The federal government says it hasn’t closed the door on pursuing criminal charges against pharmaceutical companies over their alleged involvement in the opioid crisis — but such charges would result only in minimal fines.
While the province of B.C. is pursuing ongoing civil litigation against companies for allegedly downplaying the risks of opioid drugs — especially their addictive potential — when advertising them to doctors, the lawsuit is meant to recover health-care costs related to the ongoing crisis. It won’t involve any criminal penalties.
Under the federal Food and Drugs Act, it is illegal to sell or advertise a drug in a false or misleading way. Doing so is punishable by a fine
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