Walgreens contributed to San Francisco opioid crisis, California judge rules

A California federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Walgreens contributed to San Francisco’s opioid crisis and should be held responsible.  

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer upheld a claim that the pharmacy chain did not exercise proper oversight with prescriptions and thereby over-dispensed the addictive substance.

"Walgreens pharmacies in San Francisco dispensed hundreds of thousands of red flag opioid prescriptions without performing adequate due diligence," the judge said. "Tens of thousands of these prescriptions were written by doctors with suspect prescribing patterns."

"The evidence showed that Walgreens did not provide its pharmacists with sufficient time, staffing, or resources to perform due diligence on these prescriptions," Breyer added.

The judge added that the large quantity of opioid prescriptions led to the overburdening of San Francisco’s hospitals, public parks being littered with drugs, and libraries closing due to syringe-clogged toilets. 

Walgreens denied the claim to have exacerbated the crisis. 

"We never manufactured or marketed opioids, nor did we distribute them to the ‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis," Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said.

Despite the ruling that Walgreens did further the opioid crisis, the monetary damages the company has to pay has yet to be determined. 

“This decision gives voice to the thousands of lives lost to the opioid epidemic,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu in a statement. “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. We are grateful the Court heard our arguments and held Walgreens responsible for the damage they caused.”

San Francisco’s opioid crisis has been getting worse throughout the years. According to the city’s health department, 474 individuals died from fentanyl-related overdoses last year. 

In a similar trial, Walgreens reached a $683 million settlement with the state of Florida after they accused the company of improperly dispensing painkillers, according to The Associated Press.