Los Angeles County has officially been added to a list of counties involved in a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.
L.A. will join Santa Clara County, Orange County, and the city of Oakland in the lawsuit.
The order, issued by Orange County Superior Court Judge Kim G. Dunning, accuses the companies of marketing the drug in misleading ways in order to boost sales.
"These companies consistently put concerns about their own profits over considerations of public health," said Sheila Kuehl, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, in a statement. "It was their own false and misleading statements that helped create skyrocketing opioid addiction and opioid-related overdoses."
According to the Department of Public Health, these overdoses kill about 350 people in the county each year.
"Someone dies almost every day in Los Angeles County from opioid addiction and misuse, and thousands more are suffering," Barbara Ferrer, director of the county's Department of Public Health said. "This lawsuit will make sure that the thousands of addictions to pain medication created by these defendants are brought into the light."
The city says the goal of the lawsuit is to make sure the drug manufacturers pay penalties for misleading information, and requests that they also fund drug education and rehab efforts in the area.