Walmart on Tuesday offered to pay $3.1 billion to settle claims it mishandled prescriptions for powerful painkillers, joining a growing list of companies striking billion dollar deals to end lawsuits.
Walmart has made an offer to settle lawsuits.
The firm said in a statement that the deal would resolve a number of lawsuits.
In the last few weeks, Walmart's rivals have announced their own plans to resolve the litigation.
Walmart said the deal isn't an admission of wrongdoing and will defend itself against any lawsuits left unresolved by the deal.
A draft agreement was published by New York's Attorney General.
According to the retail giant, its settlement meant money would reach communities faster than other settlements, and that rival drugstores would pay out over a decade and a half.
Walmart's settlement follows months of negotiations and years of litigation for the firms involved in producing and distributing opioids, a class of drug mostly used to treat pain. Their use has spiraled and contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths in recent years, despite being an important class of medicine and vital in many contexts. Many state and local governments believe that companies that have profited enormously from the sale of opioids are to blame for the crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of people. Experts point to earlier waves of prescription opiate use that contributed to their own waves of death and the ongoing crisis by turning people towards illegal drugs.
State and local governments must approve Walmart's deal. 43 states will need to agree to finalize the process. The settlement will get the necessary support in a statement, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. Similar approvals need to be obtained from states for the other deals.
Ten thousand dollars. The number of people believed to have died of a drug overdose last year is around that figure. Opioids were the main cause of deaths. More than 71,000 overdose deaths were caused by synthetic opioids last year.
Who gets the money from the settlement? It's calledPolitico.
Opioid settlement dollars should be used to solve addiction issues.
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