By passing a resolution to join a lawsuit against three of the largest wholesale drug distributors in the country, Franklin County joins a growing number of local governments suing pharmaceutical giants for their part in the deadly opioid epidemic.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, accuses Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. and McKesson Corp., which make up 85 percent of the opioid drug market, with creating a glut of prescription opioids by failing to report suspicious activity to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The three companies’ combined sales rake in $400 billion annually.
“We have to slow the amount of pills down,” Franklin County Judge-Executive Huston Wells said. “Our courts and jails are overloaded with drug cases.”
