[JURIST] Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall [official website] on Tuesday sued [complaint PDF] Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyCotin, alleging its practices have fueled the opioid epidemic.

Alabama’s complaint asserts [press release] that Purdue “violated Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act in the marketing and sale of opioid drugs and, in so doing, jeopardized the public health, welfare, and safety of Alabama residents.” The State seeks both monetary damages and injunctive relief.

“The opioid epidemic has devastated Alabama families, leaving a trail of addiction and death winding though every community of this state,” said Marshall. The complaint states that “Alabama’s drug overdose death rate skyrocketed by 82 percent from 2006 to 2014,” due primarily to opioid painkillers and heroin.

Purde Pharma denied the allegations in a statement [NYT report], saying it also was troubled by the epidemic and was seeking through specific steps to be “part of the solution.”

This lawsuit adds to the list of lawsuits recently filed [JURIST report] across the country against manufacturers of opioid painkillers.