(Reuters) - Families of opioid addicts in Georgia accused Cardinal Health Inc, McKesson Corp and JM Smith Corp of acting as illegal drug dealers in a jury trial that began Tuesday, saying that the companies' supply of opioid pills tore their families apart.
The 21 plaintiffs include children whose parents died of overdoses, a woman whose grandson was born with opioid addiction symptoms and died at one month old, and a woman who was raped as a teenager but received no help from her opioid-addicted mother, plaintiffs' attorney Jim Durham said during opening statements in Glynn County Superior Court. The plaintiffs accuse the companies of filling illegitimate pharmacy orders and failing to report suspicious opioid purchases to law enforcement.
"They knew what the law was, and they broke it over and over again," Durham said of McKesson and Cardinal Health. "They knew what the consequences would be for these families and this community, which is death, abuse and destruction."
