AP source: Feds sue Walmart, accuse retailer of fueling opioid crisis
The Justice Department is suing Walmart, alleging the company unlawfully dispensed controlled substances through its pharmacies, helping to fuel the opioid crisis in America, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The civil complaint being filed Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020 points to the role Walmarts pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions and by unlawfully distributing controlled substances to the pharmacies during the height of the opioid crisis, the person said. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)WASHINGTON – The Justice Department sued Walmart on Tuesday, accusing it of fueling the nation’s opioid crisis by pressuring its pharmacies to fill even potentially suspicious prescriptions for the powerful painkillers. The civil complaint filed points to the role Walmart’s pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions and Walmart's own responsibility for the allegedly illegal distribution of controlled substances to the pharmacies at the height of the opioid crisis. The suit said that only later did Walmart allow pharmacists to do blanket refusals for these suspect practices.
Ex-Rice football player pleads guilty in opioid death
HOUSTON – A former Rice University football player pleaded guilty to selling the drugs that a player fatally overdosed on in 2018. Stuart Mouchantaf, 26, admitted Thursday to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute, causing death, and possession with the intent to distribute, causing death, The Beaumont Enterprise reported. As part of Mouchantaf's plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a third charge related to distributing a controlled substance on a university campus. Federal prosecutors say that Mouchantaf supplied his former teammate with five pills, two of which he took before he died. Mouchantaf has been out on a $100,000 unsecured bond since his arrest on the federal charges in June.