Even as court cases such as the lawsuit against Purdue Pharma for the company’s role in the opioid epidemic are winding into their settlement phases, there is still a battle being fought against those who acted as “legal” drug dealers.

Dr. William Bauer, of Port Clinton, Ohio, in March was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $460,000 in restitution after being convicted of charges of distributing controlled substances and healthcare fraud. Bauer had been overprescribing painkillers.

If you’re thinking that kind of thing faded out once doctors became aware they were shilling addiction and death, you’d be wrong.

Bauer kept up his drug dealing and health care fraud through June 2019. Federal prosecutors say Bauer not only overprescribed painkillers, he also prescribed dangerous combinations of drugs.

But, of course, Bauer has continued to deny any responsibility.

The substance abuse epidemic has evolved. To some degree, OxyContin seems like a distant memory.

But Bauer’s conviction proves there are still those who choose to remain part of the problem — who choose to use their positions over vulnerable, hurting people to do harm.

Federal officials are to be commended for continuing to find and prosecute them.