Story at a glance
- Three major drug distributors are being sued by Cabell County and Huntington, W.Va.
- The distributors are alleged to have flooded the area with opioids, fueling the drug epidemic.
- Executives were found to be exchanging emails mocking the high rates of the drug’s abuse in Appalachia.
During the trial of a West Virginia city and county against three major drug distributors, powerful executives were discovered to have been exchanging emails ridiculing residents as “pillbillies” at the height of the opioid epidemic.
Cabell County and the city of Huntington have sued McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health for flooding the area with opioids for profit, which they say led to the resulting drug epidemic.
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AmerisourceBergen executives were found to be exchanging emails mocking the high rates of the drug’s abuse in Appalachia. A 2011 email crafted a series of rhymes describing “a poor mountaineer” named Jed who “barely kept his habit fed” and had to travel to Florida in search of “Hillbilly Heroin,” which is a nickname for OxyContin.
In another, Kentucky was referred to as “OxyContinville” due to the state’s high rate of opioid abuse.
One egregious email written by Chris Zimmerman, a senior executive in charge of halting opioid deliveries to pharmacies thought to be prescribing alarming amounts of opioids, commonly called pill mills, responded to news of Florida’s 2011 push to combat pill mills by writing, “Watch out George and Alabama, there will be a max exodus of Pillbillies heading north.”
During the trial, Zimmerman expressed regret for his words but defended himself, saying they were “a reflection of the environment at the time,” according to the Guardian.
“It is a pattern of conduct by those people charged with protecting our community — and they’re circulating emails disparaging hillbillies,” said Paul Farrell, a lawyer representing Cabell County.
According to the Guardian, during the trial a data expert testified that the three drug distributors delivered approximately 100 million doses of opioids to Cabell County, which has a population of only 90,000.
Research states that 21 to 29 percent of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse the drugs, while 8 to 12 percent of patients who use opioids for chronic pain develop an opioid addiction.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly 50,000 people died from opioid-involved overdoses in the United States in 2019.
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