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The manufacturers of OxyContin are making what should be viewed as the pharmaceutical industry’s down payment on a debt owed to drug-ravaged towns across America.
Purdue Pharma and the family that holds a controlling interest in the company have agreed to pay $270 million to settle Oklahoma’s lawsuit alleging the company’s intense marketing of OxyContin contributed to the opioid epidemic. About $200 million will be used to create the National Center for Addiction Studies and Treatment at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa, while local governments will share millions more.
The one downside is that Purdue Pharma admits no wrongdoing in the settlement. That’s disappointing because the families that have lost relatives to opioids, and the communities and states that have expended so much on interdiction and treatment, all deserve to have someone accept responsibility.
Maybe that yet will come. Oklahoma’s suit was just the tip of the iceberg. Across the country, communities and states have filed thousands of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma and other drug manufacturers believed to have fueled opioid use by im-
properly hyping the drugs or understating their addictive qualities.
In addition, the attorneys general in 40 states are conducting a joint investigation into drugmakers and distributors. That probe has the potential to yield a combination of civil and criminal penalties. And Ohio has a separate lawsuit against Purdue, which is now in the pre-trial phase in Ross County.
Some have speculated that the mountain of litigation eventually will lead to a global settlement like the states’ 1998 landmark agreement with the tobacco industry, which agreed to drop certain marketing practices and pay $206 billion over 25 years. Just as some of the tobacco agreement money was spent on prevention programs, the payouts in opioid settlements should be used to fund prevention programs and treatment initiatives. It also should be used for law enforcement’s anti-drug work and for even broader purposes, such as economic development in depressed towns.
The opioid epidemic has many causes, not least the hopelessness that comes from living in economically struggling communities, and users have many access points, such as mail drops of synthetic drug varieties illegally shipped here from China.
But drugmakers should pay for whatever role they played in creating, then fueling, a nightmare health crisis. They also should admit responsibility for their role and say they’re sorry.
Nearly all — 95 percent — of people who smoke began their habit before they were 21 years old.
And many lifelong smokers who develop the deadly and avoidable health issues association with smoking — lung disease, cancer, pulmonary disease, heart disease, and other ailments — deeply regret their choice to ever start smoking.
Now Gov. Mike DeWine wants to change Ohio law so that more 18, 19, and 20-year-olds will never take up a deadly habit. The governor wants to raise the age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21.
Crucially, the governor wants to include all tobacco products — cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and vaping products. This is important because while teen smoking rates have been declining, the number of teenagers who vape is on the rise.
In recent years, the American Cancer Society has made raising the tobacco-purchasing age a priority. Locally, public health researchers from the University of Toledo have campaigned for municipalities, including Toledo and its suburbs, to raise the purchase age.
Among the arguments against raising the tobacco-purchase age in a community was that 18-year-old smokers would just drive to the nearest town with a lower purchase-age to buy tobacco products, harming the
convenience stores and other tobacco-sellers in the towns with higher legal purchase ages. Mr. DeWine’s proposal to raise the purchase age across the state makes this a non-issue.
Six states have already raised the purchase age to 21 — California, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon. Ohio should join them.
Increasing the legal age to buy cigarettes, vaping products, and other tobacco will help states reduce disease rates and control health-care costs.
The move also could save the lives of an uncountable number of today’s teenagers by assuring they have a few years to mature before they can legally buy addictive products that can contribute to their early deaths.
Of course, teenagers will always be able to get tobacco products even if they can’t buy them legally. That is not a good argument for leaving the legal purchase age at 18. Instead, it is an argument for more of the educational programs like the anti-smoking campaigns that have helped drive down the nation’s smoking rate overall.
Raising the legal age to buy tobacco to 21 will help restrict access to a deadly addictive product and save Ohioans’ lives. The General Assembly should move quickly to do it.
Walker Consultants officials say they haven’t seen free lunchtime parking in any other cities ( “Toledo may end all free parking downtown, install more meters,” Saturday), so Toledo should do away with it.
What kind of logic is that? If other mayors jumped off a bridge, would Mayor Kapszukiewicz jump off with them?
Toledo was clearly thinking outside the box when it instituted free parking in order to lure people downtown. Anyone, from the mayor on down, who supports ending that, can no longer claim to be innovative in their thinking regarding downtown resurgence.
The removal of free parking is equivalent to saddling downtown restaurateurs, and only downtown restaurateurs, with a new fee. I don’t need to pay to park at restaurants in West Toledo, South Toledo, or any of the suburbs. Why not keep the playing field level for all restaurants?
Toledo has done an excellent job of making downtown a good destination. But not good enough to take away free or reasonably priced parking. There’s still plenty to do in this city, so the smart move is to leave in place every existing incentive to draw people downtown. It will be interesting to see if our politicians make the smart move, or opt to dig deeper into our pockets and then act surprised when fewer people opt to spend their recreational dollars downtown.
DOUG TABNER
West Toledo
Bogus poll
According to the governor and various mayors in Ohio,
the gas tax needs to be raised by 18 cents per gallon in order to maintain and repair the aging roads and bridges. The Ohio Senate proposes a 6-cent increase. The roads and bridges need the higher tax.
The Wednesday Blade article, “20 mayors join forces, ask for higher gas tax,” cited a poll of 1,361 adults that found that 55.4 percent opposed the 18-cent hike. A poll of 1,361 adults in a state with approximately 11.73 million people is meaningless. Why did The Blade include such a ridiculous statistic?
CAROL MOLNAR
Sylvania Township
Enough taxes
The Governor wants to raise the gas tax by 18 cents per gallon. The legislature is offering 6 cents per gallon increase plus a $38 million tax cut to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.
The citizens of Ohio have already paid enough in taxes. Why not use some of the $2 billion in the rainy-day fund? Money from this fund could pay for road and infrastructure
improvements, fund our schools, protect Lake Erie, fund public transportation, and restore all cuts to programs de-funded in the past.
CHARLES E. STOLZ
Sylvania
Car commercials
Regarding the closure of the General Motors plant in Lordstown, the company had been complaining that the Chevy Cruze, the Volt, and the Impala were not selling. Of course not, because you hardly ever saw any advertisement of these cars. GM seems to only advertise its trucks and SUVs.
Look at Toyota and Honda. You don’t see them advertise their trucks. You see their cars. All the Japanese companies push their cars. Not the Big Three. They push trucks and SUVs.
Now GM says it is going to build an electric Cadillac. Will you see this advertised, or will it be like the Chevy Volt and go away?
FRED GIBSON
Perrysburg
The glory days of Bowling Green State University hockey have seemed like a distant memory — until this week.
The BGSU men’s hockey team has broken a nearly 30-year drought, earning a spot in the NCAA men’s hockey tournament that starts this weekend. Bowling Green will play defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth in the first round in Allentown, Pa., Saturday.
The Falcons — once a perennial powerhouse — last appeared in the tournament in 1990.
Since then, plenty of stars and future NHL players have come through the program. But failing to make the NCAA tournament year after year has been painful — particularly to anyone who remembers the university’s 1984 national championship.
BGSU hockey is legendary. It has produced players and coaches who have won the Hobey Baker Award, the Stanley Cup, and Olympic medals. Former BGSU roommates Brian MacLellan and George McPhee faced off last year as managers for the teams in the Stanley Cup finals.
(MacLellan’s Washington Capitals beat McPhee’s Las Vegas Golden Knights.)
But just a decade ago, the hockey program — after years of decline and facing a budget crunch — was in jeopardy of ending. Alumni and Falcons hockey fans would not hear of it.
Alumni in the NHL joined in the “Bring Back the Glory” campaign and donated to the effort, as did local fans, and hockey at BGSU was spared.
Then began the long, sometimes slow, rebuilding.
BGSU Coach Chris Bergeron is in his ninth year with the program. In 2017 and again last week his Falcons came agonizingly close to winning the WCHA conference title.
Getting over that this year will be easier since the team has a chance to play for a national championship for the first time in a generation.
Bowling Green hockey fans are gleeful to cheer for a tournament team. Reviving a proud legacy is worth celebrating. Best of all, though, is that BGSU’s best hockey days may be ahead.
The recent suicide deaths of two Parkland shooting survivors renewed the trauma of last year’s horrible tragedy. Florida officials must step up again with the resources necessary to help survivors and their families move forward safely. These deaths, though especially painful, are not unique in a state where the suicide rate is on the rise.
After the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School last year, Florida lawmakers approved $69 million for mental health services and dedicated $4 million of it to Broward County School District, where the shootings occurred. The two new deaths demonstrate that more help is required still. No bright line delineates the end of a tragedy.
Students might return to school, but the psychological and emotional impacts linger, often unseen, until it’s too late. State Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz, who is a former state representative from Parkland, has called on the lawmakers to do more this year. They should heed his advice and not allow partisanship and divisive gun debates to interfere. This is about the health and wellbeing of Florida’s
young people.
Nothing should be more important or partisan-free. As much as Parkland requires extraordinary assistance under its extraordinary circumstances, it is just one community among many. Recent suicides illustrate widespread suicide and mental health challenges in Florida. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked a 30 percent increase in suicide rates among all Americans from 1999 to 2016 (the most recent year for which the CDC has data). More than 45,000 people took their own lives in 2016.
The increase in Florida was not as dramatic at 10.6 percent over the same period, but that was in part because Florida consistently has a higher suicide rate than the national average. The rest of the country is catching up. Young adults were not immune to the trend. The Florida Department of Health reports a rate of 10.9 suicides per 100,000 Floridians aged 16 to 21. A decade earlier, the rate was only 8.5.
The greatest challenge in reaching people before they make that fateful decision is identifying who needs help. More than half of people who kill themselves don’t have a
recognized mental health condition.
That difficulty is magnified among marginalized communities, where trust in government already is strained. As lawmakers consider devoting new resources to mental health services, they must include intensified outreach to those groups. They also must ensure that resources remain available to help families suffering through tragedy.
The state can’t do it all, though. The first line of defense to prevent teen suicide remains parents and other adults. That’s a lesson learned in Parkland, where officials are encouraging parents to have uncomfortable but essential conversations with teens. Other adults should always be on the lookout for warning signs such as extreme mood swings, substance use, increased anxiety, and isolation.
The odds are that teens who display one of those signs are not about to commit suicide, but what adult would want on their conscience the knowledge that they’d seen a warning sign and not intervened?
Sometimes all it takes is a sympathetic ear or pointing a troubled young person to resources that can restore hope.