(CNN) In 20 years, drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and practitioners acted as street drug couriers and shipped "hundreds of millions" of suspicious opioid doses into two Ohio counties, according to a motion filed in the US District Court in the Northern District of Ohio. The motion filed Friday by attorneys for Summit and Cuyahoga counties paint a picture of drug companies driven by greed in part for its failure to report suspicious shipments of prescription pain killers that helped fuel the opioid epidemic. Companies certified to manufacture and distribute the drugs are required by the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to monitor for "suspicious" orders, defined by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as those of unusual size, frequency or pattern. The manufacturers and distributors are required to report those orders, unless it's been determined the drugs are not likely to be "diverted into illegal channels." Last week, a database charting the course of opioid pills across the country was released, shedding new light on the scope of the drug industry's alleged role in the opioid crisis.

Source: CNN July 22, 2019 04:30 UTC