Distributors, DEA Failed to Abate US Opioid Crisis

Sacks of money (R) worth $2 million and 154 pounds of heroin (L) worth at least $50 million are displayed at a Drug Enforcement Administration news conference in New York on May 19, 2015. Mark Lennihan/AP Photo

CHARLESTON, W.Va.—A congressional report on prescription pill dumping in West Virginia blames U.S. prescription drug distributors and the Drug Enforcement Administration for not doing enough to help mitigate the nation’s opioid addiction and overdose crisis.

The 324-page report released Dec. 19 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee followed an 18-month investigation and focused on the three largest U.S. wholesale drug companies, McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen, and regional distributors.