Attorney General Jeff Sessions is ordering a dozen federal prosecutors to address opioid addiction in select U.S. cities.

  • Federal prosecutor unit on opioid fraud
  • Lawyers will root out pill mills, illegal prescriptions
  • Middle District of Florida will get a prosecutor

The prosecutors will focus on health care fraud by rooting out pill mills and tracking down doctors and other health care providers who illegally prescribe or distribute narcotics such as fentanyl and other powerful painkillers. 

"If you are a doctor illegally prescribing opioids for profit, or a pharmacist letting these pills walk out the door, onto the streets based on prescriptions you know are obtained under false pretenses, we're coming after you," Sessions said in an announcement in Ohio Wednesday. "We will reverse these devastating trends with every lawful tool we have."

The opioid fraud and abuse protection unit will have a prosecutor tied to the Middle District of Florida, which stretches from Jacksonville down through the Orlando area and Tampa and into southwest Florida, in Fort Myers -- a total of 35 counties.

The program is part of a larger crackdown against drugs by the U.S. Justice Dept.

In May, Sessions told prosecutors to bring the toughest charges against most suspects, reversing Obama-era sentencing guidelines for nonviolent drug offenses. He has also called for a repeal of protections granted by Congress to states where marijuana is legal for medicinal or recreational purposes.

"In recent years, some of the government officials in our country I think have mistakenly sent mixed messages about the harmfulness of drugs," Sessions said. "So let me say: We cannot capitulate intellectually or morally unto this kind of rampant drug abuse. We must create a culture that's hostile to drug abuse."

Critics warn Sessions' call to revamp the war on drugs will swell the prison population with nonviolent offenders and reverse years of policy that have proven to work. 

But Sessions says addiction treatment is not enough to fight the opioid epidemic, and there needs to be a return to tougher tactics.

Prescription opioids are a major factor in the current overdose epidemic. More than 52,000 Americans died of overall drug overdoses in 2015, with over 30,000 because of opioids (prescription opioids and heroin). Experts believe the numbers have continued to rise. 

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.