pain pills Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

$1 Million of Opioid Settlement Money Will Go to W.Va. State Police

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says his agency is transferring $1 million to the state police in an effort to end a backlog of drug testing in criminal cases.

Morrisey announced the funding at a news conference at the state Capitol in Charleston. He says the transfer was made possible as the result of settlements with drug wholesalers accused of flooding the state with millions of prescription pain pills.

State police Superintendent Jan Cahill said he appreciates the funding and says “it will go a long way.” The State Police Forensic Laboratory examines drug seizures from every police department.

“We have to make sure that we end this terrible backlog,” said Morrisey.

Morrisey’s office also gave the state police $1 million last year to hire additional analysts, offer overtime and purchase necessary equipment.

Drug Epidemic: 1 Small-Town Mayor Takes on Pill Distributors

A West Virginia mayor has joined the ranks of at least 11 communities suing some of the biggest U.S. drug distributors, bidding to make them pay for the damage done by addiction in a state already ravaged by the decades-long decline of coal.

Welch Mayor Reba Honacker says she’d like to establish a local rehabilitation center with any money her Appalachian city of 1,900 might gain from the lawsuit.

Her suit in state court is part of a growing push by local communities that lawyers say could ultimately rival the national scope of litigation against tobacco companies over smoking.

So far, 11 opioid distributors have paid about $47 million but admitted no wrongdoing in settling claims by West Virginia’s attorney general they improperly flooded the state with addictive pills.

Ex-Doctor Sentenced for Writing Bogus Pain Pill Prescription

A former physician in West Virginia has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for writing a bogus prescription to get pain pills.

Fifty-two-year-old Gregory Donald Chaney was sentenced Monday in federal court in Huntington to obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

Prosecutors say Chaney owned the now-closed Tri-State Medical Center in Barboursville. In 2015, Chaney wrote a prescription for one of his employees for 120 oxycodone pills. Chaney admitted he never examined the employee and the prescription was written without medical necessity.

Chaney then instructed the employee to have the prescription filled at a particular pharmacy. The employee gave the pills to Chaney in exchange for $830 in lieu of unpaid wages.