COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in Columbus Wednesday to announce a new pilot program that will use data analytics and a team of federal prosecutors to focus on the nation’s opioid addiction problem.
“We’ve never seen anything like these deaths before,” Sessions told a room full of mostly law enforcement officials during a speech at the Columbus Police Training Academy. “It’s more than automobile accidents, more than the AIDS epidemic at its peak and it’s something we can address. It’s within our control and our ability to do something about it.”
The new Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit will use data to identify doctors and pharmacists who may be prescribing or dispensing opioids for profit.
“We prescribe far more opioids per capita than any other nation in the world,” Sessions said. “Nobody is close.”
Sessions said what’s needed is a culture change. “We cannot capitulate intellectually or morally to this kind of rampant drug abuse. We must create a culture that is hostile to drug abuse.
The Attorney General said the new unit will focus specifically on opioid-related health care fraud using data to identify and prosecute individuals who are contributing to the prescription opioid epidemic.
Additionally, 12 experienced Assistant U.S. Attorneys will focus solely on investigating and prosecuting health care fraud related to prescription opioids, including pill mill schemes and pharmacies that unlawfully divert or dispense prescription opioids for illegitimate purposes.
The following districts have been selected to participate in the program:
1. Middle District of Florida,
2. Eastern District of Michigan,
3. Northern District of Alabama,
4. Eastern District of Tennessee,
5. District of Nevada,
6. Eastern District of Kentucky,
7. District of Maryland,
8. Western District of Pennsylvania,
9. Southern District of Ohio,
10. Eastern District of California,
11. Middle District of North Carolina, and
12. Southern District of West Virginia.
