Title: Walgreens Faces Legal Action for Prescribing Opioids Illegally
Revised Article:
The Justice Department has levied a civil lawsuit against Walgreens, a pharmacy chain with over 8,000 locations nationwide, asserting that they knowingly dispensed millions of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances, breaching the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
As per Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, Walgreens' pharmacists filled prescriptions with "red flags," indicating high likelihood of illegality. Allegedly, Walgreens pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions without taking the necessary time to confirm their validity, thereby allowing warehouses full of opioids and other controlled substances to illegally leave its stores.
Data from 1999 to 2022 reveals that nearly 727,000 Americans perished due to opioid overdoses, with approximately 82,000 deaths in 2022 alone. The death rate from overdoses has nearly quadrupled since 2002.
The suit accuses Walgreens of knowingly dispensed controlled substances without legitimate medical purpose or valid prescriptions for over a decade, from August 2012 to the present. These prescriptions included high doses of opioids, prescriptions written by multiple doctors, early refills, and dangerous drug combinations.
In certain instances, patients died following overdoses on these invalid prescriptions filled at Walgreens. The Justice Department alleges that Walgreens pharmacists filled these prescriptions in the face of clear red flags, as well as pressuring them to overlook potential invalidity.
The law mandates pharmacists evaluate controlled substance prescriptions, investigating any potential "red flags." Withdrawing from this duty, Walgreens is accused of failing to examine the following red flags:
- High doses and quantities of opioids
- Combination prescriptions
- Patients filled prescriptions with multiple providers
- Early refills
- Long-distance travel for controlled substance prescriptions
- Repeated, suspicious prescriptions from the same doctor for the same drugs, quantities, and strengths for multiple patients
When presented with such red flags, the pharmacist's duty is to verify drug appropriateness and review pharmacy history, contact doctors, or utilize state prescription drug monitoring program databases.
The Justice Department accuses Walgreens of obstructing its pharmacists from sharing knowledge on questionable prescribers, reprimanding diligent pharmacists who verified prescriptions, and refusing for years to install a system preventing its pharmacies from dispensing prescriptions from known illegal opioid prescribers, despite pharmacists' requests.
Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that corporate actions prevented conscientious pharmacists from complying with their legal obligations, requiring all prescriptions to be filled within 15 minutes regardless of pharmacist duties. Pharmacists who failed to meet this deadline risked discipline or termination.
The complaint also accuses Walgreens managers of pressuring pharmacists to fill rejected prescriptions, ultimately leading to this lawsuit.
Initiated by four whistleblowers who worked for Walgreens, the lawsuit began under False Claims Act provisions, allowing individuals to sue on the U.S.'s behalf for false claims and sharing in any recovered damages. The Justice Department intervened in these lawsuits.
Walgreens has yet to file a legal response, denying any wrongdoing in a brief assertion.
The opioid crisis, which has claimed the lives of nearly 727,000 Americans from 1999 to 2022, includes allegations of opioid abuse against pharmacies like Walgreens. The Justice Department sues Walgreens, claiming they knowingly dispensed opioids and other controlled substances with 'red flags' of illegality, violating the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and leading to an opioid lawsuit.
