INVESTORSARETURNING SKITTISH yggg
September30,20 19 BARRON’S 31
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“Wherewerethelaw-enforcementandregulatory
officialsbefore,during,andafterthe[opioid]
epidemic?” ROBERTDAVIDOW,Palm Beach, Fla.
SENDLETTERSTO:
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Letters are subject to editing.
TheOpioidCrisis
TotheEditor:
When someone irresponsibly drinks alco-
hol, gets behind the wheel ofacar,and
createsafatal accident, we don’t sue the
car manufacturer or the distillery (“The
Opioid Reckoning,”Cover Story,Sept.
20). Federal law protects firearms manu-
facturers and dealers from being sued
when their weapons are used in the com-
mission ofacrime.Yet, somehow,weview
lawsuits that would obliterate the bank
accounts of drug companies that legally
produced opioidsunder the auspices of
the Food and Drug Administration as the
proper remedy (pardon the expression)
for the crisis in opioids.
As former Speaker of the House Tip
O’Neill once observed, all politics is local.
As your article makes very clear,the opi-
oid problem is local as well. The example
you cite of the pharmacy on Staten Island
through which thousands of doses were
prescribed brings that out. It wouldbe
easy to ascertain potential abuses by
identifying the doctors who wrote the
scripts, thepatients they were written
for,and the frequency with which they
were written. This is the level where con-
trol must be demanded and enforced by
the authorities.
The various attorneys general are tak-
ing the easy way out by suing the drug
companies and distributors, because,
after all, that’swhere the money is. I’m
beginning to think that Shakespeare had
the right idea when he wrote: “The first
thing we do, let’skill all the lawyers.”
ARTHURM.SHATZ
Oakland Gardens, N.Y.
TotheEditor:
I’ve beenadoctor since1972. In1997,
ther ewas great public concern and out-
cryabout OxyContin and its addictive
power.Where was the government then?
By 2010,Ihad healthy young patients
being prescribed massive amounts of nar-
cotics by physicians at pain clinics. These
doctors were drug dealers.
Where was the government then?
Now, state and federal governments
aresuing the drug manufacturers—only
because so many young people are dying
that the foster-care systems are over-
whelmed.
Who in the government has been tak-
ing election money from pharmaceuti-
cals? On Capitol Hill? Most of them, if
not all. They permitted this outrage, and
in my opinion, they should also help foot
the bill.
DR.ELIZABETHMORGAN
Atlanta
TotheEditor:
Perhaps the barristers should take aim at
the misunderstood doctors. They know
the dangers and should be held responsi-
ble for prescribing large quantities of
opioids.
JOHNFEROLDI
Oakton,Va.
TotheEditor:
The big question regarding the opioid lit-
igation is whether the real victims—the
patients and their families—will see any
of the billions soon to be bestowed on the
numerous governmental entities that are
responsible for protecting their citizens
and preventing the crisis in the first
place.
There’snoshortage of public and pri-
vate plaintiffs and their attorneys, all
looking to feed at the trough of mass-tort
settlements, but where were the law-en-
forcement and regulatory officials before,
during, and after the epidemic?
The plaintiff’s bar has obviously taken
the shortest path to the biggest payoffs
by representing literallythousands of
governmental entities,which have in-
curred expenditures dealing with the
aftermathofthe legal and illegal over-
consumptionofanaddictive pain killer.
Will anyofthis bounty trickle down to
the true victims, or will it end up, like
the tobacco mass-tort settlements, being
used for whatever purpose on whichafu-
ture generation of politicians chooses to
spend it?
My money is on the inept politicians
and governmental officials who stood by
for years while the crisis unfolded, squan-
dering the bounty on whatever special-
interest group whose campaign contribu-
tions and/or votes the politicians needed
fortheir next election.
ROBERTDAVIDOW
Palm Beach, Fla.
ThreatFromtheLeft?
ToTheEditor:
Referring to the coming presidential
election, RandallW. Forsyth quotes Leon
Cooperman as saying, “Vote right and
vote often” in response to thethreat
from the progressive left (“Wall Street Is
Worried About ElizabethWarren. It’s
Right toTake Her Seriously,” Up &
DownWall Street, Sept. 20).
This is the same Cooperman who set-
tled insider-trading charges with the
Securities andExchange Commission.
However facetious the comment might
have been, Cooperman seems to fit right
in with PresidentDonaldTrump’sever-
expanding swamp. ShouldTrump catch
word of Cooperman’s support while watch-
ing FoxandFriends, Iimagine that the
president would try to eviscerate the SEC
as he puts the finishing touch on his great
accomplishment of eviscerating as many of
our important institutions as possible (the
Environmental Protection Agency,the
Justice Department, the State Depart-
ment, the intelligence community,the field
of science, etc.).
Foranyone enjoying the fruits of a
highflying stock market, just wait until the
president’smisguided, narcissistic, and
ignorant policies (the obliteration of free
trade, the perversion of open markets, the
generation of a trillion-dollar deficit, etc.)
result in Cooperman’sfeared 25% bear-
market decline. It will probably be much
steeper than that, and while Cooperman
can blame ElizabethWarren, Bernie Sand-
ers, or any other Democrat that he chooses,
the fault, I’m afraid, will lie only with the
current occupant of the Oval Office.
ANDREWMORRIS
Denver
Vanguard’sPG&ESecurities
TotheEditor:
Regarding the Sept. 20 article “Muni
BondsFace Climate Change. And Inves-
tors Are Ignoring the Risks,” the PG&E
securities thatVanguard held during the is-
suer’sbankruptcy had an irrevocable credit
enhancement feature fromahigh-quality,
well-capitalized bank. Our credit risk at the
time was with that bank and not with
PG&E, so the event had virtually no impact
on the value of these securities.
FREDDYMARTINO
Vanguard
Malvern,Pa.
StoriesBehindtheStories
The Readback isapodcast by
Barron’s that takesyouinside our
newsroom and our latest stories.
In the latest episode, Josh Nathan-
Kazis joins host Alex Eule to talk
about the comingwaveof opioid
litigation—and who’slikely to pay
for the ongoing crisis.
Signuptodaywhereveryou listen
to your podcasts or head to
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information.