SF TO RECEIVE $230 MILLION SETTLEMENT FROM WALGREENS; SFMMS ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE OPIOID ADDICTION AND OVERDOSES May 18, 2023 Advocacy 0 On May 17, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced that San Francisco had reached a $230 million settlement with Walgreens related to the pharmacy chain's failure to perform adequate diligence on suspicious opioid prescription orders. $230 million is the largest award to a local jurisdiction in the country, and in the history of the City Attorney's Office. $175 million will come over the next eight years. The funds are in addition to the $130 million already awarded in previous settlements. In response, SFMMS wrote to City Attorney David Chiu, the Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Breed with recommendations for the use of this funding for treatment and prevention of opioid addiction and overdoses in San Francisco. In the letter, SFMMS makes several recommendations to support and build upon the strategy articulated in the San Francisco Department of Public Health's 2022 Overdose Prevention Plan; to recruit and retain mental health/substance use care providers with prioritization of bilingual individuals; to improve the use of beds for patients diverted from emergency rooms; and to place free vending machines of naloxone throughout the county. READ THE SFMMS LETTER READ THE CITY ATTORNEY OFFICE'S PRESS RELEASE Comments are closed.
