Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating concerns about opioid sales at Walmart pharmacies.
Paxton issued the Civil Investigative Demand related to the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act concerning allegations of opioid prescriptions being improperly filled and failing to report suspicious users, according to a press release from his office.
“I have fought for Texans who have been tragically impacted by the illegal marketing and sale of opioids, which have caused addiction and the untimely deaths of thousands of people each year,” Attorney General Paxton said. “I am committed to holding pharmacies accountable if they played a role in this devastating epidemic.”
Paxton’s statement explained that Walmart is required to report documentation of orders since January 2006 to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other Texas state agencies. The goal of the investigation is to determine whether Walmart failed to handle orders as required by law.
The nation’s opioid crisis was declared a public health emergency by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“Devastating consequences of the opioid epidemic include increases in opioid misuse and related overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of newborns experiencing withdrawal syndrome due to opioid use and misuse during pregnancy,” according to the HHS.
The state’s investigation is part of a larger crackdown on opioids in Texas that has secured over $1.8 billion from the makers and distributors of prescription opioids.
The total includes $1.167 billion for the state out of the $26 billion opioid agreement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, according to a February press release from Paxton’s office.
“Texans have been devastated by the opioid crisis and it is important that this settlement is proportioned fairly among the communities that need it most,” Paxton said in February.
“Pharmaceutical companies that have been at the root of the problem must be involved in not only changing their business practices to keep this tragic epidemic from taking more lives in the future, but also by providing treatment for those currently still struggling with opioid addiction,” he added.
The three pharmaceutical companies were sued for their role in the nation’s growing opioid epidemic. The February agreement will track the terms of a July 2021 nationwide settlement agreement signed by 52 states and territories.
“Every community across the nation has been touched by the opioid crisis. We’ve lost more than a million Americans to this epidemic, and sadly, it’s at an all-time high as overdose deaths continue to rise in the face of the pandemic and its resulting anxiety, stress, and dislocation,” Paxton noted regarding the scope of the opioid crisis.
Paxton’s efforts against opioid problems in Texas stretch back to 2017 when he joined a coalition of 40 states to investigate eight companies regarding addictive pain killers. The attorney general’s office reports that between 1999-2015 over 300,000 people have died from opioid abuse nationwide.
According to an April Texas Medical Association news release, “Nearly 5,000 Texans have died because of drug overdoses, an increase of 18% from a year ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids contribute to this death toll, killing 1,634 Texans, an 82% increase over one year.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 3,136 drug overdose deaths in Texas in 2019, an increase of 4.8% from the previous year. A reported two-thirds of deaths involved an opioid, which increased by 6.5%.