Sammies finalist helped multi-agency investigation to tackle opioids in Appalachia

September 23, 2020

The only thing worse than people spreading around dangerous drugs for profit is when licensed medical professionals do it. Last year a team of federal investigators – part of the national effort to mitigate the opioid crisis – indicted 73 licensed medical practitioners for enabling the addiction crisis in Appalachia. A team of three feds from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Justice Department Criminal Fraud Division, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, are finalists in this year’s Service to America Medals Program. One of them, Deputy IG for Investigations at HHS Gary Cantrell, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more explanation.