Kroger, Albertsons and Rite Aid are at the center of the latest opioid lawsuit from Washington’s Attorney General for what he says is their role in flooding our streets with drugs.
A.G. Bob Ferguson announced the new lawsuits, filed in King County, as well as settlements with Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and drug-makers Teva and Allergan, which include agreements to more closely monitor prescriptions. Ferguson says, “They’re writing more than a very large check. Each of these companies also has to change their practices and how they do business.”
As for the three in the new suit, Ferguson says they’re supposed to act as the final check before too many pills go out to people who’ve been over-prescribed or who have fraudulent prescriptions but, instead, he says the companies pushed pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly with financial incentives and even allowed many written by doctors with licenses revoked or suspended. “During the opioid crisis over the last decade,” Ferguson says, “these companies ignored federal regulations, put profits over safety and knowingly over-supplied opioids in our state.” Ferguson added that eight Washington counties even had more opioid prescriptions than they have residents.
The settlements reached so far have netted $1.1 billion for Washington, which will be used for drug treatment, youth outreach and other programs aimed at helping the state recover from the opioid crisis.
Northwest Newsradio has reached out to the three companies for comment and did not receive responses before publication of this story.
You can read more details of the cases and the settlements here.
You can watch video of Ferguson’s announcement from TVW here.
