CHARLESTON – An expert epidemiologist who analyzed Cabell County and West Virginia overdose data to show opioid trends in death rates soared from 2001 to 2017.
CHARLESTON Fingers were pointed and blame was thrown all around a federal courtroom as a retired Drug Enforcement Administration official and attorneys for three drug distributors butted heads for a second full day of testimony.
Joe Rannazzisi, the former director of the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control, was under cross-examination for the entirety of June 9’s testimony by attorneys for AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
Huntington and Cabell County sued the nation s three largest pharmaceutical distribution companies in 2017 seeking to hold the companies accountable for their alleged part in the opioid epidemic by sending more than 540,000 opioids each month to independent and chain pharmacies – excluding hospitals and/or hospital pharmacies – located in Cabell County.
CHARLESTON Fingers were pointed and blame was thrown all around a federal courtroom as a retired Drug Enforcement Administration official and attorneys for three drug distributors butted heads for a second full day of testimony.
CHARLESTON – A key former Drug Enforcement Administration official spent the day on the witness stand giving testimony between objections, legal limitations and frustrations.
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