Lawsuit claims Walgreens fueled the opioid epidemic that disproportionately affects Arkansas
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today filed a lawsuit against Walgreens for its role in fueling the opioid crisis in Arkansas and across America. The epidemic has become so prevalent in Arkansas that 66 out of the 75 counties in the State have overall opioid prescribing rates higher than the national average and there are enough opioids in Arkansas being sold that every man, woman and child can take 80 pills each over the course of a year. For its part, Walgreens failed in its responsibility to report suspicious orders of prescription opioids and ignored red flags about prescriptions dispensed at its Arkansas stores.
“Opioid abuse has become an epidemic in and of itself in Arkansas, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made matters worse,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “The impact of opioid abuse on Arkansans is disproportionately high compared to other states and though this lawsuit won’t be able to right all of the wrongs that have been done, it can bring some help after the epidemic devastated families and communities. Companies like Walgreens should not be allowed to put corporate profits over the health and safety of Arkansans.”
The dangers of opioids are well known, and all companies in the supply chain of the controlled substance, including Walgreens, have the primary responsibility of ensuring the drugs are only distributed and given to the appropriate patients and not landing in the hands of anyone else. As indicated in the complaint, “Walgreens has contributed substantially to the opioid crisis by selling, distributing, and dispensing far greater quantities of prescription opioids than it knows could be necessary for legitimate medical uses, while failing to report, and to take steps to halt, suspicious orders when they were identified, thereby exacerbating the oversupply of such drugs and fueling an illegal secondary market.”
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to force Walgreens to act responsibly and follow federal and state laws and damages for fueling the public health epidemic, as well as civil penalties for each violation of Arkansas’s consumer protection laws.
Rutledge has taken an aggressive approach to protect Arkansans and combat the epidemic by suing manufacturers Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma and Endo for violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA) and the Arkansas Medicaid Fraud False Claims Act. In April 2019, Rutledge filed a separate lawsuit against distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson Corporation and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation for violations of the ADTPA as well as for negligence, creation of a public nuisance and being unjustly enriched by their business practices.
About Attorney General Leslie Rutledge
Leslie Carol Rutledge is the 56th Attorney General of Arkansas. Elected on November 4, 2014, and sworn in on January 13, 2015, she is the first woman and first Republican in Arkansas history to be elected as Attorney General. She was resoundingly re-elected on November 6, 2018. Since taking office, she has significantly increased the number of arrests and convictions against online predators who exploit children and con artists who steal taxpayer money through Social Security Disability and Medicaid fraud. Further, she has held Rutledge Roundtable meetings and Mobile Office hours in every county of the State each year, and launched a Military and Veterans Initiative. She has led efforts to roll back government regulations that hurt job creators, fight the opioid epidemic, teach internet safety, combat domestic violence and make the office the top law firm for Arkansans. Rutledge serves as co-chairs of the National Association of Attorneys General Veterans Affairs Committee, re-established and co-chairs the National Association of Attorneys General Committee on Agriculture and was the former Chairwoman of the National Association of Attorneys General Southern Region. As the former Chairwoman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, she remains active on the Executive Board.
A native of Batesville, she is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Rutledge clerked for the Arkansas Court of Appeals, was Deputy Counsel for former Governor Mike Huckabee, served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Lonoke County and was an Attorney at the Department of Human Services before serving as Counsel at the Republican National Committee. Rutledge and her husband, Boyce, have one daughter. The family has a home in Pulaski County and a farm in Crittenden County.
