The U.S. Department of Justice says federal law enforcement and prosecutors in five states have banded together to form the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force to combat prescription drug abuse.
U.S. attorneys in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama and West Virginia, along with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services will be involved in the effort, according to a news release.
“The Appalachian region, which includes the Eastern District of Tennessee, is unfortunately a ‘hot spot’ for drug abuse and overdose related deaths in the country,” said Doug Overbey, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District.
In August, The Tennessean newspaper reported the state set a record for overdose deaths in 2017, with 1,776. That was more than the number killed in automobile crashes, Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner said at the time.
Overbey said the strike force will “identify and prosecute those unscrupulous medical professionals and others engaged in health care fraud schemes involving illegal prescription, distribution, possession and use of opioids.”
His counterparts in the state’s Middle and Western districts are involved, as well as U.S. attorneys in the Northern District of Alabama, the Northern and Southern districts of West Virginia, the Southern District of Ohio and the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky.
The strike force will operate out of hubs in Nashville and in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.
Gary L. Cantrell, deputy inspector for the Office of Inspector General of Health and Human Services, said in the release that the strike force model “is a proven mechanism to target illicit conduct and hold accountable criminals involved in illegal opioid prescription and distribution schemes.”
In June, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a strike force operation had netted 601 defendants across 58 federal districts, including 162 people charged with prescribing and distributing opioids and other narcotics.