Kanawha County sues drug firms over endless supply of prescription painkillers
The Kanawha County Commission filed a lawsuit against 16 prescription drug distributors Thursday, alleging the firms shipped an “endless supply” of pain pills to the county while making billions of dollars.
The companies -– which include retail chains like Wal-Mart, Rite Aid, CVS, Kroger and Walgreens, along with drug giants McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen -– distributed 66 million prescription opioids to Kanawha County between 2007 and 2012, according to the lawsuit.
“They’re drug dealers,” said Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. “Look at the damage they’ve done: Babies being born addicted, the deaths we’ve had, families with children addicted to heroin. Their fingerprints are all over this, and they knew what they were doing.”
Kanawha County joins a growing number of counties, cities and towns across West Virginia that seek to hold drug distributors accountable for the opioid problem and to recoup costs associated with the epidemic.
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