Opening arguments in the Oklahoma opioid trial just ended.

Larry Ottaway, an attorney representing Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, defended his client's conduct.

“Janssen’s conduct was not a nuisance. They provided medically necessary mediations…. They were lawfully subscribed by doctors in the state of Oklahoma.

Total documented cases of addictions or death due to one of the Janssen’s medication in this case? Zero, Ottaway says.

Still, the state of Oklahoma wants Johnson & Johnson to pay $17.5 billion, Ottaway says.

That would go for, among other things, universal screenings for all Medicaid patients 30 times a year for substance abuse.

The state wants Janssen to pay for a needle exchange program – but the company never made an opioid you needed a syringe for, he said.