In Oklahoma and California, two recent court rulings threaten to upend the carefully crafted—and, so far, successful—a legal strategy being deployed in thousands of lawsuits against the opioid industry. Those rulings cast doubt on the novel legal approach focusing on "public nuisance” laws, alleging that the pharmaceutical sector overplayed the benefits of their highly addictive opioid products and downplayed risks, therefore creating a nuisance by impeding public health. Both decisions agreed with the companies being sued—including opioid manufacturers, drug distributors, and pharmacy chains—that they were selling a federally approved, legal product prescribed by doctors and supposedly monitored by state and federal authorities. As opioid trials continue in many states, and settlement talks are at an advanced stage for thousands of the cases, the rulings could prod states, local governments, and tribes to capitulate and also fuel the resolve of plaintiffs to fight harder against giving in. The losers, once again, will be the families of those who died of opioid overdose, and efforts to win enough settlement money to expand the fight against the opioid epidemic.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited results of the largest-ever study of psilocybin have been announced, revealing that the psychedelic drug was highly efficacious as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression. The study found that patients who were given the highest dose had a significant decrease in depressive symptoms compared to those given the lowest amount, essentially a placebo. Overall, nearly 30 percent of patients given a high dose were in remission, compared to 7 percent for the control group. It was the most rigorous trial so far on psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, and adds to a growing body of evidence to earlier studies that were promising.
And finally, big cannabis companies are lining up celebrity comedians to push for marijuana legalization—although not everybody is laughing at the new campaigns, including a website that makes it easier for supporters to contact their congressional representatives. Kevin Sabet, of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, described the campaign as an “egregious example of profit over public health,” while even pro-legalization The Drug Policy Alliance, criticized the effort as overly corporate and not helping communities most hurt by marijuana laws.