State Sues Drug Company
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Prescription pills hurt their people, tarnished their reputation and purged their coffers. Now they want payback.
Eastern Kentucky leaders in the drug-ridden mountains of Appalachia filed a class action lawsuit today against the manufacturer of OxyContin.
Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo and Pike County, Kentucky, officials led the charge against Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma. They're demanding millions of dollars in compensation for costs incurred in drug abuse programs, law enforcement and prescription payments through Medicaid and the Kentucky Pharmaceutical Assistance program.
OxyContin has been called "hillbilly heroin" in Appalachian states like Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.
In 2001, West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma over the drug. That case resulted in a 10 million dollar settlement three years later.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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