When San Diego law enforcement comes across stolen or fake prescription pads, investigators employ the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) to monitor suspected fraudulent prescriptions.
“Our goal is to find the dealer and hold them accountable,” said Jorge Del Portillo, deputy district attorney in the narcotics division of the San Diego District Attorney's office.
Although prescription opioids accounted for 33% of the overdose deaths in 2019, San Diego is not among the counties that is suing four drugmakers for allegedly causing the opioid epidemic nationwide with deceptive marketing that downplayed their addictiveness.
“In San Diego County, the primary opioid we see is illicit fentanyl,” Del Portillo told the Southern California Record. “Our narcotics prosecutor has not seen a case with a legitimate oxycodone or opioid in at least five years.”
Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Orange counties, and the city of Oakland sued four prescription drug makers, including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA), Endo International Plc (ENDP.O) and AbbVie Inc's (ABBV.N) Allergan unit.
The counties are asking Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson to award them $50 billion to pay the price of dealing with the public nuisance opioids created, according to media reports.
While legal fentanyl requires a prescription to obtain because it typically is reserved for patients experiencing severe and chronic pain, illicit fentanyl is manufactured in a lab by cartels in Mexico, according to Tanya Sierra, public affairs officer with the San Diego District Attorney's office.
“It comes in a powder form or it’s pressed into a blue M30 pill, which looks like an oxycodone pill,” she said. “Sometimes we see fentanyl pressed in other fake pills that look like Xanax or other pills.”
From 1999 to 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that opioids have led to 500,000 people overdosing and dying in the United States.
But in San Diego, the majority of overdoses that are investigated involve illicit substances, such as fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine.
“In 2019, there were 214 accidental deaths caused by prescription opioids, 124 heroin deaths, and 408 other illicit substances and/or alcohol,” Del Portillo said. “We believe 151 of the 408 were fentanyl deaths. The estimated number of fentanyl deaths for 2020 is 457.”
Reuters reported that some 3,300 opioid crisis lawsuits are being litigated around the country and that McKesson Corp (MCK.N), AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N), Cardinal Health Inc (CAH.N), and J&J are offering a combined payment of $26 billion to resolve litigation against but the settlement has not yet been approved.
The state of Oklahoma won its opioid litigation to the tune of a $465 million judgment, which J&J is appealing.
Fidelma Fitzpatrick, the attorney representing the four counties, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, J&J iterated, “Janssen provided these medicines for doctors treating patients suffering from pain and worked with regulators to provide appropriate information about their risks and benefits.”