Law and Addiction by Mike Papantonio
Jake Rutledge, a smart student, was a brand-new law school graduate and attorney, originally from Oakley, West Virginia. Oakley was a mining town and when Jake returns after graduation, he finds his hometown's economy deteriorated and has become ground zero for pill mills. The familiar faces he once knew are now zombielike as a result of addiction and drug abuse. Moreover, just before his scheduled graduation his fraternal twin, Blake, passed as a result of an opioid overdose. Blake became another statistic in the opiate abuse epidemic and ignited a fire in Jake to use his education and new career to seek justice for Blake by holding all parties responsible for the epidemic account, including corporate opioid distributors, politicians, and community leaders.
The author of Law and Addiction, Mike Papantonio, is a member of the Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame, who has taken on corporate opioid distributors himself. The first part of the book starts with Jake's background and relationships. It provides insight into the hard-working people of Oakley and how the town and its citizens fell into the downward spiral when the pill mills moved in.
Despite Jake's scholarly achievements, he graduated without a job and without much opportunity in Oakley; he was forced to hang his own shingle right away. He was determined to take on "big pharma," motivated by the passing of his brother. Jake was determined to seek justice for Blake and so many others in his community and to hold the companies and key...