Oklahoma: J&J should pay $9.3B to end opioid crisis

(AP) Oklahoma has asked the state Supreme Court to order Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $9.3 billion to cover the anticipated cost of combatting the state’s opioid crisis. Attorney General Mike Hunter made the request Monday. He says a lower court’s order last year that the pharmaceutical giant pay $465 million for its part in the oversupply of highly addictive painkillers would be sufficient to cover only one year of the state’s abatement plan. The Oklahoman reports that Hunter contends Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman erred because the crisis will take 20 years to abate, costing $465 million every year.