You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Landmark Trial on Opioid Epidemic Opens in West Virginia Federal Court

HeadlineMay 04, 2021

In West Virginia, a landmark trial kicked off in federal court Monday as local governments seek accountability from drug companies over the opioid crisis. The city of Huntington and Cabell County in West Virginia are seeking over $1 billion from the nation’s three largest drug distributors: McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health. Plaintiffs say the companies flooded their communities with addictive pain medications despite their known dangers, causing a “public nuisance” and fueling the country’s devastating opioid epidemic, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. If the case is successful, it could have major implications for thousands of similar lawsuits around the country, brought by cities, counties, Native American tribes and other plaintiffs.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top