DOJ intervenes in suit alleging Rite Aid helped fuel opioid crisis
By 
Adrianne Appel2023-03-14T20:53:00
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday announced its intervention in a lawsuit alleging retail pharmacy chain Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for medically unnecessary oxycodone and other opioids in violation of multiple federal laws.
The agency’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleges from at least May 2014 through June 2019, Rite Aid pharmacists “filled at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances that were medically unnecessary, lacked a medically accepted indication, or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.”
Prescriptions were for extremely high doses and excessive quantities, which “fed opioid dependence and addiction,” the DOJ said. Some prescriptions were refilled even before an existing one was due to run out, the complaint alleged.
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