Kentucky Attorney General (AG) Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit on Feb. 13 against Kroger Co., one of the largest grocery chains in the U.S. He filed the suit in Bullitt County Court in Shepherdsville, 20 miles south of Louisville. Coleman claims that Kroger’s pharmacies played a serious role in fueling the state’s opioid addiction crisis by failing to implement safeguards in their distribution process.
The AG’s office gave the statement, “Kentucky has long ranked among the highest overdose death rates in the country.” According to the most recent report from Kentucky’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet there were over 2,100 overdose fatalities in the state in 2022, continuing the trend of about 2,000 overdose deaths per year. The opioid epidemic has long been a cause of suffering in Kentucky communities, and there is concern that the rising use of fentanyl will only make the situation worse.
In recent years Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has persistently sought legal action against companies that produce or distribute opioid-based medication. Coleman became AG in 2022 and is joining the effort to combat the opioid epidemic in Kentucky by making it a top priority. “A wave of addiction has tragically robbed thousands of Kentuckians of their potential,” Coleman says.
Kroger has more than 100 pharmacies located across the state. The lawsuit states that between 2006 and 2019, Kroger was responsible for 11% of opioid pills dispensed in the state and that numerous doses entered communities without protections in place. “For more than a decade,” Coleman says, “Kroger flooded Kentucky with an almost unthinkable number of opioid pills that directly led to addiction, pain and death.” The suit also alleges that between 2006 and 2019, Kroger purchased over four billion milligram equivalents of opioids, which amounts to around 444 million doses. They also dispensed nearly 194 million hydrocodone pills to pharmacies within the same period.
Since Kroger is a distributor, they have access to real-time data pertaining to suspicious prescribing patterns, but according to the suit, they ignored “red flags” and failed to report a single questionable prescription between 2007 and 2014. The concern is that Kroger never developed or implemented a program to monitor prescriptions. Coleman explains, “Kroger, which families have trusted for so long, knowingly made these dangerous and highly addictive substances all too accessible. Worst of all, Kroger never created a formal system, a training or even a set of guidelines to report suspicious activity or abuse. The scourge of addiction has plowed through graduating classes and work forces.” The suit requests civil penalties of $2,000 for each alleged violation of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act.
Kroger has yet to release any statements on the matter. However, this is not the first time Kroger has been sued in relation to the opioid epidemic. A similar lawsuit was filed in West Virginia in May 2023, in which Kroger settled for $68 million. Kroger made another deal in Sept. 2023 to pay 1.4 billion in settlements to address lawsuits across numerous states.