Walgreens Pays San Francisco $230M for Role in Opioid Epidemic

HOW MUCH DID THEY PROFIT? –

May 17, 2023 – Walgreens has agreed to pay San Francisco nearly $230 million to settle a lawsuit over its role in the city’s opioid crisis, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said Wednesday.

The pharmacy giant will pay $229.6 million to the city over the next 14 years, Chiu said in a press release, with the majority of this payment coming in the first eight years. The funds will be used to assist with the city’s drug addiction problems.

Chiu noted that cities like San Francisco “have shouldered much of the burden of the opioid epidemic.” He added that the settlement “ensures Walgreens is held accountable for the crisis they fueled and our City receives appropriate resources to combat the opioid crisis and bring relief to our communities.”

The $230 million is the largest payout that a city has ever received from a single company in an opioid-related lawsuit, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco first sued Walgreens, Purdue Pharma, and other drug manufacturers in 2018, alleging that the companies negatively impacted the city’s opioid crisis. Between 2014 and 2020, the number of opioid-related deaths in San Francisco increased by 500%.