San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said Walgreens made the opioid crisis in his city worse, and that legally the pharmacy retailer was responsible for $8.1 billion in damage.
Walgreens, however, does not admit to any guilt and instead will pay a $230 million settlement over the next 14 years, with most of that money paid during the first eight years. According to Chiu, the amount is the largest paid to a local government in the history of opioid litigation. Opioid settlements are adding up for Walgreens, as last year it agreed to a $683 million payout in Florida and it also was involved in a $10.7 billion deal with CVS on the East Coast. Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Ill., will be paying $5.7 billion over 15 years in that settlement that involved a coalition of 17 state attorney generals.
The San Francisco settlement stems from a U.S. District Court case where Judge Charles Breyer said Walgreens substantially contributed to the opioid epidemic and caused widespread harm. Breyer accused the retailer of having a “fill, fill, fill” culture where over 1.2 million opioid prescriptions came in between 2006 and 2020 and less than 5% were properly scrutinized.
In a statement, Walgreens disputes liability but said it reached the settlement so it could focus on patients, customers and communities.
Several retailers have been involved in opioid litigation over the last year. In addition to Walgreens and CVS, Walmart put together a $3.1 billion settlement with all 50 states in 2022, and grocery giant Kroger was involved in a lawsuit that also included Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid earlier this year. Kroger agreed to pay $68 million in a West Virginia case that involved pharmacies oversupplying opioids in the state. Kroger said the allegations against the company in all opioid lawsuits were “without merit.”
More than 564,000 people have died from opioid overdoses over the last 21 years, leading to a wave of lawsuits against wholesalers and drug companies. To date, the largest settlement is $26 billion.
