Missouri AG sues 3 Opioid Manufacturers.

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Hawley says 500 Missourians died of opioid overdoses or complications and 300 more died from heroin misuse in 2015.

"In 2012, physicians wrote some 259 million opioid prescriptions in the United States -- that's 10 million more prescriptions than there are adults living in the United States of America," he said.

The Missouri suit follows a filing by Ohio suing five drug companies, accusing them of fueling the opioid crisis there by misleading doctors about the risks of addiction.

In adddition to those actions, counties and cities across the country have begun filing lawsuits against manufacturers over their roles in the drug epidemic. In Cabell County, West Virginia a complaint was filed (PDF) earlier this month alleging that between 2007 and 2012, drug companies and distributors, including pharmacies such as Walgreen's and Rite Aid, sold nearly 40 million doses of prescription opiates such as hydrocodone and oxycodone to county pharmacies.

The county population during those years grew from just over 94,000 to just over 96,000 people. Similarly, nearby Kanawha County, West Virginia, filed a lawsuit (PDF) at the same time alleging the drug companies sold 66 million doses of these medications during the same time period when the county population ranged from about 191,000 to 192,000 residents."

Earlier this month several state attorneys general announced an initiative to investigate what role manufacturers may have played in contributing to the opioid epidemic.