Attorneys for pharmaceutical companies made opening arguments Wednesday during the second day of a trial against them on Long Island.
They blamed doctors for mishandling opioid prescriptions and gangs for trafficking painkillers across the region. The state and Suffolk and Nassau counties brought the drug companies to court over their role in opioid misuse and fatal overdoses.
The drug makers told the jury that they followed state and federal regulations in the manufacturing and distribution of painkillers. They also say state and federal agencies failed to act when companies flagged suspicious orders for prescriptions that doctors wrote.
The county’s lawyers said the drug companies were not honest in marketing the potential dangers of opioid use and helped create an epidemic.
