WA Attorney General Nick Brown addresses Albertson's opioid trial verdict

Now to breaking news on the verdict in Washington State's lawsuit against Albertsons and the accusations say that pharmacies ignored red flags and fueled the opioid crisis. The company owns hundreds of pharmacies across Washington under its Safeway, Hagen and Albertsons brands and Attorney General Nick Brown speaking right now. When they are focused not on safety, that they will be held accountable. Importantly, the verdict today cannot undo the devastating harms of the opioid crisis, but it will help provide desperately needed resources of support and treatment to prevent a future crisis like this. It is also important to remember how we got to this moment. Pharmacists have a responsibility under state and federal law to identify, investigate, and resolve red flags of diversion or other warning signs to indicate a drug may be misused or diverted towards the illicit drug market. Albertson's corporate policies made it nearly impossible for pharmacists to perform their legal duties and in some cases actively discourage them from doing their due diligence. Between 2006 and 2022, Albertsons dispensed more than 641 million opioid pills into Washington state alone, most of which had red flags and warning signs that weren't cleared before they were dispersed. Compared to Washington's overall population, that's 70 pain pills per person just for Albertsons. We also know that more than 26,000 Washingtonians have died from the opioid crisis since 1999. And research shows that approximately 10 times that number suffered from opioid use disorder in 2023 alone. People who became addicted are ultimately more likely to seek out clean, cheaper and stronger opioid drugs like heroin or fentanyl through illicit means just to avoid the symptoms of withdrawal. The incredible trial team that's standing here and so many others in the AG's office presented a fantastic case before this judge. And we presented evidence that showed that Albertson's corporate policies prioritize their own profits over safety. Including pharmacists that were discouraged from identifying problematic over-prescribers and prescriptions, and in some cases were required to fill prescriptions from known pill mills that other pharmacists had already stopped. Other pharmacists had already prevented that future harm from happening. Albertson's policies incentivize prescription volume and sales over exercising appropriate levels of due diligence. Importantly in this judge's ruling, they had chronically understaffed stores, leading to overworked and overwhelmed pharmacy staff. Their failure to track, review, analyze available data that would have identified opioid diversion involving numerous stores, prescribers, and customers. This was an extremely complex multi-year case and I'm so grateful to everyone on our team who worked on it and immensely grateful for all of the witnesses that put their stories into the record to make sure that Albertsons were held accountable. Those are people who were suffering from abuse, people that were serving those who were abused, people in state government who were working so hard over the last two decades to mitigate the harms and the crisis and this case It's such an important victory. And we're listening to Attorney General Nick Brown announcing a $900 million judgment against Albertsons for failing to prevent opioid misuse. Nick Brown saying that the ruling is a victory for the people of Washington and will fund treatment and prevention programs. And that press conference continuing right now. Let's check.