City sues drug makers for opioid crisis 'ravaging Lafayette'

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 29 in U.S. District Court, claims “opioid addiction is ravaging Lafayette” and causing “overwhelming financial burden” on the city.

The 162-page filing claims blame belongs to 10 manufacturers for deceptively marketing the appropriate use, risks and safety of pain-relieving opioids. The suit also names three distributors for failing to report and stop suspicious orders of opioids that found their way into Lafayette.

The lawsuit, along with similar ones filed by 61 other communities across the United States, was transferred to U.S. District Court’s for Northern Ohio because the claims and the accused overlapped.

Indianapolis, Hammond and Scott County – home of Indiana’s first needle exchange and an ongoing HIV and hepatitis C epidemic tied to shared needles and opioid use – are among the communities in Indiana that are in that pile.