Walmart sues US in pre-emptive strike in Opioid Abuse Battle

Walmart is suing the US Govt in a pre-emptive strike in the battle over its responsibility in the opioid abuse crisis.

The Govt is expected to take civil action against the world’s largest retailer, seeking big financial penalties, for the role its pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions.

But on Thursday, Walmart filed a lawsuit saying that the Justice Department & the Drug Enforcement Administration are blaming the company for the Govt’s own lack of regulatory & enforcement policies to stem the crisis.

Walmart says it is seeking a declaration from a federal Judge that the Govt has no lawful basis for seeking civil damages from the company. It is also seeking to clarify its legal rights & duties under the Controlled Substance Act.

Walmart operates more than five thousand pharmacies in its stores around the country.

“Walmart & its pharmacists find themselves in an untenable position,” the company based in Bentonville, Arkansas, says in the lawsuit filed in the US District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.

“Under defendants” sweeping view, Walmart & its pharmacists may be held liable — perhaps even criminally — for failing to second-guess DEA-registered doctors & refuse their prescriptions. But if pharmacists do so, they may face the wrath of state medical boards, the medical community at large, individual doctors, & patients.” The lawsuit names the Justice Department & Attorney General William Barr as defendants. It also names the DEA & its acting administrator, Timothy Shea.

In the suit, Walmart describes a Govt probe of the company that began in Dec 2016 & calls it a “misguided criminal investigation” conducted by the United States Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Texas. Walmart says it fully cooperated with the probe. 

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