U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced a new initiative to bolster state efforts to combat the growing opioid crisis.

Flanked by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general, Sessions outlined plans to create a new litigation-oriented task force within the Department of Justice to pursue claims against opioid manufacturers and distributors. Sessions also announced that the department plans to file a statement of interest in a multidistrict litigation supporting efforts by state and local governments to hold several drug companies accountable for alleged false and deceptive marketing that played a key role in the opioid crisis.

“We will use criminal penalties. We will use civil penalties. We will use whatever tools we have to hold people accountable for breaking our laws,” Sessions said during a press conference Tuesday.

Several attorneys general, including Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro, thanked Sessions for the renewed efforts.

“Fundamentally, I believe collaboration is key. The states need more resources, and the Department of Justice has stepped up,” Shapiro said. “When four out of every five heroin users start with a legal prescription drug, the supply chain runs directly to these opioid manufacturers. It runs directly to the opioid distributors.”

Shapiro, a Democrat, is one of 41 attorneys general who are pursuing several drugmakers and distributors for their alleged role in the opioid crisis, which, Sessions said, has cost the country an estimated $1 trillion since 2001 and $115 billion in 2017.

State Attorney General Mike DeWine of Ohio, the state where nearly 200 opioid-related lawsuits have been consolidated in a federal district court, said the DOJ's decision to issue a statement of interest supporting the state and local municipalities' efforts is “a game-changer.”

“The experts tell us that 80 percent of the people who were addicted to opiates today started with pain meds,” said DeWine, a Republican. “That's why your action today, frankly, makes us very happy, and it's a real realization of what's been going on.”

The new efforts include the creation of the Prescription Interdiction and Litigation, or PIL, task force, which, according to Sessions, will work with the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate law enforcement efforts targeting opioid manufacturers and distributors, and will review existing laws for possible legislative and regulatory changes.

Sessions' announcement comes as litigation continues to mount against drugmakers over their alleged role in the unfolding opioid crisis. Along with the multidistrict litigation, municipalities have continued to file new lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies seeking to recoup costs they claim to have shouldered in combating the opioid crisis.

Since the start of 2018, both Philadelphia and the city's district attorney have each filed lawsuits targeting opioid manufacturers, making similar arguments that the drug companies violated fair trade practices by aggressively marketing the highly addictive drugs.