State and federal law enforcement leaders are targeting three major players in an opioid drug epidemic that killed nearly 360 in 2021: CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid that distributed the medication, physicians who overprescribed it and pharmacists who filled suspiciously large prescriptions.
The state’s lawsuit against CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid, filed in July, alleges they filled and failed to report suspiciously large quantities of pills at their New Hampshire locations.
The lawsuit alleges CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens purchased and shipped more opioid medication to their New Hampshire stores than could be properly dispensed. Allegedly, the Rochester Walgreens purchased 7.6 million oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, 10.5 times the state average. The lawsuit also alleges a Keene CVS and Colebrook Rite Aid purchased 6.4 times and 4.4 times the state average, respectively. And the state argues the three chains pressured their pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly.
“By flooding New Hampshire with more opioids than could be used for legitimate medical purposes, by filling and failing to report orders that they knew or should have realized were likely being diverted for illicit uses, and by failing to maintain effective controls against diversion from their retail stores, defendants breached that duty,” the lawsuit states. “As a result, they created and failed to prevent a foreseeable risk of harm.”
So far, the state has chosen not to pursue overprescribing physicians. That’s unlikely to change, said Assistant Attorney General James Boffetti, because the state is looking to medical licensing boards and the new federal opioid prescription “strike team” to police that issue.
The New England Prescription Opioid Strike Force will focus on physicians writing illegal opioid prescriptions and physicians who fill them in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. In announcing the new initiative, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. described unlawful prescriptions and improper dispensing of opioids as a “root cause” of a national spike in opioid overdose deaths.
Jay McCormack, first assistant in the office, said the team will focus on physicians and pharmacists who “grossly” overprescribe and fill prescriptions. But the number of pills prescribed will not be enough for a conviction.
Prosecutors must also be able to show the physicians knew their prescriptions violated state and federal drug laws.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the chains to develop better safety-monitoring systems that identify and alert authorities to suspicious drug shipments and prescriptions. It also seeks an unspecified sum that Boffetti said the state will use to address opioid addiction.
— ANNMARIE TIMMINS/NH BULLETIN
