One of the most difficult issues Americans face today is the epidemic of opioid abuse, resulting in the deaths of more than 50,000 each year from overdoses or approximately 150 people each day. More than 400 cases brought nationwide by states, local governments, and private class action plaintiffs against the major drug manufacturers and distributors have been transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where Judge Dan Aaron Polster ’76 presides over what the New York Times describes as “perhaps the most daunting legal challenge in the country.”
Professors John Goldberg and Richard Lazarus invite students and staff to attend a lunchtime conversation with Judge Polster as he discusses his path from Harvard Law School and the Harvard Defenders to serving on the federal bench and his efforts now to catalyze the potentially transformative industrial changes needed to abate the opioid crisis.
Lunch will be served.