BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Texas AG opens investigation of Walmart’s opioid sales

(Getty Images)

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

ovp test

mLife Diagnostics LLC: Oral Fluid Drug Testing

Male shot by female at Shreveport apartment

Class to create biodiverse backyard

Rules for outbursts at Caddo School Board Meeting

(NewsNation) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation Tuesday to determine whether retail giant Walmart improperly filled drug prescriptions and failed to report suspicious orders when selling opioids.

But there’s a chance you haven’t heard about this investigation. That’s because 67% percent of news outlets that reported on this story lean right, according to NewsNation’s partner Ground News, which monitors coverage based on media bias. Only a few “center” outlets and no left-leaning media outlets have reported on the Texas AG’s announcement, according to Ground News’ Blindspot report.

Paxton’s office issued a civil investigative demand, or CID, to Walmart for potential violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act relating to the promotion, sale, dispensing and distribution of prescription opioids.

“I have fought for Texans who have been tragically impacted by the illegal marketing and sale of opioids, which have caused addiction and the untimely deaths of thousands of people each year,” Paxton said in a news release. “I am committed to holding pharmacies accountable if they played a role in this devastating epidemic.”    

At issue is whether Walmart submitted the necessary documents related to its opioid orders to the Drug Enforcement Agency and state agencies in Texas, Paxton said.

Walmart said it looks forward to answering the Texas AG’s questions, pointing out that it has never manufactured, marketed or promoted opioids, in a statement to NewsNation, noting that Walmart’s pharmacists don’t write opioid prescriptions.

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove told NewsNation the company’s pharmacists have refused to fill hundreds of thousands of opioid prescriptions they thought could be problematic.

Those refusals have drawn criticism from many in the health care field, including the Texas Medical Board, who say the company is going too far in refusing to fill prescriptions and that it’s interfering with the patient-doctor relationship, according to Hargrove.

“Walmart and our pharmacists are torn between the demands on pharmacists imposed by opioids —plaintiffs on one side and health agencies and regulators on the other, and patients are caught in the middle,” Hargrove said.

Paxton is just the latest prosecutor to investigate Walmart for its handling of opioid prescriptions.

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Walmart for its prescription drug practices, accusing the company of accelerating the opioid crisis by “filling thousands of invalid prescriptions” and “failing to report suspicious orders of opioids.”

Walmart called the federal government’s lawsuit “misguided” and “misleading,” for reasons similar to those outlined above.

That lawsuit is ongoing.

More than 107,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States last year, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, about 75% involved opioids.

As recently as 2015, the CDC recorded less than 50,000 overdose deaths.

Last year’s record tally means more Americans died from drug overdoses than died from firearms and motor vehicle crashes combined.

In October, Paxton’s office announced a $290 million settlement with Johnson & Johnson to resolve opioid-related claims.

In total, the Texas AG’s office says it has secured more than $1.8 billion from makers and distributors of prescription opioids.

U.S.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Mist

la

55°F Mist Feels like 55°
Wind
3 mph NE
Humidity
92%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Areas of fog. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.
51°F Areas of fog. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
2 mph E
Precip
9%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Crescent