Walmart Was Almost Charged Criminally Over Opioids. Trump Appointees Killed the Indictment. (Update)

[douglas9]

Update, May 26, 2020: On May 26, Joe Brown, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, announced his resignation, effective May 31. He did not give a reason for his departure or mention his thwarted attempts to criminally prosecute Walmart for its opioid practices. But he seemed to allude to the case in his official comments: “We must win the fight against opioid abuse in order to save our country. But in order to be effective, we must be willing to prosecute all facets of the expansive network that feeds these destructive drugs into our communities. Players both big and small must meet equal justice under the law.” Brown did not return a call seeking comment.

On a Tuesday just before Halloween in 2018, a group of federal prosecutors and agents from Texas arrived in Washington. For almost two years, they’d been investigating the opioid dispensing practices of Walmart, the largest company in the world. They had amassed what they viewed as highly damning evidence only to face a major obstacle: top Trump appointees at the Department of Justice.

The prosecution team had come to Washington to try to save its case. Joe Brown, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, led the group, which included Heather Rattan, an over-20-year veteran of the office who had spent much of her career prosecuting members of drug cartels.

They first went to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s headquarters to meet the acting administrator, Uttam Dhillon. There Rattan laid out the evidence. Opioids dispensed by Walmart pharmacies in Texas had killed customers who had overdosed. The pharmacists who dispensed those opioids had told the company they didn’t want to fill the prescriptions because they were coming from doctors who were running pill mills. They pleaded for help and guidance from Walmart’s corporate office.

https://www.propublica.org/article/walmart-was-almost-charged-criminally-over-opioids-trump-appointees-killed-the-indictment

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. We were victims of Wal-Mart's response

I knew about Wal-Mart and Wal-greens history of complaints and charges around opiate dispensing, as well as other con games in their pharmacies.
Couple of years ago was prescribed Percocet for a physical problem, took it to Wal-Mart and they would only fill 1/3 of it, saying we had to come back each time for the rest of the script in small doses.
claimed it was their new policy. And they were snippy about it.
THEY created the problem then made it the customer's problem in all cases.

We took it to a non-chain local pharmacy, had no problems.