Jury holds CVS, Walgreens and Walmart responsible for role in opioid crisis

[Elderberry]

CNBC 11/23/2021

Key Points

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

•   The verdict could set the tone for U.S. city and county governments that want to hold pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid crisis.

•   The counties 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.

CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said Tuesday in a verdict that could set the tone for U.S. city and county governments that want to hold pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid crisis.

Lake and Trumbull counties blamed the three chain 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.

How much the pharmacies must pay in damages will be decided in the spring by a federal judge.

It was the first time pharmacy companies had completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug crisis that has killed a half-million Americans over the past two decades.

The counties were able to convince the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities.

“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.

More: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/23/jury-holds-cvs-walgreens-and-walmart-responsible-for-role-in-opioid-crisis.html

[sneakypete]

I don't get how that is even possible.

You MUST have a prescription to get drugs from a drugstore,right?

[LMAO]

I don't get how that is even possible.

You MUST have a prescription to get drugs from a drugstore,right?

Right

They must figure these are big corporations vs a local MD and can pay any settlement

[DCPatriot]

Right

They must figure these are big corporations vs a local MD and can pay any settlement

It's more sinister than that.

It's a deliberate agenda: Fine these corporations hundreds of millions of dollars over years, at the same time extorting/forcing them to keep their prescription prices lower with the 'loss' accepted as partial payment.

It's the Soviet and Socialist way.

[DB]

It was where the money was...

And every customer of Walgreens and CVS will pay for it for decades to come...

[Elderberry]

 Public nuisance laws in opioid cases give hope to both sides

Three major pharmacy chains are responsible for contributing to the scourge of opioid addiction in two Ohio counties

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/11/24/public-nuisance-laws-opioid/

A jury’s finding this week that three major pharmacy chains are responsible for contributing to the scourge of opioid addiction in two Ohio counties may be just the beginning of a protracted legal battle that ultimately could leave the communities no better off.

The reason is the central argument — that pharmacies created a “public nuisance” by dispensing an overwhelming quantity of prescription painkillers into each county.

Thousands of state and local governments have sued drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies over a crisis that has contributed to more than 500,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades. The lawsuits generally center on claims the companies created public nuisances by interfering with the rights of the public through the way they marketed, shipped and sold the drugs — feeding the addictions of some patients and providing pills later diverted to the black market.

Similar arguments were used in two other cases — in California and Oklahoma — that went in favor of the industry in the weeks before the Ohio jury’s decision. Given those decisions, there is no guarantee that Tuesday’s verdict in the case brought by Lake and Trumbull counties against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart will hold up on appeal or lead to similar decisions elsewhere.

The industry argues it did nothing illegal and that public nuisance laws simply don’t apply to prescribing and distributing prescription painkillers.

“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,” Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman said in a statement. “The plaintiffs’ attempt to resolve the opioid crisis with an unprecedented expansion of public nuisance law is misguided and unsustainable.”

Elizabeth Burch, a University of Georgia law professor, said pursuing the cases on public nuisance grounds makes sense because the pharmacies were uniquely positioned to watch the addiction crisis develop.

“These are the folks that are on the front lines,” she said. “They’re seeing the same people coming in and they’re seeing the same doctors writing prescriptions.”

[mountaineer]

There's no such thing as personal responsibility for just about anything.

[LegalAmerican]

I don't get how that is even possible.

You MUST have a prescription to get drugs from a drugstore,right?

I didn't read it.  So ridiculous.  Where else are you going to get your meds, filled?   No one is forced to take any medicine.  ARE THEY? Even a prescription is a choice. 

 cough,  Except the JAB.  So, can we sue all those who want to force that on us? 

[GtHawk]

If there was such an incredible problem in those three counties and all the 'opioids' were dispensed to people with valid prescriptions why did they go after the pharmacies instead of the doctors who wrote them? I know that I can't refill my prescription earlier than 30 days from last order, the pharmacy just can't do it legally. It just seems to that maybe if there is a problem they went after the deep pockets instead of the root cause.

[art.prout]

If there was such an incredible problem in those three counties and all the 'opioids' were dispensed to people with valid prescriptions why did they go after the pharmacies instead of the doctors who wrote them? I know that I can't refill my prescription earlier than 30 days from last order, the pharmacy just can't do it legally. It just seems to that maybe if there is a problem they went after the deep pockets instead of the root cause.

 

[sneakypete]

If there was such an incredible problem in those three counties and all the 'opioids' were dispensed to people with valid prescriptions why did they go after the pharmacies instead of the doctors who wrote them? I know that I can't refill my prescription earlier than 30 days from last order, the pharmacy just can't do it legally. It just seems to that maybe if there is a problem they went after the deep pockets instead of the root cause.

GTHawk

It almost looks like that who thing was written and planned to target certain individuals that weren't paying up on "payday",doesn't it?

Not that I would EVER suggest the "justice" system is rotten to the core,mind you.

[LegalAmerican]

Communists in charge...........destroying all our health.