Editing Cardinal Health (section)

=== DEA investigation into Oxycodone diversion ===
{{see also|Drug diversion}}

In 2008, Cardinal Health agreed to pay $34 million in civil penalties to settle DEA allegations that it failed to report suspicious orders of hydrocodone. The fine followed a 10-month DEA suspension of a [[Lakeland, Florida]] distribution facility and two others in New Jersey and Washington.<ref name="Schoenberg">{{cite news|last=Schoenberg |first=Tom |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/cardinal-health-blocked-from-shipping-painkiller-in-florida-1-.html |title=Cardinal Health Blocked From Shipping Painkiller in Florida |publisher=Bloomberg |date=2012-02-29 |access-date=2012-09-01}}</ref> On February 2, 2012, the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] again suspended the license of the firm's Lakeland distribution center to distribute controlled substances on charges that it had allowed four Florida pharmacies to purchase excessive amounts of controlled substances, in particular [[oxycodone]].<ref name="UTF27">Donna Leinwand Leger  "DEA aims big in Cardinal Health painkiller case" ''USA Today'' Feb 27, 2012 [https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-27/painkiller-abuse-DEA/53275844/1]</ref>

Cardinal Health obtained a restraining order against the suspension, but the suspension was upheld on February 29 by a Federal district court because the court agreed with the DEA that Cardinal Health's activities represented an "imminent danger to the public."<ref name="UTF29">Donna Leinwand Leger "Judge blocks Cardinal Health drug shipments in Fla." ''USA Today'' Deb 29, 2012 [https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-29/cardinal-health-painkillers-florida/53307498/1]</ref> The company stated that it blocked two of the pharmacies, (Brooks Pharmacy in [[Bonita Springs, Florida]], and Gulf Coast Medical in [[Panama City, Florida]]), and notified the corporate owners of the two pharmacies that were part of national chains, two [[CVS Pharmacy|CVS]] stores in [[Sanford, Florida]].<ref name="UTF27" />

In February 2012, Joseph Rannazzisi, chief of the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]]’s Office of Diversion Control, issued immediate suspension orders against Cardinal's supply of [[oxycodone]] to suspected pill mills.<ref name="WashPo16">{{cite news|last1=Lenny Bernstein|last2=Scott Higham|title=Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/the-dea-slowed-enforcement-while-the-opioid-epidemic-grew-out-of-control/2016/10/22/aea2bf8e-7f71-11e6-8d13-d7c704ef9fd9_story.html|access-date=17 March 2017|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=22 October 2016|author2-link=Scott Higham}}</ref> These orders were filed after Deputy Attorney General [[James M. Cole]] met with Rannazzisi to ask if he had met with Cardinal about the investigation.<ref name="WashPo16" /> Cole stated that he believed “it made good sense to listen to what Cardinal had to say” regarding the investigation.<ref name="WashPo16" /> That year, Cardinal and the DEA reached a settlement that suspended Cardinal's facility in Lakeland, Florida from selling pain killers or other drugs for two years.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Raymond|first=Nate|date=2016-12-23|title=Cardinal settles with U.S. over painkiller shipments to pharmacies|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cardinal-health-lawsuit-idUSKBN14C1ID|access-date=2021-08-20}}</ref> In 2016, Cardinal was fined $44 million for after the investigation concluded.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ir.cardinalhealth.com/news/press-release-details/2016/CARDINAL-HEALTH-ANNOUNCES-CIVIL-SETTLEMENT-WITH-DOJ/default.aspx|title=Cardinal Health Announces Civil Settlement with DOJ|website=ir.cardinalhealth.com|access-date=14 April 2018}}</ref>

In January 2022, Cardinal Health, Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen agreed to pay $26 billion to settle with all but five of the states suing them.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Raymond|first=Nate|date=2022-01-27|title=Most U.S. local governments opt to join $26 bln opioid settlement|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-us-local-governments-opt-join-26-bln-opioid-settlement-2022-01-26/|access-date=2022-02-21}}</ref> Had the states gone to court, the companies could have faced up to $95 billion in penalties.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Raymond|first=Nate|date=2021-11-16|title=Washington state, in $95 billion opioid trial, blames drug distributors for crisis|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mckesson-drug-distributors-face-95-billion-opioid-trial-washington-state-2021-11-15/|access-date=2022-02-21}}</ref>