Attorney General Sessions Targets Opioid-Pushing Pharmacies, Doctors

WASHINGTON, DC — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is creating a new team with the Justice Department to target fraudulent peddlers of opioid-based medications, one of the key drivers of the continuing nationwide overdose crisis.

The team, known as the "Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit," will be a "data analytics program," Sessions said. It is designed to determine which doctors and pharmacies overprescribe or distribute opioids at dangerous levels. While much of the opioid epidemic has been driven by doctors unaware of the extreme risks of the drugs they were prescribing, law enforcement believes some ostensibly medical outlets essentially serve at "pill mills" to fraudulently make money off addicts. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The pilot program will target 12 districts across the country to start, and it could be expanded if it proves successful in promoting public health. The Justice Department has recently arrested more than 400 individuals accused of engaging in medical fraud.

WATCH: Sessions Creates Unit To Go After Doctors, Pharmacies Pushing Opioids

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