The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Rite Aid pharmacy chain on Tuesday, alleging the company “knowingly” contributed to the opioid crisis.
The DOJ lawsuit alleges Rite Aid infringed on the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act by “knowingly” filling out unlawful prescriptions for drugs. Rite Aid is among America’s largest pharmaceutical distributors, maintaining over 2,200 stores across the country.
“We allege that Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions that did not meet legal requirements,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a Tuesday statement. “According to our complaint, Rite Aid’s pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Rite Aid’s stores.”
“The Justice Department is using every tool at our disposal to confront the opioid …