West Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin are filing lawsuits against the company which manufactures and markets the painkiller.
"The opioid epidemic was not inevitable," Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said at a press conference announcing his case. "This epidemic has torn families apart. It has led to the overdose deaths of thousands of Wisconsinites. It has strained our foster care services. It has strained our health care system. It has strained our criminal justice system."
In the lawsuit, Kaul added that the drug crisis also had a major impact on the state's economy, writing that "between 1999 and 2015, Wisconsin has lost 45,200 workers due to opioids."
Wisconsin is the only state of the five that is also suing Richard Sackler, the former president of Purdue Pharma, personally