The U.S. Department of Justice today charged Walmart Inc. with contributing to the U.S. opioid crisis, alleging that the retail giant ignored warnings from its pharmacists and continued to provide drugs for thousands of invalid prescriptions.
Reuters reports that in a civil lawsuit filed in federal district court in Delaware, the government says Walmart failed to take its role as gatekeeper to the drug board seriously. Wal-Mart, however, denies the allegations.
Wal-Mart shares closed down 1.2 percent today on the news.
Wal-Mart issued a statement saying, “The lawsuit fabricates a legal theory that unlawfully forces pharmacists to be caught between patients and physicians; it is also riddled with factual errors.
The lawsuit says Wal-Mart created a system that turned its 5,000 in-store pharmacies into suppliers of highly addictive painkillers, dating back as far as June 2013.
Jeffrey Bossert Clark, acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division, said Wal-Mart’s ‘illegal’ actions ‘contributed to the national crisis’ and had ‘catastrophic consequences.
Wal-Mart, for its part, says the lawsuit clearly shifts the blame for the DEA’s well-documented failure to prevent unscrupulous physicians from prescribing opioids in the first place.
According to U.S. government data, approximately 450,000 people died from drug overdoses between 1999 and 2018.
The government has accused Wal-Mart of violating the Controlled Substances Act. If found liable, Walmart could face civil penalties of up to $67,627 for each illegal prescription filled and $15,691 for each suspicious prescription pad not reported.
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