CHARLESTON â A Drug Enforcement Administration agent-turned-investigative executive for AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. testified Friday at an opioid trial in Charleston about drug diversion control regulations and what the companyâs policies were to follow them.
The trial, taking place before Senior U.S. District Court Judge David Faber at the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse, centers around allegations made by Cabell County and Huntington against the âBig Threeâ drug wholesalers of sparking the opioid crisis by sending 127.9 million opiate doses into Cabell County from 2006-14. A reduction in the amount of pills shipped led opioid users to turn to illicit drugs, they said.
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May 4, 2021 - 12:20 am
A landmark civil trial, where Huntington and Cabell County are attempting to hold prescription drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp., McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc. responsible for the drug epidemic in West Virginia, has begun in federal court in Charleston.
For years now, West Virginia has had to deal with the drug crisis.
The cost has been incalculable overdose deaths, families destroyed, increased crime, lost productivity as thousands of West Virginians have struggled with the clutches of addiction.
The story of how West Virginia came to have the highest drug overdose rate in the country has its origins 15 years ago, when hydrocodone and oxycodone pills began flooding into the state. People seeking relief from legitimate pain became addicted, while pills spilled over into the black market.