A Northwoods state Senator was disappointed an amendment she and another Senator introduced to make pharmaceutical companies answerable for the opioid crisis was not included in a measure passed by the Senate last week.
The bill that passed allows authorities to indefinitely confine and require treatment for habitual drug offenders.
Democrats Janet Bewley of Bayfield county and Dave Hansen of Green Bay introduced an amendment asking the Attorney General to consider joining two other states in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical firms selling opioids as they do.
Bewley is a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Opioid Abuse which has been holding meeting around the state...
"....I do think in the national and state discussions of the opioid epidemic the role of the pharmaceutical companies as part of the solution is conspicuous by its absence...."
" Bewley says the amount of time and money spent to clean up the results of the abuse of opioids, the amendment would be helpful....
".....I thought as an end to the special session I would ask that the Attorney General consider what has been done in other states across the nation including those with a Republican Attorney General to look into the responsibility of pharmaceutical companies in this mess...."
A Republican Attorney General of Ohio and A Democratic A.G. in Mississippi have asked to get the pharmaceutical companies involved in problem solving along with communities in three other states.
Bewley's Senate district includes a part of Vilas,and Iron and Price counties.
