Kentucky sued Walgreens on Thursday for its role in flooding the state with opioids, the latest state lawsuit over the painkiller crisis.
Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear said Thursday that the pharmacy chain engaged in “unfair, misleading and deceptive business practices … for excessively distributing and dispensing opioids in Kentucky.” He added the company also failed to report suspiciously large orders of opioids to state and federal authorities.
“While Walgreens’ slogan was ‘at the corner of happy and healthy,’ they have significantly harmed the health of our families in fueling the opioid epidemic,” Beshear said.
He added that Walgreens “knew or should have known” about Kentucky’s high rate of suspicious opioid shipments and the great risk of abuse or diversion of the pills.
The lawsuit is the latest effort by states to hold various parts of the healthcare supply chain accountable for the opioid epidemic, which federal data shows killed 42,000 people in 2016.
Beshear sued three drug distributors earlier this year for failing to properly curb suspicious opioid shipments.
Other states and cities also have targeted drug distributors and manufacturers for helping to fuel the epidemic.
For instance, Florida last month sued some of the nation’s largest opioid makers and distributors.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigations subcommittee also chided major drug distributors this year for being negligent in monitoring suspicious shipments.
The lawsuit comes in the midst of a major effort by the House to pass more than 50 bills to combat the epidemic.
