{"id":1532452,"date":"2022-06-29T13:49:05","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T17:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1532452"},"modified":"2022-06-29T13:49:22","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T17:49:22","slug":"texas-attorney-general-investigating-walmart-over-opioids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-attorney-general-investigating-walmart-over-opioids\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Attorney General Investigating Walmart Over Opioids"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-attorney-general-investigating-walmart-over-opioids%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1532452&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating concerns about opioid sales at Walmart pharmacies.<\/p>\n<p>Paxton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/executive-management\/FINAL%20Texas%20Walmart%20Inc%20CID%20(1).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued<\/a> the Civil Investigative Demand related to the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act concerning allegations of opioid prescriptions being improperly filled and failing to report suspicious users, according to a press release from his office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have fought for Texans who have been tragically impacted by the illegal marketing and sale of opioids, which have caused addiction and the untimely deaths of thousands of people each year,\u201d Attorney General Paxton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/ag-paxton-launches-investigation-walmart-potentially-deceiving-texans-about-opioids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cI am committed to holding pharmacies accountable if they played a role in this devastating epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paxton\u2019s statement explained that Walmart is required to report documentation of orders since January 2006 to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other Texas state agencies. The goal of the investigation is to determine whether Walmart failed to handle orders as required by law.<\/p>\n<p>The nation\u2019s opioid crisis was declared a public health emergency by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDevastating consequences of the opioid epidemic include increases in opioid misuse and related overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of newborns experiencing withdrawal syndrome due to opioid use and misuse during pregnancy,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/opioids\/about-the-epidemic\/index.html\">according to<\/a> the HHS.<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s investigation is part of a larger crackdown on opioids in Texas that has secured over $1.8 billion from the makers and distributors of prescription opioids.<\/p>\n<p>The total includes $1.167 billion for the state out of the $26 billion opioid agreement with the nation\u2019s three major pharmaceutical distributors \u2013 Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, according to a February <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/paxton-secures-1167-billion-texas-global-opioid-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">press release<\/a> from Paxton\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTexans have been devastated by the opioid crisis and it is important that this settlement is proportioned fairly among the communities that need it most,\u201d Paxton said in February.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPharmaceutical companies that have been at the root of the problem must be involved in not only changing their business practices to keep this tragic epidemic from taking more lives in the future, but also by providing treatment for those currently still struggling with opioid addiction,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The three pharmaceutical companies were sued for their role in the nation\u2019s growing opioid epidemic. The February agreement will track the terms of a July 2021 nationwide settlement agreement signed by 52 states and territories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery community across the nation has been touched by the opioid crisis. We\u2019ve lost more than a million Americans to this epidemic, and sadly, it\u2019s at an all-time high as overdose deaths continue to rise in the face of the pandemic and its resulting anxiety, stress, and dislocation,\u201d Paxton noted regarding the scope of the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Paxton\u2019s efforts against opioid problems in Texas stretch back to 2017 when he joined a coalition of 40 states to investigate eight companies regarding addictive pain killers. The attorney general\u2019s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/initiatives\/opioid-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a> that between 1999-2015 over 300,000 people have died from opioid abuse nationwide.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texmed.org\/Template.aspx?id=59254#:~:text=Nearly%205%2C000%20Texans%20have%20died,82%25%20increase%20over%20one%20year.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to<\/a> an April Texas Medical Association news release, \u201cNearly 5,000 Texans have died because of drug overdoses, an increase of 18% from a year ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids contribute to this death toll, killing 1,634 Texans, an 82% increase over one year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/injury\/opioidoverdosepolicy\/pdfs\/Texas-State-Snapshot.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recorded<\/a> 3,136 drug overdose deaths in Texas in 2019, an increase of 4.8% from the previous year. A reported two-thirds of deaths involved an opioid, which increased by 6.5%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating concerns about opioid sales at Walmart pharmacies. Paxton issued the Civil Investigative Demand related to the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act concerning allegations of opioid prescriptions being improperly filled and failing to report suspicious users, according to a press release from his office. \u201cI have fought for &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":1532584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1532452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1532584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1532452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}