Kentucky attorney general files lawsuit alleging Kroger pharmacies contributed to the opioid crisis

Source: Associated Press

Kentucky attorney general files lawsuit alleging Kroger pharmacies contributed to the opioid crisis

BY BRUCE SCHREINER
Updated 6:14 PM EST, February 12, 2024

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit Monday against one of the nation’s largest grocery chains, claiming its pharmacies helped fuel the state’s deadly opioid addiction crisis.

The lawsuit against the Kroger Co. says its more than 100 Kentucky pharmacies were responsible for over 11% of all opioid pills dispensed in the state between 2006 and 2019. It amounted to hundreds of millions of doses inundating Kentucky communities without reasonable safeguards, the suit said.

“For more than a decade, Kroger flooded Kentucky with an almost unthinkable number of opioid pills that directly led to addiction, pain and death,” Coleman said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed in Bullitt County Circuit Court in Shepherdsville, 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Louisville. Among other things, the suit is seeking civil penalties of $2,000 against the grocery chain for each alleged willful violation of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/drug-overdoses-kentucky-852c1c0e3c6b6b89d2df277d54eb756b