Walgreens has agreed to pay nearly $230 million over 15 years to settle claims with San Francisco. The mega-pharmacy is accused of fueling the opioid epidemic that has plagued the city for decades.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the settlement following a federal judge's finding last year. In a 112-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that from 2006 to 2020, Walgreens had been operating rogue. 

The judge found the pharmacy giant had dispensed hundreds of thousands of opioids that were "red flag" prescription drug orders. And they failed to investigate to make sure the prescriptions were valid.

Judge Breyer further noted that many of these prescriptions had originated from doctors with questionable prescribing patterns. Walgreens failed to provide sufficient time and resources for its pharmacists to thoroughly review these prescriptions. 

It was determined that the pharmacy's lack of due diligence over a 15-year period had contributed significantly to the opioid epidemic in San Francisco. And that diversion of medically illegitimate opioid prescriptions contributed heavily to illicit drug use.

Opioid epidemic remediation

The settlement aims to address the long-standing opioid epidemic that has afflicted the city for decades. And will be disbursed over 15 years, with an initial payment of $57 million expected in the first year.

 In a court filing, city attorneys expressed that the funds would be dedicated to remediating the opioid crisis in San Francisco. Mayor London Breed further elaborated that the money would be channeled into various programs, including the establishment of treatment beds, dual diagnosis beds, abstinence-based programming, and transitional housing.

While acknowledging the significance of the secured funding, Mayor Breed emphasized that it would not erase the tragic loss of thousands of lives to the opioid epidemic. And that the opioid epidemic has become a generational crisis affecting communities across the country. 

The rise of fentanyl has exacerbated the situation, leaving cities like San Francisco grappling with devastating consequences.

The ruling highlighted alarming statistics: opioid-related emergency room visits in San Francisco had more than tripled from 886 in 2015 to 2,998 in 2020, while opioid overdoses had become the leading cause of death among the city's homeless population since 2016.

After the ruling, Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman expressed disappointment in the decision. 

Before settling Walgreens had planned to appeal. And Engerman claimed, “As we have said throughout this process, we never manufactured or marketed opioids, nor did we distribute them to the ‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis.” And that Walgreens played no role in the crisis.