Judge Clears Distributors of Blame for Opioid Crisis in Hard Hit County

A federal judge has ruled that the nation’s three largest drug distributors cannot be held liable for the opioid epidemic in one of the most ravaged counties in the country — a place where 81 million prescription painkillers were shipped over eight years to a population of less than 100,000.

Judge David A. Faber of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia released the opinion on the July 4th holiday, almost a year…