Walgreens reaches $500 million deal with New Mexico over opioid crisis

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(Reuters) -Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $500 million to New Mexico to settle claims that its pharmacies helped fuel opioid addiction in the state by failing to stop illegal pill sales, lawyers for the state announced on Friday.

The settlement, the largest obtained by New Mexico against a single company over opioids, came after a non-jury trial last year in the state’s lawsuit against the company. The judge overseeing that trial had not yet ruled on the state’s claims.

“We are confident that this record settlement positions New Mexico to turn the tide on this deadly epidemic,” Mark Pifko, a lawyer for the state, said in a statement.

Walgreens did not admit wrongdoing under the settlement. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment.

More than half a million people died from drug overdoses in the United States from 1999 to 2020, with opioids playing an outsized role. Overdose deaths have risen further since then, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.