Walgreens And San Francisco Strike A $230 Million Settlement On Opioids
On Wednesday, San Francisco announced that it had struck a $230 million settlement with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. about that company’s contribution to the city’s opioid problem. The agreement was reached nine months after San Francisco’s US District Judge Charles Breyer declared that the drugstore chain may be held accountable for having “substantially contributed” to an opioid epidemic that had “widespread harm” and constituted a public nuisance in the city. Breyer criticised Walgreens for its “15-year failure” to thoroughly review opioid prescriptions and signal potential abuse of the occasionally extremely addictive medications. In years of countrywide opioid litigation, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu referred to the Walgreens settlement as the greatest reward given to a local government during a press conference. What was the trial all about? There is “no amount of money that will bring back the lives we have lost,” he claimed, adding that Walgreens’ actions “mad...