Walgreens prescriptions added to San Francisco’s opioid epidemic – decide

FILE Folks stroll by a Walgreens, owned by the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Aug 10 (Reuters) – Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA.O) contributed to the opioid epidemic in San Francisco by way of its sale of pharmaceuticals within the metropolis, a federal decide concluded on Wednesday.

U.S. District Choose Charles Breyer in San Francisco mentioned that Walgreens didn’t correctly examine suspicious opioid orders for practically 15 years. The quantity the pharmacy chain should pay will likely be decided in a later trial.

Walgreens’ pharmacists crammed tons of of hundreds of suspicious opioid prescriptions from 2006 to 2020 with pharmacists not given time, staffing or sources to correctly examine pink flags, Breyer wrote.

San Francisco in 2018 sued Walgreens, in addition to a number of drug producers and distributors, over the opioid epidemic within the metropolis, saying they created a “public nuisance” by flooding the town with prescription opioids and failing to forestall the medicine from being diverted for unlawful use.

A trial started in April, and the entire defendants besides Walgreens reached settlements with the town earlier than the courtroom dominated.

Breyer mentioned San Francisco had proven that Walgreens’ lax oversight led to unlawful drug use that considerably contributed to the opioid epidemic within the metropolis.

Walgreens mentioned that it was disillusioned with the ruling and intends to attraction.

“We by no means manufactured or marketed opioids, nor did we distribute them to the ‘tablet mills’ and web pharmacies that fueled this disaster,” Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman mentioned.

The opioid epidemic has precipitated greater than 500,000 opioid overdose deaths over 20 years, in line with the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Greater than 3,300 opioid lawsuits have been filed nationally towards drug producers, distributors and pharmacies, culminating with lots of the different corporations – although not the pharmacies – agreeing to proposed world settlements.

The opioid disaster has hit San Francisco laborious, with opioid-related emergency room tripling from 886 in 2015 to 2,998 in 2020, in line with the courtroom ruling.

Paul Geller, an legal professional who represented the town within the case, credited San Francisco Metropolis Lawyer David Chiu for working to carry corporations accountable for contributing to “the horrific epidemic within the Bay Space.”

Walgreens was discovered liable in 2021 for contributing to the opioid epidemic in an identical trial introduced by two Ohio counties. Walgreens and its co-defendants, CVS Well being Inc and Walmart, are awaiting a ruling from the Ohio courtroom on the quantity they need to pay to deal with the opioid disaster in these counties.

Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Modifying by Mark Porter, Deepa Babington, Alexia Garamfalvi and Mike Harrison

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