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Walgreens opioid epidemic lawsuit overview:
- Who: Walgreens is responsible for helping to fuel the opioid epidemic in San Francisco, a judge has ruled.
- Why: The pharmacy was shown to have distributed hundreds of thousands of suspect opioid prescriptions without doing due diligence, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer says.
- Where: The case was heard in a California federal court.
Walgreens, the largest retail pharmacy chain in San Francisco, distributed over 100 million prescription opioid pills in the city between 2006 and 2020 without properly checking which of the prescriptions were suspicious, thus playing a role in the city’s opioid epidemic, a California judge has ruled.
The company’s actions make it liable for the opioid problems that the Bay Area is dealing with to this day, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled Aug. 10.
The ruling followed a bench trial this year brought by the City and County of San Francisco that initially featured several drug companies as defendants but led to a series of settlements for most, leaving Walgreens as the sole defendant.
Walgreens did not check suspect opioid prescriptions, city says
At trial, San Francisco brought a single public nuisance claim against Walgreens, Judge Breyer says.
He says the city had to establish that it is more likely than not that Walgreens knowingly engaged in unreasonable conduct that was a substantial factor in contributing to the opioid epidemic in San Francisco.
“After careful consideration of the evidence, the Court finds that Plaintiff carried its burden,” Breyer writes.
The evidence at trial established that from 2006 to 2020, Walgreens pharmacies in San Francisco dispensed over 100 million prescription opioid pills in the city, his ruling states. Hundreds of thousands of them were red flag opioid prescriptions that Walgreens did not do the due diligence of checking.
Evidence showed that tens of thousands of these prescriptions were written by doctors with suspect prescribing patterns, Breyer writes of the Walgreens opioid epidemic trial.
“In exchange for the privilege of distributing and dispensing prescription opioids, Walgreens has regulatory obligations to take reasonable steps to prevent the drugs from being diverted and harming the public,” he says. “The evidence at trial established that Walgreens breached these obligations.”
A subsequent trial will determine the extent to which Walgreens must abate the public nuisance that it helped to create, the judge added.
Meanwhile, national opioid settlements have been made as part of an effort by states and local political subdivisions to resolve the nationwide opioid crisis.
The settlements have put to bed claims brought against McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen — the nation’s three largest pharmaceutical distributors.
Claims against drug manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson were also resolved as part of the national opioid settlement.
What do you think of the judge’s ruling in the opioid epidemic case against Walgreens? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
The Walgreens opioid epidemic lawsuit is City and County of San Francisco et al. v. Purdue Pharma LP et al., Case No. 3:18- cv-07591, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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9 thoughts onWalgreens responsible for opioid epidemic in Bay Area, judge rules
IVE been on opioids about 20 years I have neck surgery and both knee replacements it’s been hard for me they just kept giving them to me then I was going to a pain clinic the pills have made it hard on my life
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Yes I think that all of these pharmacies should be held accountable for the opioid injuries of the late 90’s and the 20th century. A town in Florida should have a suit filed against them. If I knew how to I would file one. Now since the outbreak of these medications these stories have been giving people that are in really bad pain can’t get there medications from these stories,they make you wait 3to4 days after you have dropped off your prescription to get your medications. You can’t with hold patience there medication because they have been put in the light as being a pharmacy not paying attention to the script, that’s on them. Yes please put me on the list.
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My 23-year-old son, lost his father to the careless acts of Utah pain clinic, as well Walgreens pharmacy staff, to allow him to have the amount, and milligrams he was allowed, countless opioid prescriptions, every single month, for months. He died on November 3, 2011, at 47 years old. My son who is 23 years old today, has been through nightmare after nightmare, the death of his dad has caused him a lot of problems, he couldn’t get past the death of his dad, the overdose he had to call for emergency assistance, not one twice, for the pain clinic to continue to refill, and the pharmacy to continue to refill, oxy 30 oxy 80s Roxy 30 valium Xanax somas, there where several, none of the above should have been prescribed to him, that way too many, he’s dead today, my son crashed his vehicle in 2019 due one of many reasons, he has not been the same scents his dad died due to opioid. My son is handicapped today. It’s devastating, a nightmare for him as well for me, he can’t drive ever again, and he has a severe brain injury and numerous injuries he’s recovering from. This could have been avoided if doctors, Walgreen, and the pharmacist would have put a stop to it, but they didn’t, they continued filling the prescriptions monthly until it killed him
I don’t mean any harm but I know this person was white who was able to get all that different medication they do not give black people medication like that a lot of times we can’t even get pain pills because we are so scrutinized you go to the emergency room and be in severe pain and they’ll give you $800 Motrin that’s very sad most of the opiate addictions is because they were able to get the pain killers with no questions asked I’m very sorry for your loss I will also keep your son in my prayers because he did not deserve that but just take a look at what I’ve been just said and if you do research you know that
I ve suffered from PTSD and anxiety and chronic lower back and neck pain I got thos injuries in prison and jail I ve been on all kinds of psychic meds that have left me with all kinds of ticks or uncontrollable movements of my mouth and other body parts I ve taken opiads for pain relief here in Tampa Florida so I have damage from all these sources