La Crosse hesitant to join lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, as deaths pile up in county

County administrator in no rush to
join suit against drug manufacturers

While La Crosse County government dithers on the sideline, waiting to join a lawsuit against, overdose deaths are piling up in the county.

That’s revealed in a just-released report from the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services.

Statewide, prescription opioid deaths have increased 600 percent between 2000-2016. In the state last year, 568 died of a prescription opioid overdose – 14 in La Crosse County.

That’s three times as many as the year before.

Meanwhile, La Crosse County administrator Steve O’Malley says he’s in no rush to join a multi-county suit against drug manufacturers for damages caused by prescription opioid addiction.

He says county lawyers are still considering the suit.