Jury Holds Walmart, Walgreens and CVS Responsible for Their Role in the Opioid Crisis

A win against pharmacies was scored this week as a jury held CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart responsible for their role in the opioid crisis.

A federal jury said on Tuesday that CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties.

The counties said pharmacies should be the last line of defense to prevent the pills from getting into the wrong hands.

The Ohio counties, Lake and Trumbull, blamed the three pharmacies for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1
billion, their attorney said.

It is unknown how much the pharmacies must pay in damages which will be decided in the spring by a federal judge.

“The law requires pharmacies to be diligent in dealing drugs. This case should be a wake-up call that failure will not be accepted,” said Mark Lanier, an attorney for the counties.

“The jury sounded a bell that should be heard through all pharmacies in America,” Lanier said.

According to Lanier, the pharmacies were attempting to blame everyone but themselves during the trial.

Spokespeople for CVSHealth and Walgreen Co. said the companies disagree with the verdict and will appeal.

“As plaintiffs’ own experts testified, many factors have contributed to the opioid abuse issue, and solving this problem will require involvement from all stakeholders in our health care system and all members of our community,” CVS spokesperson Mike DeAngelis stated.

Walgreen spokesperson Fraser Engerman said the company believes the court erred “in allowing the case to go before a jury on a flawed legal theory that is inconsistent with Ohio law.”

“As we have said throughout this process, we never manufactured or marketed opioids nor did we distribute them to the ‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis,” Engerman said. “The plaintiffs’ attempt to resolve the opioid crisis with an unprecedented expansion of public nuisance law is misguided and unsustainable.”

Rite Aid and Giant Eagle have already settled lawsuits with the two Ohio counties.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.