Jeff Sessions announces opioid program in Columbus: Ohio Politics Roundup

Sessions in Ohio: Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday traveled to Ohio, a state that's particularly struggled with opioid abuse, to announce "a new pilot program designed to cut down on one big part of the burgeoning opioid crisis: illegal prescription of opioid pills," cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer writes.

"The Department of Justice's Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit will use a new data-analytics program to identify doctors and pharmacists who are abusing their powers to give out opioids, Sessions said. The program, similar to a state-level system already in use in Ohio, will allow authorities to identify docto

rs who are prescribing a disproportionate number of pills or areas that see spikes in opioid prescriptions, he said," Pelzer writes.

"In addition, the Justice Department will fund assistant U.S. attorneys in the Southern District of Ohio - which includes Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati - as well as 11 other districts around the country to focus exclusively on prosecuting health-care fraud involving opioids," Pelzer writes.

"If you are illegally prescribing opioids for profit or a pharmacist letting these pills walk out the door onto the streets based on prescriptions you know are on false pretenses, we're coming after you," Sessions said.