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Ohio faces surge in opioid use in wake of virus

Walgreens and CVS Are Some of The Pharmaceutical Retailers Under Fire

New details emerge in a lawsuit asserting that chains including CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens sold millions of pills in small towns but rarely flagged suspicious orders to authorities.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Even as more people started overdosing and dying from opioids, pharmacies in Lake and Trumbull counties continued to fill patient orders for the powerful painkillers with little regard for whether too many pills were flooding the streets, attorneys argued in court filings unsealed Wednesday.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — New data by Trust for America's Health and Well Being Trust shows that nearly 152,000 Americans died from alcohol, drugs or suicide in 2018.

As the opioid epidemic raged in 2011, employees of drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp., shared an email: a parody of the theme song for “The Beverly Hillbillies,” describing how “pillbillies” drove south to obtain drugs at Florida pill mills.

With Franklin County seeing a spike in overdoses since the coronavirus pandemic hit, a collaboration of first-responders, treatment providers and health and hospital officials has hit the streets to help save lives. Saturday, volunteers distributed Narcan and drug test strips at eight locations.

OHIO COUNTY, W.Va. — While the pandemic has taken center stage the last few months, the opioid epidemic continues to hammer the Ohio Valley.