{"id":64262,"date":"2019-05-14T12:49:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T18:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/attorney-general-confident-oxycontin-maker-will-settle-colorado-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2019-05-14T18:49:06","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T18:49:06","slug":"attorney-general-confident-oxycontin-maker-will-settle-colorado-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/attorney-general-confident-oxycontin-maker-will-settle-colorado-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney general confident OxyContin maker will settle Colorado lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=d9a18d1f-820b-4ba2-b0c0-58d74187651d&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1344\" alt=\"Attorney General Phil Weiser expects Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, to settle a lawsuit brought against it by the state.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Attorney General Phil Weiser expects Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, to settle a lawsuit brought against it by the state.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jessica Hill\/ Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Colorado\u2019s lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, is likely to end in a settlement that could give the state ten of millions to invest in addiction treatment, state Attorney General Phil Weiser said.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=5f3a79dd-14ce-4de3-bdc6-e5d44d4595f8&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"600\" height=\"491\" alt=\"Weiser\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Weiser<\/span><span class=\"credit\">du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u201cThey don\u2019t have a leg to stand on,\u201d Weiser said of Purdue. He called the facts of the case \u201cdamning,\u201d in an interview Monday with the <em>The Durango Herald<\/em>\u2019s editorial board.<\/p>\n<p>Former Attorney General Cynthia Coffman <a href=\"https:\/\/coag.gov\/press-room\/press-releases\/09-06-18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed a lawsuit against Purdue<\/a> in September, alleging the company misled Colorado health care providers and consumers about the addiction risks associated with opioid painkillers.<\/p>\n<p>Some patients who received opioid prescriptions went on to seek out other forms of opioids, such as heroin, which contributed to a high number of deaths related to opioids across the state, data show.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado is one of many states, cities and counties to sue Purdue for damages related to the opioid epidemic.<\/p>\n<p>Weiser said he expected the case would be settled while he is in office.<\/p>\n<p>He cited Oklahoma\u2019s  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.purduepharma.com\/news-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$200 million settlement <\/a>with Purdue as proof.<\/p>\n<p>It is possible Purdue could reduce its liability by filing bankruptcy, an option the company has floated, according to national media outlets.<\/p>\n<p>If Colorado settles with Purdue, Weiser said he would like to see the money invested in treatment options, including peer support, rehabilitation to gain job skills and outpatient and inpatient treatment centers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is my top priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Inpatient and outpatient drug rehab is lacking across the state. In La Plata County, two outpatient clinics are dedicated to addiction treatment, and inpatient drug treatment is not available.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:mshinn@durangoherald.com\">mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Weiser: Funds from legal battle should boost treatment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[616,28,1938,29,3131],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-64262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-addiction","tag-headlines","tag-medicine","tag-newsletter","tag-prescription-drugs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64262"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=64262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}