Agreement finalized with CVS and Walgreens for their roles in the opioid crisis

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -- Attorney General Phil Weiser (AG) announced today that an agreement has been finalized with CVS and Walgreens for their roles in the opioid crisis.

According to the AG, the agreement says that CVS will pay $5 billion, and Walgreens will pay $5.7 billion, totaling $10.7 billion nationwide. Colorado’s share of funds from these settlements is over $150 million.

“I am proud to have helped lead the effort to secure more than $10 billion from these two drugstore chains. The companies that helped create and fuel the opioid crisis need to step up to fix it. That means providing significant resources to increase treatment and recovery services and changing their business practices to make sure this never happens again,” Weiser said. “All in, Colorado will receive more than $700 million from national opioid settlements to save lives and help the people in our state experiencing opioid addiction recover.”

In addition to the financial settlement, CVS and Walgreens, along with Walmart earlier, have agreed to court-ordered injunctive relief that requires the pharmacies to monitor, report, and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions.

This court-ordered injunctive relief is meant to help ensure a crisis like this does not happen again, according to the AG.

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