Today
Thunderstorms likely. High 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..
Tonight
Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Updated: July 1, 2021 @ 10:15 am
CHARLESTON – During the third day of a federal trial against three major opioid distributors, lawyers for the City of Huntington and Cabell County sought to make the case that the ongoing drug crisis was predictable, as well as tied to the use of prescription painkillers.
On May 5, attorneys called David Courtwright, a historian of opioid use and drug policy, as well as Dr. Rahul Gupta, who was West Virginia’s health officer and commissioner of the state’s Bureau for Public Health from 2015-2018, to testify in the bench trial at the Charleston federal courthouse.
Gupta testified, at one point, that there was not “one iota of doubt” that prescription drug use led to illegal drug use. Defendants have said there is no proof of a direct causal link and objected to his testimony dozens of times.