By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – McLean County’s chief prosecutor has developed a new strategy to help curb potentially deadly opioid addictions in the community.
State’s Attorney Don Knapp wants to sue certain opioid manufacturers and distributors for flooding the county with the highly addictive painkillers. Like his predecessor Jason Chambers, Knapp said he’s been very deliberate about pursuing a federal lawsuit because he didn’t want to prevent people in need from receiving essential medication.
However, at the height of the epidemic in 2015 almost 6.8 million opioids were sent to a county with around 135,000 adults, or about 50 opioids per person.
In a report to the county board, Knapp said he’s confident there’s evidence that opioid makers and distributors didn’t have adequate controls in place to prevent the filling of suspicious orders.
Knapp is asking the county board to declare the unlawful distribution of prescription controlled substances as a public nuisance and a serious public health and safety crisis for McLean County citizens. He also wants the county board to hire an outside law firm to handle the litigation.
The firm would receive 25 percent of financial damages awarded to the county.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
