Law

Another crisis that has taken many lives in the valley over recent years is headed to court. It's Trumbull county's lawsuit against retail pharmacies for the damage caused by the opioid addiction crisis.

CLEVELAND — Five retail chains flooded two Ohio counties with tens of millions of prescription painkillers through their pharmacies while taking few if any steps to stop drugs from being illegally diverted, according to updated lawsuits unsealed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

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.

Walgreens and CVS Are Some of The Pharmaceutical Retailers Under Fire

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.

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.

State Rep. Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville) announced May 6 that House Bill 365 passed the Ohio House of Representatives.

A deal to unify the state and local governments in pursuit of an “all Ohio” settlement of opioid damage claims with the pharmaceutical industry could be close to approval.