Walgreens & CVS reach $10 billion deal over opioids CVS and Walgreens agreed to pay more than $10 billion in a landmark settlement to resolve opioid crisis lawsuits brought by states, cities, and other governments. They reached a framework to settle lawsuits
by governments and native American tribes blaming pharmacies for helping fuel the nation's opioid epidemic. Each state, local government, and tribe still has to decide whether to participate in the settlement. The plaintiff's attorneys appointed to lead the negotiations said they encouraged governments and tribes to join the settlement which they said holds the pharmacies accountable. Starting in 2023 CVS will pay $4.9 billion to states and municipalities and $130 million to tribes over the next 10 years. While Walgreens has agreed to pay up to $4.79 billion to states over 15 years and about $155 million to tribes. They are also expected to pay up to $753.5 million in attorneys fees over 6 years. Both companies said that the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing and that they want to be committed to being part of the solution to opioid addiction. Cities and counties have said they will use the money to bolster social services focused on the harms of opioid addiction as well as for funds for first responders. The argument of the lawsuit is that pharmacies did not do enough to stem the flow of pills and the drugstores claim that they had tried to stop pills from being illegally diverted and followed procedures required by regulators