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Witness Testimony Continues In Landmark W.Va. Opioid Trial

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Witness testimony has begun in a landmark opioid trial in which local governments in West Virginia have sued three large drug distributors that have been accused of fueling the opioid epidemic.

Cabell County and the city of Huntington argue that the drug distributors created a “public nuisance” by flooding the area with 80 million opioid doses over eight years and ignoring the signs that the community was being ravaged by addiction.

A former state health official, Dr. Rahul Gupta, testified Wednesday in Charleston federal court that West Virginia was the “canary in the coal mine” of the ongoing epidemic.