A jury on Tuesday ruled in favor of the City of Baltimore, finding that two drug distribution companies fueled the opioid epidemic in the city by sending hundreds of millions of painkillers here, and awarded $274 million in damages. The jury determined that the city’s opioid problem was a public nuisance, depriving residents of their right to public health and safety and that the companies, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, unreasonably shipped huge sums of painkillers to the Baltimore area, substantially contributing to the public nuisance, reports the Baltimore Sun. Together, the two drug distributors accounted for 60% of the prescription opioid market in Baltimore for about a decade, city lawyers said. By pumping pills into the area, the city contends, the companies helped to hook a new generation on opioids; and when their prescriptions ran out, they turned to more potent heroin and fentanyl, leading people to die at staggering rates.
Baltimore will ask for up to $11 billion in abatement, after its win at trial that represents a gamble paying off. Years ago, the city opted out of a global settlement between a group of opioid manufacturers and distributors and a host of states and municipalities around the country, opting to pursue its own cases against those companies with hopes of securing larger payouts. Over the past six weeks, the trial featured dozens of witnesses, hours of videotaped depositions and hundreds of documents, putting a magnifying glass to the distributors’ business with several pharmacies throughout the Baltimore area. In some cases, the companies continued to send huge amounts of painkillers despite what a former DEA agent described as glaring “red flags,” such as large quantities of prescriptions called in from pain clinics and opioids making up unusually high proportions of pharmacies’ business. The city’s legal team hired an economist who estimated Baltimore spent at least $197 million over the last 13 years — an average of more than $15 million a year — combating the opioid crisis via its police, fire and health departments and the Mayor’s Office for Homeless Services. He projected the city would spend $73 million more from 2024 to 2029.
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