In campaign ads and stump speeches, Dustin Beaty presents himself as a casualty of the opioid crisis, a man who stumbled into addiction, lost his business and now seeks redemption in politics. It is a tidy story of struggle and survival. But in the files of the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy, and in the recollections of the investigators who tracked him, a very different picture emerges: not of a victim, but of a supplier.

Over the past several weeks, APR spoke with dozens of Walker County residents, law enforcement officers, other pharmacists and people who had firsthand knowledge of Beaty’s 2009 case before the Pharmacy Board. All persons interviewed were granted anonymity to speak freely, as law enforcement sources were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. Together, their

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