HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Three Macomb County communities are taking the fight over the opioid crisis to court.
They've filed lawsuits against several manufacturers, distributors, and prescribers.
The goal is to hold them accountable for what they say are profits over people.
The lawsuits are more than a year in the making.
A local mother who lost her own daughter thinks this is a step in the right direction.
It's been almost two years since Linda Taylor's beloved daughter Marina died from a drug overdose, but the pain never fades.
Marina was a talented dancer, aspiring photographer, a happy kid, but then something changed her senior year at L'Anse Creuse High School in Harrison Twp,
She started hanging out with a different group of friends.
“I knew something was wrong,” says Taylor. “But never in a million years did I expect she was experimenting with drugs at that point.”
Three months later Marina was gone.
“Tt's not clear what she purposely took,” Taylor says. “We do know there was fentanyl in her system.”
Taylor says she’s sharing marina's story in hopes of stopping someone else from going down that path.
Just today there was another move to fight back, this time from Harrison Twp., and the cities of Warren and Sterling Heights.
They have filed lawsuits against opioid distributors, prescribers, and manufacturers.
Taylor believes the lawsuits show that communities are taking this crisis seriously.
City officials say the crisis has been very costly for the communities to handle. So far there's no set amount of for damages they're seeking.
