Sen. Cory Booker. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Demonstrators rallied outside Suffolk County Superior Court Friday as a judge heard arguments in the state's lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says Purdue lied about Oxycontin's risk to cause addiction in its marketing. Healey says this played a major role in creating the opioid epidemic, which has claimed more than 700,000 lives nationwide since 1999.
Purdue says the lawsuit distorts the facts and needs to be dismissed.
The opioid epidemic, and its constant grip on the nation, has been front and center on the campaign trail. Presidential candidate and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke with WBZ NewsRadio's Nichole Davis about it.
"I see the ravages of addiction and how we've failed," Booker said. "We're treating addiction with incarceration; we're allowing drug companies to foist these opioids on us and not be held accountable... this is literally lowering the life expectancy of people in our nation. We're going to solve this problem, one, by actually investing in the solutions we know work. There are many evidence-based interventions, from peer-to-peer counseling after overdose, to making sure we have treatment as an access. Making sure we hold the drug companies accountable, and making them pay for many of these strategies. Dealing with opioid addiction is not beyond what we are capable of doing."
Booker and Davis also discussed various aspects of criminal justice reform involving communities of color and the marijuana industry. Hear the full interview below.
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App
WBZ NewsRadio's Nichole Davis (@NicholeDWBZ) reports