Walgreens to pay $230mn as settlement to San Francisco over opioids crisis

San Francisco and Walgreens reached a $230 million settlement for the company's involvement in the city's unusual opioidchallenge.

The payment is the largest ever given to localgovernment despite years of ongoing, nationwide opioid-related litigation, According to San Francisco's city attorney.

The settlement comes nine months after a federal judge determined that the company's errors had a "substantial" part in a crisis that has had "catastrophic" impacts on the city, overburdening hospitals and destroying neighbourhoods. Walgreens was also chastised by US District Judge Charles Breyer for its "15-year failure" to adequately scrutinise opioid prescriptions and warn potential misuse of the potentially extremely addictive drugs.

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Breyer ruled that Walgreens had a profit-driven "fill, fill, fill" culture in administering strong opioids such as fentanyl, oxycontin, and oxycodone in his judgement on August 10, 2022, as reported by the Guardian.

“This decision gives voice to the thousands of lives lost to the opioid epidemic,” David Chiu, San Francisco’s city attorney, saidin a statement,as reported by the Guardian.

“This crisis did not come out of nowhere. It was created by the opioid industry, and local jurisdictions like San Francisco have had to shoulder the burden for far too long,” he added.

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The deal reached by Walgreens bypasses a trial to assess damages. Walgreens said in a statement that while it "disputes liability" and does not concede guilt, resolving would allow it to focus on patients, customers, and communities.

“Our thoughts are with those impacted by this tragic crisis,” it added.

After many drugmakers and distributors agreed settlements totaling more than $120 million, the Deerfield, Illinois-based corporation was the lone remaining defendant in San Francisco's civil complaint.

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Breyer discovered that Walgreens' San Francisco pharmacies received more than 1.2 million opioid prescriptions with "red flags" from 2006 to 2020, but only did due diligence on fewer than 5 per centof them before delivering them.

All-time high deaths

The rise in deaths began in December, and by January, the city had recorded 82 deaths, bringing the city's overdose fatalities to an all-time high. This uptick occurred shortly after the city dismantled a crucial outreach centre where individuals were taking narcotics under medical supervision and intensified enforcement in San Francisco's long-under-resourced Tenderloin neighbourhood.

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