CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A Boone County judge has scheduled a hearing later this month on a request by the Charleston Gazette-Mail to unseal court documents about prescription pill shipments in a lawsuit involving drug wholesalers.
The newspaper reports (https://bit.ly/25N51Oq) it asked Boone County Circuit Judge William Thompson to unseal the records from 11 drug-shipping companies, which are fighting to keep the records secret.
Thompson has scheduled a hearing for April 21 hearing on the request.
The newspaper requested that the records be made public “because all citizens are entitled to full and complete information regarding the operation and affairs of the judicial system, especially where they seek court documents in a lawsuit that has been instituted on their behalf that raises issues of great public import.”
The 2012 lawsuit was filed by then-Attorney General Darrell McGraw. It alleges the distributors’ negligent practices have helped fuel the state’s pain pill abuse epidemic. West Virginia has the nation’s highest drug overdose death rate, with most cases involving prescription drugs.
Federal investigations centered on southern West Virginia have shut down suspected “pill mills” that unlawfully provide pain drugs or prescriptions, and have led to the criminal convictions of physicians, pharmacists and their staffers.
After Patrick Morrisey succeeded McGraw, the two sides in the lawsuit agreed in November 2013 to allow the drug wholesalers to keep competitors from gaining access to some court records. AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. said disclosing the records would compromise its efforts to keep prescription drugs out of the hands of criminals.
Thompson has yet to rule on a state request last year to unseal a revised complaint that includes information about controlled substance shipments to specific towns and regions. The request was filed on behalf of two state agencies involved in the lawsuit, the state Department of Health and Human Resources, and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
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Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, https://wvgazettemail.com.
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