WASHINGTON, April 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. authorities on Wednesday announced that dozens of people, including 53 medical professionals, have been charged for their alleged participation in the illegal prescription and distribution of opioids and other narcotics.
The announcement was made by Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services officials and those charges resulted from a takedown operation that began only four months ago in the Appalachian region.
"The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region," Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.
The charges involve over 350,000 prescriptions and over 32 million pills distributed out by health care officials in states such as Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Thirty-one doctors, seven pharmacists, eight nurse practitioners and seven other licensed medical professionals have been charged.
Approximately 115 Americans die every day from opioid-related overdoses, according to the Center of Disease Control.
The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimated that over 70,000 Americans died of drug abuse in 2017, including 47,000 from any opioid and 28,400 from fentanyl and its analogs.
