Just about a month ago, Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes made a pitch to county governments struggling to deal with the havoc wreaked by opioid addiction statewide: Why not sue the $11 billion pharmaceutical industry that brought the problem to Utah’s door?
Little did the Draper Republican know how quickly county governments would get on board.
At least five counties — Cache, Davis, Utah, Washington and Weber — have so far either passed, or are considering, resolutions to take legal action against Big Pharma, said Lincoln Shurtz, director of external relations for the Utah Association of Counties (UAC).