In 1996, the company Purdue Pharma wanted to sell a number of drugs containing opioids. They told doctors that patients would probably not become addicted, so the doctors prescribed opioids to many patients, even if they did not really need them. Many of those patients became addicted. In 2007, Purdue Pharma was fined $635 million. The judge said this was because Purdue Pharma did not warn customers about the side effects enough. Since then, there have been other similar lawsuits.