Drug Distributors Shipped 20.8 Million Painkillers To West Virginia Town Of 3,000
Other towns were similarly inundated, in a state that now has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths. In 2008, one wholesaler provided 5,624 pills for every man, woman and child in Kermit, W.Va.
Updated 6 p.m. ET
Williamson, W.Va., sits right across the Tug Fork river from Kentucky. The town has sites dedicated to its coal mining heritage and the Hatfield and McCoy feud and counts just about 3,000 residents.
But despite its small size, drug wholesalers sent more than 20.8 million prescription painkillers to the town from 2008 and 2015, according to an investigation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
