The opioid epidemic has hit nearly every corner of the United States. Here's what the Centers for Disease Control say about the crisis:CDC: "The majority of drug overdose deaths (66%) involve an opioid. In 2016, the number of overdose deaths involving opioids (including prescription opioids and heroin) was 5 times higher than in 1999. From 2000 to 2016, more than 600,000 people died from drug overdoses. On average, 115 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose." Photo: Hailshadow/Getty Images/iStockphoto
CDC: "The amount of prescription opioids sold to pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors’ offices nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. Deaths from prescription opioids—drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone—have more than quadrupled since 1999." Photo: Darwin Brandis/Getty Images/iStockphoto
CDC: "As many as 1 in 4 people who receive prescription opioids long term for noncancer pain in primary care settings struggles with addiction." Photo: GIPhotoStock/Getty Images/Cultura RF
CDC: "Providers wrote nearly a quarter of a billion opioid prescriptions in 2013—with wide variation across states. This is enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills." Photo: Francisblack/Getty Images
CDC: "Health care providers in the highest prescribing state, Alabama, wrote almost three times as many of these prescriptions per person as those in the lowest prescribing state, Hawaii. Studies suggest that regional variation in use of prescription opioids cannot be explained by the underlying health status of the population." Photo: Kizilkayaphotos/Getty Images/iStockphoto
CDC: "The most common drugs involved in prescription opioid overdose deaths include: Methadone, Oxycodone (such as OxyContin®), Hydrocodone (such as Vicodin®)" Photo: Pureradiancephoto/Getty Images
CDC: "Among those who died from prescription opioid overdose between 1999 and 2014: Overdose rates were highest among people aged 25 to 54 years; overdose rates were higher among non-Hispanic whites and American Indian or Alaskan Natives, compared to non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics; men were more likely to die from overdose, but the mortality gap between men and women is closing." Photo: Nico De Pasquale Photography/Getty Images
Hardin County to sue drug firms
Hardin County will join counties and states across the country in suing drug manufacturers and suppliers for fueling the opioid crisis, the Commissioners Court decided this week.
County Judge Wayne McDaniel said his "eyes were opened" to the reality of the crisis in Hardin County, including costs to hire defense attorneys to represent individuals charged with drug possession as well as drug treatments and rehab for addicted inmates.
The "tremendous amount of expenses" incurred by the county spurred McDaniel and the county attorney to pursue a lawsuit "against various drug manufacturers, developers, suppliers and others, of a class of pharmaceutical drugs commonly referred to as opioids." McDaniel could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Orange County also filed an opioid-related suit in May, joining at least seven Texas counties, including Harris and Travis, that have filed similar suits in the past year against pharmaceutical companies and distributors.
Like Orange County, Hardin County will be represented by Dallas-based law firm Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, as well as the Orange firm of Dies and Parkhurst and Paul D. Henderson.
Precinct 1 Commissioner L.W. Cooper Jr. said he believed entering into a class-action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers was "a good idea," given the costs incurred by the county to provide services and medications for addicted inmates.
Cooper said information from Sheriff Mark Davis on the opioid crisis' effects on both the "everyday operations of our typical law enforcement" and county jail operations made clear the "growing" problem, "not only here but nationwide."
Opioids — including prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl — killed more than 42,000 people in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a report to the Commissioners Court earlier this month, Davis said the county was seeing "an up-tick in hard core prescription drug dependency, including opioid or opiate abuse."
According to Davis, "what started out as this very harmless oral surgery for a root canal or a pulled muscle," could easily turn into addicted patients "doctor shopping" for pain medication.
For example, he said some patients might visit more than one doctor to get "three prescriptions to help manage their pain instead of one."
New laws set to take effect in September 2019 are "aimed to keep a handle on doctor-shopping," Davis said.
Under the state's prescription monitoring program, pharmacists and physicians will be required to check apatient's prescription history, according to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy.
Forty percent of opioid-related deaths in 2016 were from prescription opioids, according to the CDC.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Ken Pelt said he believed the opioid epidemic was probably more concerning than the general public realizes.
"I would not think Hardin County would have the same problems as maybe New York City has, but in the time we live in today, we have to realize our problems are not a lot different than their problems," Pelt said.
Pelt, who has been a commissioner for more than two decades, said "drugs have always been a problem," but that opioids seem to have the potential to do "more harm" than "the recreational drugs we've dealt with in the past."
The court has had "informal discussions" on the opioid epidemic over the years, according to Pelt, but he said that recent events, including the death of a local athlete "affected by it...brought it closer to home."
Former Hardin-Jefferson football star Blain Padgett died earlier this year after ingesting a synthetic opioid, according to previous Enterprise reporting.
Officials ruled Padgett's death an accident due to "toxic effects of carfentanil."
While the Commissioners Court tries to provide the Hardin County Sheriff's Department with the "tools they need to protect the people from these things," Pelt said the county's lawsuit is intended "to bring pressure on the source" of opioids.
"There's some education that needs to be done and maybe the lawsuit does the education," Pelt said during a commissioners court discussion on the opioid crisis.
By filing its own lawsuit before the State of Texas steps in, county attorney Rebecca Walton said the county will "have more control over what we get and how we're able to utilize those funds."
Upshur County, near Longview, was the first in the state to sue, joining counties across the U.S. and states including Alabama, Montana and Washington.
Click through the photos above for an explainer on the opioid epidemic.