U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions came to Columbus on Wednesday to announce a new effort to crack down on doctors, pharmacists and others profiting by improperly prescribing and selling opioids.

But many aspects of the "new" initiatives already are in place in Ohio, where efforts to clamp down on prescription opioids go back a decade. In fact, because of Ohio's years-long battle against pill mills and their ilk, the heart of the drug problem has moved beyond prescription drugs into illegal, more-dangerous substances such as heroin and fentanyl that would not be directly affected by Sessions' initiative.

The nation's top cop announced the creation of a data-analytics effort called the Opioid Fraud Abuse Detection Unit, which is aimed at finding pill mills and other rogue prescribers and sellers. He also said he would dedicate 12 federal prosecutors — including one each in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky — to go after them.

The message to professionals who are abusing their licenses, Sessions said: "We are coming after you."

Cameron McNamee, spokesman for the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, said that to his knowledge, nobody at the U.S. Justice Department has contacted his agency, which has long been fighting improper opioid prescribing in Ohio.

He said the board already is required by state statute to look for aberrant prescription practices. In fact, enforcement agents in his office who go after dirty docs and pharmacists are funded by federal grants.

"We try to coordinate and use data analytics to identify medical practitioners who might be over-prescribing," McNamee said.

Despite the efforts already in place, the board of phamacy would welcome additional help, McNamee said.

"It's an all-hands-on-deck situation," he said.

Antonio Ciaccia, director of government and public affairs for the Ohio Pharmacists Association, an industry group, said, "I'm not sure how much the feds will be able to do with it other than duplicating efforts."

He said the state created the Ohio Automated Rx Reports System in 2006 to help identify "doctor-shopping" patients. He added that state licensing boards in recent years have tightened professional rules and monitoring.

"The state of Ohio has been a leader when it comes to data analytics for prescription-drug modeling," Ciaccia said.

Then-Gov. Ted Strickland cracked down on pill mills in 2010 and current Gov. John Kasich squeezed down the amounts of opioids that can be prescribed in 2013 and 2015.

Reginald Fields, spokesman for the Ohio State Medical Association, said the number of opioid prescriptions and the raw amount of drugs prescribed has dropped in each of the past four years.

"I think the more that can be done the better," he said. "But we need to be careful not to scapegoat physicians for this problem."

Dan Tierney, a spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, said his office already uses data mining similar to that to be used by the new federal program to detect crimes such as Medicaid fraud.

Liz Henrich, associate CEO of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, said it's important to remember that addressing Ohio's opioid epidemic means much more than addressing prescription drug abuse.

"Even if we shut off the tap on prescription drugs, we still have a problem with illicit drugs," she said of substances such as heroin and fentanyl.

As the opioid epidemic rages across the country, it has particularly ravaged Ohio.

The Buckeye State, which has led the nation in overdose deaths, had more than 4,100 in 2016, according to a Columbus Dispatch investigation that Sessions cited.

"Ohio is at the center of this drug crisis that is gripping our entire nation. This crisis affects all of us, but it is especially taking its toll on this community," he told an audience of police, politicians and families at the Columbus Police Academy who have been touched by the opioid epidemic.

Sessions told them that 80 percent of opioid addictions start with prescription-drug abuse.

"We must create a culture that is hostile to drug abuse. We know this can work. It has worked in the past for drugs, but also for cigarettes and seatbelts. A campaign was mounted, it took time, and it was effective. We need to send such a clear message now."

Join the conversation at Facebook.com/dispatchpolitics and connect with us on Twitter @OhioPoliticsNow

Sessions did not take questions, nor address President Donald Trump's displeasure with him for recusing himself from a probe into the Republican's presidential campaign's involvement with Russia. However, Sessions and Trump still agree that a wall should be built on the border with Mexico. On Wednesday, the attorney general claimed that almost all illegal drugs that are coming into the United States are coming from Mexico, and a border wall would help stop them.

Outside the training facility, with police helicopters buzzing overhead and gaggles of uniformed officers standing nearby, protesters amassed to send a message to Sessions, who entered the building via the back door.

The five-organization coalition asked to join the conversation and propose solutions tailored to their communities.

In attendance were the People’s Justice Project, Ohio Student Association, Indivisible Columbus District 3, Faith and Public Life, and the Ohio Organizing Coalition.

“We need to be heard from, we need to have an equal voice at the seat of change,” said Tammy Fournier Alsaada, an addiction survivor and key organizer of the demonstration. “And if we’re going to get to the change we seek, it won’t come out of those rooms alone, it will come out of communities.”

Dispatch Reporter Andrew Keiper contributed to this story.

mschladen@dispatch.com

@MartySchladen