Nationwide opioid lawsuits took a new turn as the Department of Justice added Walmart to the list of alleged offenders, claiming that the giant retailer helped to fuel the opioid epidemic by inadequately monitoring prescriptions of highly addictive painkillers at its 5,000 in-store pharmacies. The lawsuit says Walmart sought to boost profits by pressuring employees to fill prescriptions quickly, and without proper monitoring and compliance, thereby turning the pharmacies into a leading supplier of opioids and enabling widespread drug use nationwide. Walmart joins other large companies—including drug manufacturers, drug distributors and retail pharmacy chains—in thousands of lawsuits brought by cities, states and the federal government alleging that aggressive marketing of painkillers are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past two decades.
Meanwhile, doctors and addiction experts say they want the federal government to extend the easing of drug treatment rules that were enacted during COVID-19—including the loosening of telehealth regulations. They say the changes have saved thousands of lives by making it easier to access treatment remotely, and should therefore continue beyond the pandemic.
And finally, San Francisco is the latest city to report soaring drug overdose fatalities in 2020, with deaths this year so far exceeding the number of people who died from COVID-19. The city said a record 621 died from drug overdose, outpacing 173 deaths from the corona virus. The crisis deepened amid the stress and isolation of COVID lockdowns, and because the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl flooded the city’s drug supply.