Pharmacies say prescribers bear opioid crisis responsibility

January 7, 2020

Andrew Welsh-Huggins, AP News

FILE - In this May 30, 2019, file photo, a CVS store with the new HealthHUB is shown in Spring, Texas.Pharmacy chains, including CVS, are fighting claims that they're to blame for the opioid crisis in two Ohio counties. The Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, filings asked U.S. district Court Judge Dan Polster to find in the pharmacies' favor and reject claims brought by Summit and Cuyahoga counties, home to Akron and Cleveland respectively, that argue that chains such as CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens contributed to the problem by filling an “excessive volume" of opioid prescriptions. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Doctors and other healthcare practitioners who write prescriptions bear ultimate responsibility for improper distribution of opioids to patients, not pharmacists who are obliged to fill those prescriptions, a series of pharmacy chains argued in federal court.

The filings, which were submitted Monday to the federal judge in Cleveland who has been overseeing the national opioid lawsuits, asked the judge to rule in the pharmacies’ favor and reject claims brought by some Ohio counties. The judge has scheduled an October trial for claims against CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, HBC and Discount Drug Mart.