A federal jury found that three retail pharmacies distributed large quantities of opioid pain pills to two Ohio counties. This verdict could be a wake-up call for U.S. cities and county governments who want to make the pharmaceutical industry accountable.

These pharmacies were blamed by the counties CVS, WalgreensAnd WalmartTheir attorney reprimanded them for failing to stop the overdose death of hundreds and the cost of each county $1 billion.

The trial was first for pharmacy companies to be held in an attempt to protect themselves from a deadly drug crisis which claimed half a billion lives over the past 20 years.

Trumbull and Lake counties could convince the jury the pharmacists had an overwhelming role in creating nuisance by the way that they provided pain medication in their local communities.

The attorneys for all three pharmacie chains claimed that they have policies in place to stop the supply of pills from their pharmacy. They also notify the authorities about any suspicious prescriptions from doctors.

The doctors also controlled the number of pills prescribed to legitimate medical conditions, they claimed.

Two other chains — Rite Aid and Giant Eagle — already have settled lawsuits with the two Ohio counties.

Mark Lanier represented the counties during the litigation. He stated that pharmacies attempted to put blame on everyone else than themselves.

Lanier explained to jurors that the opioid crisis has overwhelmed Ohio’s courts, social service agencies, and law enforcement in Ohio’s blue-collar area east of Cleveland. It left behind devastated families as well as children born to addict mothers.

Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 2012 and 2016 — equivalent to 400 for every resident.

Some 61,000,000 pills were sold in Lake County during this period.

According to Kaspar Stoffelmayr of Walgreens, the rise in pain medicine prescribing by doctors such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other pain medications was at a time when the medical community began to recognize that patients had the right for treatment.

He said that the problem was “pharmaceutical companies tricked doctors into prescribing way too many pills.”

These counties stated that pharmacies were the best line of defense in order to stop the drugs from reaching the wrong people.

Lanier claimed that there were insufficient pharmacists or technicians to train and they failed to set up systems that would flag unusual orders.

The trial before U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland was part of a broader constellation of federal opioid lawsuits — about 3,000 in all — that have been consolidated under the judge’s supervision. State courts are also handling other cases.

The trial was among five that were held this year in the United States to evaluate claims by governments against drug companies over prescription painkillers.

New York trial of drugmakers and distributors Washington state are underway now. Although the trial for distribution company claims in West Virginia is over, the judge has yet to rule.

In a case involving three California counties and Oakland, the judge in California ruled in favor top drug manufacturer in November. Judge said that it wasn’t clear from the government that pharmaceutical companies had used misleading marketing to create public nuisance and increase opioid prescriptions.

Oklahoma’s Supreme Court will also be held in November overturned a 2019 judgment for $465 million in a suit brought by the state against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.

Some lawsuits resulted or were proposed to settle before trial was completed.