Editorial: Drug makers have obligation to address opioid epidemic

It is a sorry trend that doesn’t yet appear to be changing. That is not acceptable. The companies that make opioids need to be a part of the solution and pay to fix the mess they helped create.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in Raleigh earlier this week in an appearance that both highlighted the problem and sought to display the effort President Donald Trump’s administration is taking to address the opioid abuse crisis.

All that is well-and-good. But what’s really needed is a massive effort at providing those fighting this crisis – addicts, their families and communities – with the necessary resources to get it under control.

First we must repeat a too-familiar refrain. The General Assembly’s steadfast refusal to expand Medicaid to those most in need – at almost no-cost to the state – means that treatment remains unavailable to thousands of North Carolinians. The legislature needs to lift the ban immediately and make Medicaid available to nearly half-a-million citizens it now denies.

Attorney General Josh Stein’s approach of filing a lawsuit against Insys Therapeutics, a manufacturer of Subsys, a spray form of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, is a way to force those who have profited from this crisis to help fix it.

This is hardly new or cutting edge. The massive settlement with tobacco companies several years ago has helped pay for smoking cessation programs as well as establish a foundation that’s provided millions of dollars to help tobacco-dependent communities shift and revive their economies. Similar settlements have provided money for energy efficiency and land conservation initiatives.

Drug manufacturers should, on their own, recognize their accountability and accept responsibility to fix the deadly mess they in a very large way created. They should work with communities and states like North Carolina to come up with settlements that provide the funding, programs and treatments to stop this deadly epidemic.