A judge in San Francisco has ruled that retail pharmacy chain Walgreens is liable for helping fuel the opioid epidemic in the city, opening the way for a settlement with the company as nationwide opioid litigation heads to a conclusion. The judge said that Walgreens shipped and distributed addictive drugs without proper due diligence, and did not stop suspicious orders for prescription drugs that were later diverted for illicit use. The company was responsible for shipping 1 out of every 5 pills nationwide and was included in lawsuits that also aimed to hold manufacturers and drug distributors responsible for the current epidemic, which killed more than 108,000 Americans last year. Thousands of other lawsuits by states, cities, counties, and tribes remain to be resolved. Unlike other litigants—including drug manufacturers and drug distributors—who have settled, Walgreens has not reached a national settlement, while it did agree to pay $683 million to the state of Florida, to settle those claims. The San Francisco bench trial verdict—a separate trial will be held to determine damages therefore has national significance and could impact other outstanding lawsuits. Opioid overdoses have skyrocketed in San Francisco, with a nearly 480 percent increase in fatalities between 2015 and 2020.
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Rosenthal Center for AddictIon Studies