‘SYSTEMATIC FAILURE’

U.S. Justice Department Accuses Walmart of Enabling Opioid Crisis in Lawsuit

“Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids.”

The U.S. Justice Department filed suit against Walmart on Tuesday, alleging the retail chain enabled the opioid crisis through filling illegal prescriptions. “As one of the largest pharmacy chains and wholesale drug distributors in the country, Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark said in a statement. The Justice Department, which accused Walmart of a “systematic failure” to report questionable orders, is seeking thousands of dollars in civil penalties for each unlawful prescription filled and each suspicious order placed. If the suit is successful, Walmart could be forced to pay out billions in damages. In a statement, Walmart wrote that “this lawsuit invents a legal theory that unlawfully forces pharmacists to come between patients and their doctors.”