The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Walmart on Tuesday, accusing the mega-retailer of contributing to the national opioid epidemic that’s been linked to over 400,000 deaths by failing to responsibly screen drug prescriptions despite repeated warnings from its own pharmacists.
The DOJ alleges that Walmart—after driving customers to its stores with lower prices—created a system among its 5,000 pharmacies that made it difficult to reject prescriptions from doctors who purposefully over-prescribed opioids.
The retailer intentionally understaffed its pharmacies and pressured workers to fill prescriptions quickly in a bid to boost profits, the DOJ alleges, and if a prescription was rejected, shoppers were able to turn to other Walmart stores.
Source: Forbes
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. 