Judge Rules against CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart in Ohio Opioid Case

Starting in the 1900s, the opioid epidemic has been a determent to public health in the United States. Recent data and discoveries have named participants in the pharmaceutical industry as major contributing factors to the opioid epidemic. Following the November jury verdict that found the companies guilty of dispensing excessive numbers of prescription painkillers, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart have been ordered to pay $650.5 million to two Ohio counties.

According to the NIDA, up to 29% of people prescribed opioids as pain management will abuse them. Furthermore, the CDC states that, in 2022, 75% of all drug overdoses involved some kind of opioid. Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a potentially fatal disorder that amounts to billions of dollars in healthcare costs each year.

While many have blamed physicians and illegal substance distributors for the severity of this epidemic, members of the pharmaceutical industry such as drug manufacturers, drug distributors, and pharmacies have played a significant role in exacerbating the crisis.

Drug manufacturers, such as Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals, have already been court-ordered to compensate for their role in the epidemic.

An article in the New York Times states, “the ruling is the first by a federal judge that assigns a firm money figure against the pharmacy chains for their roles in the opioid crisis. Here, the judge, Dan A. Polster of the United States District Court in northern Ohio, who has overseen more than 3,000 cases in the opioid litigation, ruled that the pharmacies bore responsibility for one-third of the amount that Ohio’s hard-hit Lake and Trumbull counties need to address the continuing damage wrought by the epidemic.”

In addition to their payout, which will be conducted over 15 years, the companies must monitor and report their opioid dispensing methods and habits to allow them to spot any issues. With these rulings and similar rulings conducted in Florida for CVS and Walgreens, the companies and the public await verdicts and decisions regarding other pending trials on their involvement in the opioid epidemic.

“Judge Polster’s ruling not only sharply scolds the pharmacy chains for their business dealings in the two Ohio counties but also implicitly stands as a warning to these companies in other pending cases. Of the three groups of defendants, the pharmacy chains have been the most reluctant to settle cases,” states the New York Times article.