Overview:
The Attorney General’s office said some branches purchased and dispensed “alarming quantities of prescription opioids given the size of their communities.”
Three national drugstore chains will pay Rhode Island more than $56 million as part of the state’s final round of legal settlements with companies accused of flooding communities with addictive opioid painkillers.
The settlement money from CVS, Walmart and Walgreens is expected to begin flowing into Rhode Island in early 2024, and continue through 2037, state Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced on Thursday. The funds include about $23.1 million from Walgreens, $21.5 million from CVS and $11.9 million from Walmart.
The state will receive 80% of the settlement funds, and the other 20% will go directly to each of Rhode Island’s cities and towns, in accordance with a memorandum governing all opioid settlement funds.
In Rhode Island, per capita opioid sales from 2006 through 2014 were well above the national average, according to the complaint the state attorney general’s office filed against the pharmacies.
“There is no question that at the relevant points in time, these national pharmacies decided to put profits over the people of Rhode Island, and indeed all Americans,” Neronha said in a statement. “In 2014 alone, the volume of opioids sold in the state would provide every man, woman, and child in Rhode Island roughly 161 10mg pills.’’
CVS, Walgreens and Walmart dominated the market as buyers of opioids in Rhode Island from 2006 through 2019, the statement said. CVS was “by far the largest buyer of opioids in the state” from 2016 through 2014, purchasing more than 148 million dosage units, or 46% of the market share.
The Attorney General’s office shared data obtained by the state that showed some CVS and Walgreens branches purchased and dispensed “alarming quantities of prescription opioids given the size of their communities.”
In 2014, an East Providence CVS purchased over 800,000 dosage units, or over 25 million morphine milligram equivalents, in a community of just under 48,000 people, Neronha’s office said in a statement. In 2012, a CVS location in North Smithfield purchased enough dosage units of opioids to supply 80 dosage units to every resident of the town. And between 2006 and 2014, one Walgreens in Woonsocket, a city with roughly 42,000 people, purchased 5.4 million pills, according to the complaint filed by Neronha’s office.
More than 430 people in Rhode Island died of accidental drug overdoses in 2022, with nearly 90% of the deaths due to opioids. (The vast majority of deaths – 72% – involved fentanyl, a powerful illicit opioid that in recent years has dominated the market, replacing prescription painkillers.)
“While no amount of money will ever be enough to undo the harm they have caused to Rhode Islanders and their families,’’ Neronha’s office said in a statement, “through these now-finalized settlements, we can continue to fund desperately needed resources for treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts.”
For example, he said, the state is using its settlement funds to pay for 70 additional in-patient treatment beds for people with opioid use disorder.
Rhode Island has received more than $250 million in settlement cash from opioid manufacturers, distributors and sellers – including more than $40 million which will go directly to cities and towns, the Attorney General’s office confirmed Friday. (The office had reported the total value of its legal settlements as more than $329 million, including the $78.5 million value of medications it received in the agreements.)
The settlement money began flowing into the state in 2022 and is expected to continue until 2038, with most of the funds distributed in the early years.
Rhode Island is required by law to report how it spends its share of the opioid settlement cash to the Governor, state legislative leaders and the state Attorney General. But as The Public’s Radio has reported, there are no such public reporting requirements for Rhode Island cities and towns, which are expected to receive more than $40 million.
The state Attorney General’s office last June published a detailed summary showing exact dollar amounts of settlement money allocated to cities and towns, though that has not been updated.
The opioid settlement funds must be used for opioid treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. The state’s settlement funds will go into Rhode Island’s Statewide Opioid Abatement Fund, administered by the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services with guidance from the state Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee.
Lynn Arditi, health reporter at The Public’s Radio, can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @LynnArditi
hree national drugstore chains will pay Rhode Island more than $56 million as part of the state’s final round of legal settlements with companies accused of flooding communities with addictive opioid painkillers.
The settlement money from CVS, Walmart and Walgreens is expected to begin flowing into Rhode Island in early 2024, and continue through 2037, state Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced on Thursday. The funds include about $23.1 million from Walgreens, $21.5 million from CVS and $11.9 million from Walmart.
The state will receive 80% of the settlement funds, and the other 20% will go directly to each of Rhode Island’s cities and towns, in accordance with a memorandum governing all opioid settlement funds.
In Rhode Island, per capita opioid sales from 2006 through 2014 were well above the national average, according to the complaint the state attorney general’s office filed against the pharmacies.
“There is no question that at the relevant points in time, these national pharmacies decided to put profits over the people of Rhode Island, and indeed all Americans,” Neronha said in a statement. “In 2014 alone, the volume of opioids sold in the state would provide every man, woman, and child in Rhode Island roughly 161 10mg pills.’’
CVS, Walgreens and Walmart dominated the market as buyers of opioids in Rhode Island from 2006 through 2019, the statement said. CVS was “by far the largest buyer of opioids in the state” from 2016 through 2014, purchasing more than 148 million dosage units, or 46% of the market share.
The Attorney General’s office shared data obtained by the state that showed some CVS and Walgreens branches purchased and dispensed “alarming quantities of prescription opioids given the size of their communities.”
In 2014, an East Providence CVS purchased over 800,000 dosage units, or over 25 million morphine milligram equivalents, in a community of just under 48,000 people, Neronha’s office said in a statement. In 2012, a CVS location in North Smithfield purchased enough dosage units of opioids to supply 80 dosage units to every resident of the town. And between 2006 and 2014, one Walgreens in Woonsocket, a city with roughly 42,000 people, purchased 5.4 million pills, according to the complaint filed by Neronha’s office.
More than 430 people in Rhode Island died of accidental drug overdoses in 2022, with nearly 90% of the deaths due to opioids. (The vast majority of deaths – 72% – involved fentanyl, a powerful illicit opioid that in recent years has dominated the market, replacing prescription painkillers.)
“While no amount of money will ever be enough to undo the harm they have caused to Rhode Islanders and their families,’’ Neronha’s office said in a statement, “through these now-finalized settlements, we can continue to fund desperately needed resources for treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts.”
For example, he said, the state is using its settlement funds to pay for 70 additional in-patient treatment beds for people with opioid use disorder.
Rhode Island has received more than $250 million in settlement cash from opioid manufacturers, distributors and sellers – including more than $40 million which will go directly to cities and towns, the Attorney General’s office confirmed Friday. (The office had reported the total value of its legal settlements as more than $329 million, including the $78.5 million value of medications it received in the agreements.)
The settlement money began flowing into the state in 2022 and is expected to continue until 2038, with most of the funds distributed in the early years.
Rhode Island is required by law to report how it spends its share of the opioid settlement cash to the Governor, state legislative leaders and the state Attorney General. But as The Public’s Radio has reported, there are no such public reporting requirements for Rhode Island cities and towns, which are expected to receive more than $40 million.
The state Attorney General’s office last June published a detailed summary showing exact dollar amounts of settlement money allocated to cities and towns, though that has not been updated.
The opioid settlement funds must be used for opioid treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. The state’s settlement funds will go into Rhode Island’s Statewide Opioid Abatement Fund, administered by the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services with guidance from the state Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee.
Lynn Arditi, health reporter at The Public’s Radio, can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @LynnArditi
