CVS Health, Walmart and Walgreens Played Role in Opioid Crisis

THURSDAY, Nov. 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) — CVS Wellbeing, Walmart and Walgreens contributed to opioid overdoses and fatalities in two Ohio counties, a federal jury in Cleveland found Tuesday.

The initial jury verdict in an opioids situation arrived in the carefully watched take a look at situation and may demonstrate encouraging to plaintiffs in countless numbers of lawsuits across the United States applying the exact same lawful system — that the providers contributed to a “general public nuisance,” The New York Occasions noted.

That argument was rejected this month by judges in California and Oklahoma in circumstances against opioid makers.

The Ohio situation is the initial time the retail facet of the drug market has been held accountable in the U.S. opioid disaster, the Occasions noted. CVS Wellbeing, Walmart and Walgreens are 3 of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains.

Following the verdict, the trial judge will choose how much each of the pharmacy chains will have to shell out Lake and Trumbull counties in northeastern Ohio, the Occasions noted.

The counties’ attorneys said the 3 providers turned a blind eye to suspicious opioid orders for decades. Eventual oversight prerequisites ended up “much too little, much too late,” said Mark Lanier, the counties’ guide trial attorney, the Occasions noted.

Overdose fatalities from unlawful opioids have arrived at file degrees through the COVID-19 pandemic, new U.S. authorities facts display, the Occasions noted.

Much more facts

Stop by the Countrywide Institute of Drug Abuse for much more on opioids.

Source: The New York Occasions