USA. Congressional report: DEA, drug distributors failed to stop flow of opioids into West Virginia
USA. Congressional report: DEA, drug distributors failed to stop flow of opioids into West Virginia
The Drug Enforcement Administration and some of the country’s largest drug distributors failed to stop a massive flow of opioids into rural West Virginia over the past 10 years, according to a new congressional report.
According to the bipartisan report, prepared by the House Energy and Commerce Committee majority staff, the distributors did not conduct proper oversight of their customers and failed to recognize potential red flags. Distributors transfer drugs from manufacturers to businesses such as clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies, where they can be dispensed to patients.
Those failures helped contribute to the worsening opioid epidemic in West Virginia, “the epicenter of the nation’s opioid epidemic and the state with the highest drug overdose death rate in the country,” the report says.
The report found that three of the country’s largest distributors did not question suspicious orders and did not monitor the volume of controlled substances sold to customers. (The Hill, USA, 19.12.2018)