(CMR) The United States Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Walmart, alleging that the popular retailer has contributed to the country's opioid crisis by unlawfully dispensing controlled substances through its pharmacies.
The department's complaint was filed in US District Court for the District of Delaware Tuesday.
Walmart was accused of failing to detect and report suspicious prescriptions to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as is required by law.
The Justice Department alleges that Walmart pharmacists knowingly filled thousands of questionable prescriptions that were otherwise flagged as invalid.
The complaint stated that Walmart was positioned to prevent the illegal diversion of opioids but abdicated its responsibilities and helped to fuel the nation's opioid crisis.
However, Walmart said it was unfair to blame pharmacists for not second-guessing every doctor who wrote a prescription.
Walmart said the lawsuit was an attempt to shift the blame from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which failed to prevent ‘bad doctors' from prescribing opioids in the first place.
Walmart said it always empowered its pharmacists to refuse to fill problematic opioids prescriptions and that its pharmacists have refused to fill hundreds of thousands of such prescriptions.
Walmart said thousands of questionable doctors were blocked from having their opioid prescriptions filled at Walmart pharmacies and that the company sent the DEA thousands of investigative leads.
Walmart operates over 5000 pharmacies in its stores throughout the US.
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