Opioids

On this West Virginia Morning, we take a look at charges against those from the Ohio Valley who took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. Also, we take a look at where things stand in a civil trial Cabell County and Huntington against three major opioid distributors.

Their plea is for Charleston Mayor Amy Goodwin to declare a local public health emergency concerning the spread of HIV, and the increase in opioid overdoses.

At the start of the trial on Monday in U.S. District Court in Charleston, lawyers for the three companies — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — blamed the opioid crisis on doctors who wrote too many prescriptions for highly addictive pain pills.

OxyContin’s maker may be bankrupt, but it’s spent more than $200,000 to keep 20-year-old court records sealed.

Under a bankruptcy plan filed late Monday, the OxyContin maker would pay $500 million up front, promising billions in future payments. Twenty-four states rejected the proposal.

West Virginia, an early epicenter of the opioid crisis, saw overdose fatalities soar, and in parts of the region the rate of increase surpassed the national average. But while the pandemic is compounding the addiction crisis, it has also catalyzed additional state and federal responses in the Ohio Valley to the epidemic. From local clinics and state agencies to newly appointed officials in the White House, people are looking for ways to tackle both new and existing barriers to treatment during the pandemic.

The giant retailer shipped billions of opioid pills to pharmacies nationwide. An NPR investigation found employees warned company executives their stores were being used by "pill mill" doctors.

Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin painkillers, recently pleaded guilty to criminal charges and has reached a $8.3 billion settlement for its role in the opioid crisis.WVU Law Professor Patrick McGinley was part of a team that helped unseal documents that revealed 100 billion prescription opioid pills flooded the U.S. from 2006-2014.

On this West Virginia Morning, we revisit Kermit, West Virginia and reflect on how millions of opioids could flood a town of 350 people. Also, in this…

At the peak of the opioid crisis, drug companies sent 12 million hydrocodone pills to Kermit, W.Va., a town of about 350 people. Cars would line up at the…