Freeborn County will move forward with filing a complaint against pharmaceutical companies in an effort to protect the county’s interests during the opioid crisis, according to the Freeborn County attorney.

The complaint alleges that big pharmaceutical companies have oversold opiates, and doing so has caused many overdose deaths and resource expenditures by county, state and federal agencies to care for people and generally address problems of the opioid crisis, said Freeborn County Attorney David Walker.

“Primarily, the concern there (is) really, if there is to be a settlement, that Freeborn County should have its fair share of that settlement,” Walker said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

The county hopes to receive payment for expenses, but also assistance for the future in responding to future needs for those addicted.

Freeborn County formally retained law firms Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P and Gustafson Gluek P.L.L.C. for the litigation in December.

In filing a complaint, Freeborn County joins several other Minnesota counties, including Hennepin, Ramsey, St. Louis, Washington, Olmsted, Carlton, Morrison, Mower and Douglas counties, among others.

Negotiations and settlements follow the filing of a complaint, Walker said. Additionally, the county will provide the law firm with Freeborn County-specific information about effects of opioid addiction and abuse. Walker said that information could include overdoses, out-of-home placements for people affected by opioids, the placement of children disadvantaged by opioids because of a guardian’s abuse and purchases of Narcan, a drug that can treat narcotic overdoses in emergencies.

Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag said all of the Sheriff’s Office cars have naloxone, or Narcan, kits in them. Exposure to fentanyl or carfentanyl, a narcotic that can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin, is a risk to first responders.

When the Sheriff’s Office purchased Narcan for its patrol vehicles, it cost approximately $75 to $80 a dose, Freitag said. The cost has risen since.

Freitag added treatment, court and crime victims — as drug use and crimes such as thefts, burglaries and gun-related crimes go “hand in hand” — to the tally of costs associated with opioid abuse.

“You start putting a dollar figure on all that stuff and it gets to be staggering,” Freitag said.

However, Freitag said the majority of overdose incidents in the county have not involved the Sheriff’s Office.

“We haven’t seen it on a grand scale,” Freitag said. “That’s certainly not saying that it isn’t here, because it is.”

Freeborn County Administrator Tom Jensen said methamphetamine remains the drug of choice in the county.

“Not to say that we don’t have opioids in the county and there’s not abuse or there’s not affects, but it doesn’t come close to the effects that the methamphetamine has on the folks here,” Jensen said.

To Jensen, the biggest effect for Freeborn County would be the potential to receive education for future issues and preventative steps for opioid addiction. Walker said education is a potential outcome, but there is nothing specific defined now.

Freeborn County will not be charged by the law firms unless there are proceeds from a settlement, Walker said. Any litigation fees would come out of the proceeds.