Pala Band Of Mission Indians Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors

The Pala Band of Mission Indians in San Diego say they've been deceived by opioid manufacturers and distributors and they filed a lawsuit. The legal action claims that the use of OxyContin and other prescription painkillers has had a devastating effect on the tribe. They claim the opioid industry has been behind a scheme to make patients and doctors believe their painkillers were safe and non-addictive. State statistics show the opioid death rate for native Americans in California and in San Diego County is higher than any other group. Joining me is Doug Elmets the spokesman for the Taliban of Mission Indians and Doug welcome to the program. Thank you very much for having me. What kind of effects has the use of prescription opioids had on the Palin Band of Mission Indians devastating the incidence of addiction disability family dysfunction is immeasurable. And it's not just the Puhl a Band of Mission Indians it's Native American tribes throughout the country communities beyond Native Americans that are all suffering the effects of this explosion of opioids and specifically how has it affected families on the reservation as I think we all know it has just an amazing addictive nature to it and it's caused families to be pulled apart. It has caused individuals to you know conduct crime to try and meet the needs of their addiction. And you know tribes in particular are very communal. So the effects are felt by everyone. It's not just as if it's one individual in a large community. This is a very very tight knit community so the effects on Native Americans tends to be even more significant than others. We spoke with a Polish tribal chairman Robert Smith. Here's what he had to say about the effect of opioids on the tribe in 2000. Sixteen but three of our families lost young ones. Now since those devastating actually moved young no one was repairing our older people and not marrying younger people so devastating that several deaths. My hope is because the army on the reservations side and even a small community we all know each other and you know there are people in that race is acceptable and Doug Elmendorf you say that the other Native American tribes have also felt the impact of this prescription drug addiction. Absolutely. And what you see is child welfare and foster care cases that are skyrocketing homelessness. Many of these things are driven because people are so addicted. And in most cases not because they want to become addicted because they've managed to you know have this prescribed to them and then ultimately they're unable to extricate themselves from opioid addiction. According to the state of California the Department of Public Health. In 2017 the rate of opioid deaths for Native Americans was higher than any other group. So it was fifteen point seven one per 100000 people. That's three times the statewide rate and the same holds true in San Diego County in particular where Paula is located. The rate for native Americans is thirty nine point five to per 100000. And the overdose rate for native Americans nationally is eight point four per 100000 that's higher than any other group although tribes and the Polish tribe have felt these effects. They are a microcosm of the larger problem that exists in our society. And that's why the Polya tribe in particular but other local jurisdictions other tribes other entities have joined together in this lawsuit to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the devastating effects of opioids. Now as I say we spoke with Paul the chairman Robert Smith and he told us how the tribe has been working with doctors and educating the community about the dangers of opioids. We've notified our doctors that were saying hey if we have these winds have been on a long time guys are doing the mopping it's not the methods they're being very near. So we're working on that and we're going to try to come back to this mysterious epidemic on the. But four months ago we gave a PowerPoint to our general membership meeting showing them the stats in San Diego County. Now no media was affected. Highest rate of deaths in the community in that area. So we gave them the stat Girin and Tampines alternative measures to pain management. Doug what does the tribe hope to accomplish with the lawsuit. Well they hope to do like everybody else which is to force big pharma pharmaceutical companies to be held to account for what is in many cases faulty advertising trying to whitewash in many instances the claims that are being made as if they don't really even exist. It is a substantial suit that is being brought by so many different entities that really hopefully will hold some water in what's going on because I will tell you that we are not going to as a society win this in the court of law or a court of public opinion the only way we're going to win this is in the court of law. You know the pharmaceutical companies have really attempted to shift the addiction blame to the patients. I mean going so far as to coin a term pseudo addiction to describe patients who continue to seek opioids that is just unbelievable to me and they do it in in training and seminars and literature that's frankly used to create this false picture of the dangers of their drugs. And I've been speaking with Doug Elmets. He's the spokesman for the Taliban of Mission Indians. Doug thank you. Absolutely. Thanks for having us.