WALMART ACCUSED IN U.S. LAWSUIT OF FUELLING OPIOID CRISIS

The U.S. government accused Walmart Inc. of fuelling a nationwide opioid crisis by ignoring warnings from its own pharmacists that the chain wasn't properly screening prescriptions for painkillers, in violation of federal regulations. The lawsuit against the world's largest retailer comes two months after the chain filed its own case accusing the U.S. of scapegoating Walmart for government failures in dealing with the crisis. In the new case, the U.S. alleges that the retailer set up a system designed to make it almost impossible for overworked store pharmacists to catch red flags about overly large numbers of prescriptions. ”Given the nationwide scale of those violations, Walmart's failures to follow basic legal rules helped fuel a national crisis,” the U.S. said in a complaint filed Tuesday.