Walgreens Contributed to Opioid Crisis in San Francisco, Judge Rules.
Fox News reports that U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer made the ruling on Aug. 10.
Walgreens pharmacies in San Francisco dispensed hundreds of thousands of red flag opioid prescriptions without performing adequate due diligence. , U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, via ruling.
Tens of thousands of these prescriptions were written by doctors with suspect prescribing patterns, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, via ruling.
The evidence showed that Walgreens did not provide its pharmacists with sufficient time, staffing, or resources to perform due diligence on these prescriptions, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, via ruling.
"," Breyer added.
Judge Breyer also said that the increase in red-flag opioid scripts resulted in local hospitals being overwhelmed, .
playground being trashed with drugs...
... and city libraries being forced to shut down because of toilets clogged with syringes. .
Walgreens issued a statement denying the allegations.
We never manufactured or marketed opioids, nor did we distribute them to the ‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis, Fraser Engerman, Walgreens spokesperson, via statement.
Monetary damages have yet to be determined.
According to the San Francisco health department, last year, 474 people died from fentanyl-related overdoses