Walgreens to Pay $300 Million Settlement for Role in Opioid Crisis

Breitbart ^ | 4/22/2025 | Alana Mastrangelo

[Tell It Right]

Walgreens has agreed to pay up to $350 million in a settlement with the DOJ, which accused the pharmacy giant of knowingly filling millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances, and submitting false claims to the federal government.

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TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: opiod; opioids; walgreens

[Tell It Right]

My take: It's darned if you do, darned if you don't. A pharmacy can get sued for denying someone Rx pain meds, and sued if you fill someone's Rx pain meds.

[ansel12]

You would think the druggist could pick up a phone and call the local police detectives and tell them something is suspicious about this, here is the info and we have video of every suspicious pick-up.

[escapefromboston]

Good

[GaltAdonis]

I once bought a glucometer (measures blood glucose for diabetics) at Walgreens.
It was the most inaccurate piece of junk I have ever tried to use.
It was made in China, naturally. I should have looked prior to buying it.

Walgreens gave me a prompt, courteous refund without even having the receipt, however.
Apparently they knew that the things were junk because they got returned frequently.

[9YearLurker]

This is a perfect example of where/how corporate executives need prison time.

[9YearLurker]

Except they KNOWINGLY did what they did.

[Zathras]

USA Senators should pay the bill.
They made it possible by throwing $$$ at Afghanistan

[sonova]

My experience at Walgreens is the people there may not be able to operate a phone. Much less make a determination if something is suspicious...

[caddie]

This is so wrong. Pharmacists dispense medications according to physicians' orders.

Neither the Walgreens' pharmacists nor Walgreens pushed any opioids on anyone. On the contrary, they are charged to be on the lookout for fraud of all kinds related to opioid dispensing.

It is sheer tyranny for the government to take $300 M from Walgreens.

Outrageous.

Now the pendulum has swung so far that it is almost impossible for anyone in severe acute pain to get enough opioid medication.

That includes cancer patients in pain and hospice patients who are dying.

It's total bullshit.

All this is done because the prosecutors and judges have been too soft on drug users and other criminals.

They 'spread the guilt' around so it is never a matter of personal responsibility; it's always "the system" that is to blame for the mountains of homeless drug abusers and associated criminals.

It's NEVER the druggies' fault. They are just poor, innocent, things.

It is complete bullshit. Punish the innocent, kiss the asses of the guilty drug addicts.

They should make that into an amendment to our Constitution.

[Jarhead9297]

No, not good! This is why the elderly who is unable to get to a doctor (in their 90s) or “pain management” end up in repeat visits to emergency rooms instead of simply refilling a script they’ve been on for 20 years.

[Gay State Conservative]

Blame went everywhere except where it belonged....with the junkies themselves.

[Prince of Space]

And yet they treat ppl on controlled substances like they’re drug-seeking con artists. I doubt they’d fill any suspicious prescriptions willy-nilly like the DOJ claims.

[csn vinnie]

If I walked into Walgreens with a “prescription” written on a paper bag that said “Give this guy some opioids”, and Walgreens did, the government would have a case. But I have never seen any evidence like that. The Pharmacist should have no discretion in rejecting legitimate prescriptions from physicians and other authorized health care providers.

[9422WMR]

Worked for a company during the wuflu scam and HR was tasked with checking workers body temp to be sure they didn’t have a fever. The idiot purchasing gal ordered scan thermometers from Amazon. They never read higher than 97F.
Yea, those work real well lol…..🤪

[discostu]

Except the pharmacist is also in a position to know what other scripts you have. I have had a pharmacist notice an old prescription that interacted poorly with a new prescription and talk to me about (are you still on X, he haven’t filled it for a year, so you might not be, but Y and X do not get along so if you’re still on X you should not be on Y... no I wasn’t on X anymore). Which also puts them in the position to notice somebody has 4 different oxy prescriptions and this is probably hinky. They do not just blindly fill scripts, they’re still supposed to do no harm.

[Fresh Wind]

I had a prescription for an opioid when I had a bad tooth extracted. I took it to a Walmart and they guy at the counter looked like I had pointed a gun at him instead of a piece of paper.

I would assume they called the dentist to make sure, and they filled it. I wonder how many bogus prescriptions they were getting?

I didn’t really need them anyway.

[Tell It Right]

All this is done because the prosecutors and judges have been too soft on drug users and other criminals. They 'spread the guilt' around so it is never a matter of personal responsibility; it's always "the system" that is to blame for the mountains of homeless drug abusers and associated criminals.

You and I think a lot alike, yet we disagree if the drug users are at fault. If I had my way it'd all be legalized and there'd be no fault. But at the same time, no welfare, including no hospital welfare (getting treatment at a hospital even without insurance or money).

That way, if someone takes drugs, whether for "right" or "wrong" reasons, whether for medical purposes or recreation, whether it's a "gateway" drug or whatever, the repercussions are on them and not the taxpayers. That's how it used to be before the welfare state. And most drug/alcohol users back then were often called "working alcoholics" or "working coke users". Very few people let themselves get so bad they couldn't work, because there was no "safety net". The welfare state encourages bad behavior (i.e. drugs, making babies out of wedlock), then the various drug laws are patches trying to treat the symptoms without curing the underlying cause.

[woodbutcher1963]

The issue was that it was not the average person with a toothache getting one prescription for Oxy. Addicts were getting prescriptions and going to EVERY pharmacy and filling them. Then they were going to multiple doctors and getting Oxy prescriptions.

The corporations knew that Oxy was being abused. Especially in certain counties and at certain drug stores. They could track the amount of pills going to every county in the country. They knew it was a problem. They CHOSE to value PROFIT over what was the right thing to do.

That does not mean the end users were not to blame.
Society ended up paying for it.
They stopped selling it in all the pharmacies around here because they were targets for robberies.
The CVS down the street had a big sign on the front window.
WE DO NOT SELL OXYCOTIN.

[FreedomNotSafety]

Way to stick it to big Pharm. How dare they give people the drugs prescribed by their Drs. These big companies are supposed to save the s from ourselves.

Adults shouldn’t even need prescriptions. Buy and ingest drugs as you can wish but also bear the consequences of your actions.

In the meantime Big Corn continues to poison our food, HFCS, and our fuel, Eathonol, and collects three layers of subsidies to do so.

I want to sue Big Food for making me fat. I had no control. Greedy grocery stores.

[sheana]

I herniated a disc in my neck. Lay in bed with my arm over my head for 3 weeks in severe pain. Doctor prescribed me the strongest hydrocodone there is. When Hubby took it to the pharmacy they didn’t want to fill it because of the number of pills and dosage. He came home without them. I called my doc’s assistant and she called them and read them the riot act. It was filled 30 minutes later.