Opioids have been used to treat chronic pain conditions for a long time. While it’s now well-known, the highly addictive nature of these drugs was not always common knowledge and doctors across the country liberally prescribed opioids for pain management without fully understanding the powerful effects of these dangerous medications.
Now, prescription opioids have become the most abused class of drugs in the U.S. and have caused a nationwide epidemic that has devastated lives. It has been alleged that Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers not only exaggerated the benefits of the medications, but knew they were being overly prescribed and failed to disclose the extremely addictive nature and the need for the dosage to be strictly limited, directly resulting in a national public health crisis.