US pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart have been ordered to pay more than $650 million (about $639 million) to two Ohio counties to help compensate for damage caused by their years of selling addictive painkillers. A judge in the city of Cleveland ruled this on Wednesday, international news agencies report.
It is the first time that opiate sellers have been ordered to pay compensation for the harmful effects of the drugs. Previously, drug companies and distributors were charged for their role in the opiate crisis, which killed nearly half a million Americans between 1999 and 2018 from overdoses, according to the CDC.
The verdict follows a jury verdict last November that the pharmacists were helping to cause harm in Lake County and Trumbull County by making the addictive painkillers abundantly available. Many of the pills ended up on the black market.
Long-awaited resources
Judge San Polster said the money should be used to fight the opiate crisis in the two counties outside of Cleveland that the pharmacists had sued. According to their lawyers, damages in the two districts total $3.3 billion. Trumbull County is to receive $344 million over 15 years, Lake County 306 million over the same period.
According to Frank Fuda, head of Trumbull County, the ruling means that “we will soon have the long-awaited resources to provide aid to appropriately deal with the damage caused by this devastating epidemic,” he said in a statement. .
The pharmacists, who argue they cannot be held responsible for supplying drugs legally prescribed by doctors, have said they will appeal the ruling.