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$5.7 Billion Opioids Settlement with Walgreens
CALIFORNIA NEWS
$5.7 Billion Opioids Settlement with Walgreens
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On Dec. 12, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a $5.7 billion multistate set-tlement agreement in principle with retail pharmacy chain Walgreens to address its role in fueling the opioid epidemic.
The settlement would resolve allegations the company failed to appropriately over-see the dispensing of opioids at its pharmacies and could bring more than $500 million for California to fight the harms caused by the opioid epidemic.
The announcement comes on the heels of last month’s announcement of a proposed $3.1 billion settlement with Walmart to resolve similar claims.
“To all those struggling with substance abuse disorders, to all those desperately in need of treatment and recovery options — help is on the way,” Bonta said. “The California Department of Justice is working to bring valuable funding to our state’s efforts to combat the opioid crisis from the companies who once chose profits over the well-being of our communities.”
Funds from the settlement will be divided among participating states, local gov-ernments, and tribes. The vast majority of settlement funds must be used to com-bat the opioid crisis, including by providing treatment and recovery services to people struggling with opioid use disorder.
California would be eligible to receive up to approximately $510 million.
The settlement would also have courtordered injunctive relief requirements to help prevent such a crisis from happening again: • A Controlled Substance Compliance
Program to ensure compliance with in-junctive terms, train employees, and help prevent drug diversion; • A requirement to investigate and resolve prescriptions with potentially sus-picious “red flags” before dispensing; • Site visits and compliance reviews of individual pharmacy locations; • An agreement to provide unblinded “867” sales data from the company’s distributor to drug manufacturers, to help identify and prevent drug diversion.
An executive committee of attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecti-cut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebras-ka, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas have served as the lead negotiators on this deal. The settlement has been endorsed by the executive committee, attorneys representing local governments, and Walgreens.
“Opioid Settlement” page 26
“Farmworker Reality” from page 23
“There are a lot of injustices we would never know of without things like the reality tour,” said classmate Nolan McKibbin.
“It is very sad that people have to live like this to feed us,” commented student Nyah Melton.
“I learned about how farmworkers live,” shared student Pierce Culbertson. “Now that I know, I want to make change.” During her “reality lesson” with the MMS students, López shared a quick economics and free trade short-course by describing the effects of the 1994 passage of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on small-holder corn farmers in Mexico, who as a result were forced off of the land as the government no longer purchased their local and indigenous corn.
“As a parent of an MMS student, I was grateful for the opportunity to listen to farmworkers directly about their experience,” said Astone. “I did not know that there was a migrant housing camp literally six miles away from my home. Dr. López and her colleagues at the Center for Farmworker Families advocate for the families through direct aid, like computers for the children to learn, medical appointments for farmworkers and advocacy such as the passage of a bill that does not require them to move every six months in order to qualify for migrant housing.
“The zip code 95076 has the highest rate of pesticide exposure 95% in the county and it has a 70% Latinx population which is a clear indicator of environmental racism,” continued Astone. “Why isn’t pesticide exposure better controlled in that zip code? Why is the average life expectancy of a farmworker only 49 years old? We can do better as a society and a people to treat those who farm our lands better.”
Experiencing the Farmworker Reality Tour ignited feelings of empathy and compassion in the students, their parents and educators. Their first-hand accounts were relayed to the MMS school community, and as a result, the senior class and those involved with the student club, That’s on Period Project, inspired many students and school employees to do more.
That’s on Period Project is working to address “period poverty” and menstruation stigma. Period poverty is defined as the struggle those who have a menstrual cycle face while trying to afford menstrual products. During Mount Madonna’s recent Homecoming festivities, That’s on Period Project club members led a drive to collect packages of menstrual products. The call was answered, and more than 100 packages were donated by students, faculty, staff and school families. This past week, many of these donations were delivered to the Center for Farmworker Families. The remainder of the donated menstrual products will be delivered in the coming week to Community Solutions in Gilroy, which provides services for those facing times of crisis.
Additional support for migrant agricultural workers is underway, and on December 8, in lieu of a holiday gift exchange, MMS employees will instead gather after school to assemble holiday gift bags for the Oaxacan Community Shed. Some 300 families visit the community shed hosted by the Center for Farmworker Families in Watsonville.
“We are asking for your help to make the holidays a little more special,” said Sobkoviak. “Please visit this link (https://www.signupgenius.com/ go/10c094ea9ad22a3f8c70-holiday) to participate. We are looking for gloves, hats, small games, art supplies, small stuffed animals, small toys, books all new or gently used. We would also like to add specialty items like small lotion bottles, ChapStick, and treats if possible.”
On Friday, December 9, MMS junior and senior students will embark on a community service journey to deliver the gift bags and spend the afternoon volunteering at the community shed.
“I am thankful we got to go on the tour,” said student Rebecca Piccardo. “I am hopeful that we can all work together to create a brighter future!” n •••
