my only hope couple yrs. & I’ll be fixed ya right that’s bs I’ve been on it for 13-14 yrs. Now & was upto 190mls. At one point. Then I was in back car accident way worse then the other one yrs. Earlier now I’ll never work again broke back got rods & pins in my back pins all broke so rods floating around in there & I didn’t no what pain was really when I started taking pills yrs. B4 cuz the pain I have now is no where’s close to what I thought I had in earlier 2000’s. & methadone is not treated for pain it don’t help pain. & I thought methadone was going to be a cure all deal ya right that’s just a way for the government to control u & degrade u & every time u walk into the drug store ur looked down on by the staff not all but most. I know ppl. That was in person that got treated better then I’ve been treated on methadone I could go on & on this is a small part of story & I know so many ppl. In the same situation they change the methadone to methadose & then again to another name I can’t recall right off hand & never told me & I withdrawal & they told me I was crazy & it went on for couple weeks b4 telling they changed companies but shouldn’t make any difference witch is bs. I’ve never felt the same since they switched the first time probably about 4 yrs. After I started the program. They make u out to be a lier. This was not fair I was a very out going person & loved to be around ppl. & work with ppl. But now I’m in my 5th. Wheel disabled no income & of course no settlement from accident Cuz I was only car involved & of course it was all cuz I had to go out in snow storm to get methadone & I rolled & flipped my boyfriend at the time new truck. I’m lucky to be alive & never thought I’d walk again. But I did do that with a lot of pain & work. But I can’t understand why everyone didn’t have the chance to be involved in this settlement I got so much more to tell u about my experience & troubles & total devastation I’ve been humiliated called a lier treated like shit by doc. & the pain deal with daily is unbelievable I can’t even sweep the floor. NB Canada need to sue these companies we are human to & are going throw all the same bs as everywhere’s else so please remember they did it to everyone not just the once that can read or get excess to computer or this information all the time but there’s many like me that don’t always have the means or excuses to known about when these are going on. So I hope I guys. Help us here in nb too. Thanks for ur time.
P. S. The last time I went to my doc. For my refill on methadone witch I’m finely down to 103mls. But took 13yrs. From 190 so at that rate I got about 11yrs. To go. That’s crazy but ya as I was saying it was humiliating enough they use to do occasional supervise urine test. But nope not now here in nb. My clinic is the only one we now have a video Camera pointing straight at us right down low so for us ladies u pull ur underwear down & they see everything b4 u sit on toilet at least guys have they’re backs to it. How humiliating & degreatful &do u think that makes a person feel. Cuz I know I felt all the above & very violated. & to find out that out of like 4-5 methadone clinics in Moncton nb alone our clinic was the only clinic with a video camera in the bathroom. I don’t care if I got nothing to hide witch I didn’t but I do have my dignity. So ya I’m n it a happy person when it comes to all that I understand why ppl. And up taking they’re own lives cuz I’ve thought it myself many of times but I don’t think I ever would but still nobody should feel that way. Do I hope we can get us here in Canada New Brunswick in on a lawsuit. Thanks
I could go on and on. My disaster started in 2005 and is still on going with regular monthly in scripts of oxy and Percocet to this very day. The law firm Rochon and Genova took my papers work and copy’s of all the yrs of percriptions that also included fentenal. They have rarely been in contact and where can I tell my st and get compensation like I was promised yrs ago by the law firm. I think we will never get compensation and only the lawyer’s will not us victims
Opioids have destroyed my life in every way.
Lost home. Spouse, family, self respect.
My brother was prescribed Oxycotin for a injury and got severely addicted.
He went from one rehab center to another to stop his addiction.
He was on Suboxone for a while but he would go back to using Oxycotin.
Doctors would prescribe them or they were readily available to buy on the street.
His addiction destroyed our family. My brother died from a overdose on December 11, 2017.
My family’s forever broken it literally destroyed my family one by one. No one has been the same since his death. The struggle he went through was horrific & the pain he felt stays with everyone of my family members everyday.
My heart 💓 goes out to you and your family. Since June of 2006 iv been percribed these very medications. It too has controled my life in every way. I am lucky that iv never lost my family or house. Iv managed my meds but like everyone was told they were non addictive. I prey we all will get compensation but unlikely
Moi je prends de l’OxyContin depuis 2003 et je prends toujours ces pilules ? ?, suite à un accident de travail. J’en prends le matin, le midi, au souper et finalement pour le coucher‼️‼️
Depuis tout ce temps-là à prendre ces OxyContin je commence à avoir de la misère à parler ?, à discuter, à comprendre ‼️‼️
Serais-je sur le bord de devenir un légume ? ⁉️⁉️
J’espère ?? obtenir un règlement qui devrait être à la hauteur de ma situation médicale ‼️
I have been taking OxyContin since 2003 and still take these pills ? ? after an accident at work. I take it in the morning, at noon, at supper and finally to go to bed‼ ️‼ ️
Since all this time taking these OxyContin I have started to have trouble talking ?, discussing, understanding‼ ️‼ ️
Would I be on the verge of becoming a vegetable ? ⁉️⁉️
I hope to ?? get a settlement that should be commensurate with my medical situation‼ ️
I was the driver of a fatal car crash in 1995 and when OxyContin came about my family doc said let’s switch your medications as it is non habit forming and will help you so much. Ruined my life for 17 years but luckily after battling cancer and major discrimination in the medical field due to my previous “PRESCRIBED safe pain meds” I am on actual safe alternatives. BLESS ??
You situation sounds like I’m telling my own story except I was the one hit by a impaired driver. I since 2006 have been taking them morn noon and night. What have they changed you over to iv sincerely appreciate the opportunity to be given something different. Respect. Be well. Thanks for sharing
I lost my whole life