Walmart settles US government lawsuit over opioid epidemic allegations

Walmart has settled a United States government lawsuit accusing the largest US retailer of fueling a nationwide opioid epidemic by unlawfully dispensing prescriptions from its pharmacies.

The US Department of Justice and Walmart confirmed the settlement in separate statements on Friday, without disclosing the terms.

Walmart did not admit liability, and in a regulatory filing said it settled for an “immaterial” amount. Net income for the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company totaled $11.7bn in the six months ending on July 31.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the settlement terms. Its lawsuit had been one of the department’s most significant cases against a single company over the opioid epidemic.

In an email, the Justice Department told Al Jazeera it “is pleased to have reached a settlement with Walmart resolving allegations that its pharmacies failed to comply with their obligations under the Controlled Substances Act in dispensing opioids and other controlled substances. We will continue to hold accountable companies and individuals whose unlawful prescribing, marketing, dispensing or distributing practices contributed to the opioid crisis and put American communities at risk.”

More than 905,000 people in the US died from opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2025, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual deaths began declining after 2022, the agency said.

In its complaint filed in December 2020, near the end of President Donald Trump’s first White House term, the Department of Justice accused Walmart of having repeatedly violated the federal Controlled Substances Act since 2013 by missing “red flags” as it failed to track and report suspicious opioid prescriptions.

The department said at the time that Walmart could face billions of dollars in civil penalties.

In 2022, Walmart agreed to pay $3.1bn to settle thousands of lawsuits by state and local governments over the role of its pharmacies in the opioid crisis. Drug store giants CVS and Walgreens reached similar, larger settlements.

Walmart said in a statement: “We are pleased to resolve this matter and will continue supporting the exceptional work our pharmacists do every day to provide outstanding patient care.”

A joint stipulation dismissing the case was filed on Thursday in the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.

Walmart shares closed up 46 cents at $103.09.

Narrower lawsuit

Other companies targeted over opioids included Purdue Pharma, which pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2020 related to its painkiller OxyContin after filing for bankruptcy protection, and the drug wholesaler Cencora, formerly known as AmerisourceBergen.

In March 2024, US District Judge Colm Connolly narrowed the Walmart case, dismissing claims that Walmart failed to report suspicious prescriptions to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and that Walmart pharmacists failed to document red flags associated with prescriptions.

Connolly let the government pursue a claim that pharmacists dispensed prescriptions that Walmart compliance personnel knew were invalid. A fourth claim, that pharmacists dispensed prescriptions they knew were invalid, also remained pending.