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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-encourages-justice-department-to-sue-opioid-companies-1534438160\nTrump Calls On Justice Department to Sue Opioid Companies\nTrump asks Attorney General Jeff Sessions to bring federal lawsuit, separate from state and local litigation against drugmakers\nPresident Trump has asked U.S. officials to explore suing companies that make opioids. Above, oxycodone-acetaminophen medication. Photo: Patrick Sison/Associated Press\nRebecca Ballhaus\nBiographyRebecca Ballhaus\n@rebeccaballhaus\nrebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com\nUpdated Aug. 16, 2018 8:29 pm ET\nWASHINGTON—President Trump called on his attorney general to sue opioid makers, the latest move by his administration to combat the highly addictive painkillers linked to tens of thousands of U.S. deaths a year.\nIn a cabinet meeting Thursday at the White House, Mr. Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to bring a “major lawsuit” against drug companies that “are really sending opioids at a level that it shouldn’t be happening.” He said he wanted the attorney general to bring the suit at the federal level, rather than join existing litigation brought by states.\nMr. Trump also charged Mr. Sessions with investigating fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, coming from China and Mexico, countries he said were “sending their garbage and killing our people.”\n“It’s almost a form of warfare,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s a disgrace and we can stop it.”\nMr. Sessions said he would follow Mr. Trump’s request. He added the U.S. had “confronted” China about fentanyl coming from the country. “We’ve never seen the deaths that we are seeing today,” he said.\nMr. Trump earlier this year called for new steps to fight the opioid epidemic. They included pushing to reduce opioid prescriptions by a third over three years, asking the Justice Department to seek more death-penalty cases against drug traffickers under current law, and calling for federal support to expand the availability of overdose-reversal medication.\nThe Justice Department in April requested to join settlement talks in a sprawling government litigation against the makers and distributors of prescription painkillers. More than 25 states as well as municipalities and Native American tribes have filed more than 1,000 lawsuits, claiming that aggressive marketing of prescription painkillers contributed to the opioid addiction epidemic.\nAmong the companies targeted are Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson , Endo International PLC and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. The suits generally claim the companies misrepresented the addictive risk of their medicines in marketing materials, and seek to recoup the cost of opioid addiction borne by the government entities.\nMany suits also target pharmaceutical distributors, including Amerisource Bergen Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. , contending they failed to properly control shipments of opioids to pharmacies.\nThe companies have denied the allegations and said their marketing and sales practices are appropriate.\nNew York this week became the latest state to file such a suit against Purdue, which makes OxyContin. The company said in response, “We believe it is inappropriate for the state to substitute its judgment for the judgment of the regulatory, scientific and medical experts at FDA,” the Food and Drug Administration.\nIn response to Mr. Trump’s announcement Thursday, a Purdue spokeswoman said in a statement: “Purdue shares the President’s concern about the opioid crisis. Purdue is committed to working collaboratively with those affected by this public health crisis on meaningful solutions to help stem the tide of opioid-related overdose deaths.”\nA federal district judge in Ohio overseeing hundreds of the local cases has pushed hard for a settlement and made it clear protracted litigation won’t help solve the crisis.\nThe judge, Dan Polster, has scheduled the first trial for September 2019 but said in court earlier this month he thinks a trial “will accomplish zero” toward a broader resolution. If the defendant drugmakers and distributors “go to war with every government in this country,” he said, there is a chance “everyone is going to go into bankruptcy.”\nAddiction experts are in wide agreement on the most effective way to help opioid addicts: Medication-assisted treatment. But most inpatient rehab facilities in the U.S. don’t offer this option. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports on why the medication option is controversial, and in many places, hard to come by. Image: Ryno Eksteen and Thomas Williams\nU.S. overdose deaths from all drugs soared to more than 72,000 in 2017, a record, according to preliminary data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That compares with about 66,000 deaths in 2016. The report shows how much deadlier opioid drugs have become, with the largest number of deaths traced to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.\nBut the data also show a slight decline in deaths in the last month of 2017 and January 2018, suggesting that efforts to prevent opioid use and treat addiction may be starting to have an effect.\nMr. Trump’s order to his attorney general came after he escalated his criticism of Mr. Sessions in recent days. Earlier this week, he said the attorney general was “missing in action” during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election—from which Mr. Sessions recused himself last year—and said Mr. Sessions was “scared stiff.”\nPresidents typically don’t order their attorneys general to bring specific lawsuits, to avoid the perception they are interfering in Justice Department matters.\nCombating the drug-abuse crisis has been a top priority for Mr. Sessions, who has taken aim at doctors who negligently overprescribe addictive painkillers, as well as online pill peddlers and drug-trafficking gangs.\nThe Justice Department has already taken some steps toward punishing prescription-drug companies. On Thursday, officials proposed cutting manufacturing quotas for six commonly abused prescription opioids, including oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl, by an average of 10% for 2019.\nThe department had no comment on Mr. Trump’s request for a federal suit.\n—Sadie Gurman and Sara Randazzo contributed to this article.\nWrite to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com\nAppeared in the August 17, 2018, print edition as 'Trump Urges Federal Suit Against Opioid Makers.'\nShow Conversation Hide Conversation (333)\nTrump calls on the Justice Department to sue opioid companies over painkiller epidemic"