A federal judge on Friday issued an injunction permanently blocking an Ohio doctor from practicing medicine and prescribing opioids, the first time civil litigation has been used as part of efforts to combat the opioid epidemic.

The injunction was part of a Justice Department initiative aimed at reducing the over-prescribing of opioids, which was announced last spring.

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According to the complaint, an Ohio doctor illegally prescribed controlled substances, including oxycodone, without any legitimate medical purpose. The doctor met with confidential informants in a hotel parking lot, where he wrote prescriptions and also directly sold the informants controlled substances.

“For the first time, the Department of Justice is going to court to use civil injunctions to stop the spread of opioids to our communities,” Assistant Attorney General Joseph Hunt said in a statement.

“Today's injunction means that this doctor — who allegedly sold and prescribed dangerous opioids without a legitimate medical purpose —no longer presents a risk of harm to patients or the community.”