There were 24 doctors who were among the top 1% of opioid prescribers in Cabell County over two decades, but it is the outliers of those outliers who set a dreadful foundation that led to the current opioid crisis, experts say.
Drug company exec says system of checks and balances goes beyond what law requires
Last week, Cabell County attorney Paul T. Farrell Jr. pointed to an internal memo that said a small pharmacy could order 350,000 hydrocodone or oxycodone pills a year, a medium pharmacy, 760,000, and a large pharmacy over 1 million without triggering a suspicious-order alert.
Former DEA agent: Drug wholesalers didn’t report a decade of suspicious pain pill orders
Paul Farrell Jr., Cabell County’s lawyer, argued the drug companies never pulled the fire alarm despite numerous warnings about suspicious orders of oxycodone and hydrocodone.
Drug distributors rest their case in West Virginia opioid trial
After only five days of testimony, lawyers representing the country’s three largest drug distributors rested their defense in the landmark opioid trial taking place in federal court in West Virginia.
David vs. Goliath: Small publisher’s lawyer optimistic in battle against Google and Facebook
“We’re not fighting for the freedom of the press, we’re fighting to keep the press alive.” – Michael Fuller
Gupta, opioid distributors clash during cross-examination
“What we ended up with was a lot of pills sitting in medicine cabinets, and then they ended up in the community.”- Dr. Rahul Gupta, West Virginia’s former state health officer
If Everyone’s Guilty for the Opioid Crisis, Then Nobody Is
The defense seems to be counting on a classic pass-the-buck roundelay, with distributors pointing at doctors pointing at government regulators pointing at the victims, and round and round until everybody’s guilty so nobody is.
Data analyst says potency of opiates shipped increased over time; defense questions his credibility
The city of Huntington and Cabell County argued that the defendants — AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. — became culpable when 127.9 million opiate doses were sent to the county from 2006-14. When the number of shipped doses decreased around 2012, users were made to turn to illicit opiate drugs, like heroin, they said.
Rader testifies of first-hand experience with opioid epidemic
“This day has been a long time coming. This day is for all of those suffering from substance use disorder who have lost their lives or lost a loved one from this horrible disease,” Rader said.
Opioid trial: Gupta says West Virginia “ground zero” for epidemic
Former state Health Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta said during testimony Wednesday at the landmark opioid epidemic trial taking place in U.S. District Court in Charleston that he commissioned a report on overdose deaths in West Virginia to “learn from our dead so we could help the living.”