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Buncombe County Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors

An arrangement of oxycodone pills. AP photo/Patrick Sison

A western North Carolina county has filed a federal lawsuit against multiple drug manufacturers and distributors. The suit claims the companies are responsible for fueling the local opioid epidemic.

Buncombe County commissioners and attorneys with the Dallas-based firm Baron and Budd announced the public nuisance lawsuit during a news conference Tuesday.

According to the Asheveille Citizen-Times, the lawsuit lists 23 defendants, including firms that sell Oxycontin, Percocet and Norco. It alleges they engaged in "false, deceptive and unfair marketing and/or unlawful diversion of prescription opioids."

The county says the lawsuit aims to relieve taxpayers of the economic burden associated with the opioid epidemic. The county hasn't specified how much it will seek in monetary damages.

State data shows Buncombe County saw more than 200 opioid overdoses in the first eight months of 2017.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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