Pharmacies have to share the blame for the opioid crisis, according to a federal jury. In a case involving three chain pharmacies in two Ohio counties, the jury found the pharmacies responsible for dispensing opioids like “a gumball machine.”
The case involved pharmacies under the CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart brands in Lake and Trumbull counties in Ohio. According to the attorney representing the counties, all three chains contributed to hundreds of deaths by overdose via ‘reckless distribution’ and cost the counties approximately $1 billion each.
“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.
This is the first time that pharmacy companies, as opposed to pharmaceutical companies, have been taken through a compete trial to defend themselves in relation to the opioid crisis. Most of the blame for over half a million dead in twenty years has fallen on the manufacturers of said drugs, but many think the fault also belongs to those who physically put the drugs into the hands of the users.
Two other pharmacy chains, Rite Aid and Giant Eagle, have already settled related lawsuits with the two Ohio counties.
“The jury sounded a bell that should be heard through all pharmacies in America,” Lanier said.
CVS Health, Walgreen Co., and Walmart Inc. have all said they intend to appeal before spring, when a judge will determine the damages each chain owes. A spokesperson for Walmart said they were only being targeted as deep pockets, placing the blame on “‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies.”
There is plenty of blame to be spread around for the opioid crisis. Drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson was recently found culpable by another federal court for paying doctors to over-prescribe their pain medications, and hundreds of doctors have lost their licenses for abusing their right to prescribe. Tens of thousands of people die a year of opioid overdose, and most of those drugs are legally acquired. Pharmacists, who are licensed experts, are the last line of professional defense against pill abuse.
Photo: Halawi / Shutterstock
