(Photo courtesy Jon Sandage)
By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Local police, prosecutors and the coroner are exploring whether the war on drugs could be won in the courtroom.
McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin local authorities are considering legal action against pharmaceutical companies to address the opioid epidemic – something that’s been done in other states – for violating federal drug-diversion laws.
“If you get a settlement out of that, then you turn around and use that money for more education and diversion and try to do good things with the massive profits the pharmaceutical have been taking,” Sandage said.
Sandage said he believes the drug companies are contributing to a rise in overdose deaths.
“What we are looking at is, like the manufacturers of Oxycontin, that put this out there, not letting people know how addictive it was and the dangers of it and not following the drug diversion laws as far as knowing were each one of those pills goes to,” Sandage said.
McLean County has already surpassed last year’s total of 16 opioid-related deaths last year, with possibly as many as seven in one week this month.
Gov. Rauner recently created a task force to battle the opioid addiction crisis in Illinois.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
