A grocery-store pharmacy in Knoxville, Tenn., bought nearly one million high-dose OxyContin pills in 2008, third-most in the nation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Journal obtained the data from plaintiffs’ attorneys representing municipalities in lawsuits against Purdue and other pharmaceutical-supply-chain players for their alleged roles in the opioid crisis. Sales data for other years hasn’t been made public.

In the summer of 2008, local residents began complaining that the store’s parking lot had become a magnet for drugs and crime since the pharmacy began filling prescriptions for a nearby pain clinic, according to a local newspaper article.

A Purdue Pharma LP sales representative informed the company of the article about the complaints, according to a “Report of Concern,” a company document that employees used to report inappropriate use of Purdue’s drugs, said Steve Seid, a former Purdue executive, in a deposition last year.

The article contained “statements about OxyContin, Food City Pharmacy” and a nearby pain clinic co-operated by Dr. Frank McNiel, the report said, according to a transcript of Mr. Seid’s deposition. In an email to Mr. Seid the following month, a Purdue account manager said he would visit the pharmacy to gather more information.