Volume 116, Issue 21
the
VISTA “Our Words, Your Voice.”
Opioid Case Trial Enters Fourth Week
vistanews1903 @thevista1903 @thevista1903 The Vista ucentralmedia.com Tuesday, June 18, 2019
SPORTS
US Women’s National Team Start
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NATIONAL NEWS From left, Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Speaker of the Oklahoma House Charles McCall, right, hold a joint news conference on May 15 in Oklahoma City, to announce a deal on a $8.3 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Kyle Tangco @Kyle_tangco
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
June 17 commenced the fourth week of opioid case trials at the Cleveland County District Courthouse with Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter filing lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for using marketing tactics and misleading information that downplay the addictive effects of their opioid products. Last week, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research
at Brandeis University, testified on the impact that Johnson & Johnson has made in the crisis. Kolodny said that the company continued to aggressively promote their products while it was aware of the drug’s overprescription rates, according to online newsroom reports from the attorney general’s office. “We know that their sales representatives encouraged doctors to prescribe their opioids for conditions where we shouldn’t use them and prescribe their opioids longer than patients should be on them,” Kolod-
ny said. “We know that they even gave out coupons so patients could be started on their opioids for free.” The primary concerns of the drug are its habit-forming effects that could lead to an overdose. A slide presentation from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics shows that most deaths caused by an overdose were on accident. The state passed Senate Bill 1446 on Nov. 1, 2018, as a response to limit and reduce the amount of opioids that patients received within their first prescription.
Haley Humphrey
tection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, Macey said. It is possible for LGBTQ individuals to be fired from their job or evicted from their place of residency. According to Macey, SAFE typically has between 20-30 people march with them in the parade, but they are hoping for about 40-50 this year. It is reassuring and encouraging to LGBTQ people, Macey said, that everyone participates in the parade to show their support because the LGBTQ community has experienced persecution throughout the years. “Each person’s civil rights are everybody’s interest and commitment,” Macey said. Katie Edmonson, a UCO political
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BUCKING BRONCHO
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SAFE To March For Pride @haleybhumphrey
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Jasmine Smith marches down Market Street during Philly’s LGBT Pride Parade in Philadelphia on June 9 (Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
Fight for Insulin Price Cap
The Student Alliance for Equality at the University of Central Oklahoma will join the community in marching in the 31st Oklahoma City Pride parade at noon on June 22. The parade lineup begins at 11 a.m. and the parade goes along 39th Street to Youngs Boulevard until 2 p.m., with a festival following. This is the 22nd year that SAFE is marching in the parade to continue to be advocates of the LGBTQ community and the struggles they face, according to David Macey, SAFE adviser and assistant vice president for Global and Cultural Competencies at UCO. Oklahoma has no state-level pro-
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NBA Feels Ripples of Davis Trade EDITORIAL
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Trumps Collusion See Pg. 6 Confusion