OTTAWA – POLITICS – Conservative Party of Canada Leader, Pierre Poilievre, has announced that if elected, his government will sue Big Pharma and their consultants for their role in the opioid epidemic. Poilievre’s statement pointed out that under Justin Trudeau’s leadership, Canada has suffered, with 32,000 opioid-related deaths since 2016 and 33,000 hospitalizations. The official opposition leader believes that the NDP-Liberal approach has failed, putting more drugs on the streets, leading to more addictions, deaths, and despair.
Poilievre blamed the greedy pharmaceutical companies who marketed addictive drugs as pain medication, stating that the opioid crisis originated in the invention of Oxycontin by Purdue Pharma in 1995. He accused them of aggressively promoting and overprescribing opioids, leading to a massive increase in opioid dependency. Poilievre also claimed that management consultants, McKinsey, advised Big Pharma to get their customers addicted, including offering bonuses and rebates to sellers based on the number of drug overdoses in their areas.
BC has launched a class-action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors for the costs to Canada’s healthcare system, but the federal government has not yet announced whether it will join these lawsuits. Poilievre stated that a Conservative government would actively and publicly join the BC lawsuit to cover healthcare costs and launch a massive federal lawsuit against Big Pharma and their consultants.
The total amount claimed for both lawsuits would be $44 billion, including the costs of the federal share of estimated healthcare costs, federal money spent on the opioid crisis, federal criminal justice system costs, and lost tax revenue. Poilievre believes that money recovered from this massive lawsuit will fund treatment and recovery programs for people struggling with addiction, ensuring that all Canadians can access treatment and recovery programs. Poilievre concluded by stating that they will “turn hurt into hope” and “bring home justice for Canadians.”
