When he chose a lawyer to lead the litigation, it was important to him to get someone who had the best interest of the state and would put heart into it. If there is success in the lawsuit, the money will be set aside and dedicated to treatment programs, law enforcement and corrections, he said. "The oversupply that is occurring, and the misrepresentations that have been made to doctors around the country - honestly, the fraud, with respect to telling doctors, veterinarians, dentists that opioids weren't addictive - that is the root cause of the epidemic," Hunter said. In June, it was decided drug manufacturers need to be held responsible, he said. Autopsies revealed five patients had other drugs in their systems, so his office did not file charges on those five, but second-degree murder charges have been filed for the other five patients. One patient was prescribed 200 pills over the course of a month. Hunter said a doctor in Midwest City caused the deaths of 10 patients by providing opioids without the patients having a health need. "When they provide them opioids without any recognition of the fact that they've got a health problem that justifies them being prescribed opioids, and that person suffers as a result, we're going to hold that prescriber responsible," he said. Hunter said his office will be serious about prescribers being "completely reckless" with patients. There's a difference between possession and distribution." That's going to be the position of our office while I'm attorney general, and, honestly, it needs to be the position of policymakers. "So, here's my view: If you sell poison to somebody and it puts them in the emergency room, or worse yet, kills them, you've committed a violent crime. If you're dealing, you've made a calculated, cold-blooded, entrepreneurial decision to sell poison to people, and, unfortunately, the best customer base for these folks are young people," Hunter said.
If you're guilty of a possession crime, you've got an illness that subjects you to criminal liability. I agree we need to be smarter, but I draw the line between possession and distribution. "Here's where I draw the line with respect to the idea that we need to be smarter on crime. There also has to be more of a commitment to "the war on drugs," and law enforcement needs more assets and funding. So that's an important part of what we're going to look at on the commission," Hunter said.Īnother component is there has to be more education in schools, with parents and with prescribers, he said. Other states are doing a better job than what we're doing because, honestly, they're investing tax dollars in the treatment programs. We deal with demand by getting these people better. "If we're going to deal with supply - too many pills out there, too many drugs on the street - we've got to deal with demand. He said a careful look needs to be made to expand access to treatment in the state. That legislation, those laws, need to be strengthened," Hunter said. "How do we put, honestly, more responsibility on prescribers? Right now we have a prescription monitoring program that's supposed to ensure that people don't doctor shop. "So there's an oversupply of this stuff just at everybody's house, unfortunately, and we're going to get a handle on it in several different ways," he said.Ī commission is being created to look at what is needed in terms of new policy and legislation.
Just 4.4 percent of abused painkillers come from drug dealers, 17.3 percent were prescribed by a doctor for the abuser and 66.4 percent come from a friend or relative, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, Hunter said. That's enough to give 50 pills to every person in the state, Hunter told members of Enid Rotary Club. In 2014, there were almost 10 million prescriptions for opioid medication. His office is focused on trying to get a handle on the opioid crisis, Hunter said. Opioid overdoses have claimed the lives of almost 3,000 Oklahomans over the last three years, Attorney General Mike Hunter said during a visit to Enid on Monday.
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