CHARLESTON â The fourth week of Huntington and Cabell Countyâs opioid trial against three drug distributors was highlighted by an email showing McKesson Corp. employees cheering Appalachian trends shifting away from pills to illicit drugs in 2012.
The email was shared among McKesson employees, first by Tracey Jonas, director of regulatory processes, who shared a February 2012 article which said the DEA was seeing a sharp drop in Florida oxycodone.
Dave Gustin, a director of regulatory affairs, said pill users in Ohio and Kentucky were shifting to illicit drug use, such as heroin and meth. Jonas responded âGood . let them move to heroin and meth .we donât have to monitor that.â
Cabell County Sheriff Chuck Zerkle
CHARLESTON – At the landmark federal opioid trial, Cabell County Sherriff Chuck Zerkle testified being directly involved in Huntington, once deemed “epicenter of the opioid crisis,” has evolved.
During his testimony May 27, Zerkle said he wanted to make a difference and to help combat issues he believes are harming the community.
“One of the reasons I ran for sheriff was I felt I could make a difference in our community,” said Zerkle, who has been a Cabell County resident since 1985 working various positions in law enforcement and private industry. Farrell
Cabell County and the City of Huntington sued the three largest pharmaceutical distribution companies – AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corp. – in 2017 claiming the companies were largely responsible for the opioid crisis after the companies shipped more than 81 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to the county of just
May 27, 2021
May 27, 2021
FILE - In this May 3, 2021, file photo, Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, left, and lawyer Rusty Webb enter the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse in Charleston, W. Va., for the start of the opioid trial. Local governments seeking to hold companies accountable for the opioid crisis in the U.S. are finally getting their day in court in West Virginia and California. The outcome could lead to broader settlements involving some opioid makers and distributors. KENNY KEMP
CHARLESTON â A West Virginia sheriff testified Thursday during a landmark trial against three large opioid distributors that he is worried the scourge of the pain pill epidemic will remain a very real part of life.
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The trial of the âBig Threeâ drug companies accused of fueling an opioid drug epidemic in Cabell County and the city of Huntington is taking place at the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse in Charleston.
Courtesy of the West Virginia Humanities Council