Cherokee Nation takes CVS others to court over opioid crisis

The Cherokee Nation, the largest of three federally recognised Cherokee Indian tribes in the US, on Thursday sued several large pharmacy franchises and pharmaceutical distributors over a prescription opioid epidemic that had ravaged its community in recent years.

According to Cherokee Nation attorney general Todd Hembree, the defendants, including, CVS, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart, and distributors McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc, and AmerisourceBergen, ''knowingly or negligently distributed and dispensed prescription opioid drugs within the Cherokee Nation in a manner that foreseeably injured, and continues to injure, the Cherokee Nation and its citizens.''

The lawsuit stated, "For years Defendants and their agents have had the ability to substantially reduce the death toll and adverse economic consequences of opioid diversion in the Cherokee Nation - including the deaths of hundreds of Cherokee citizens and expenditures of hundreds of millions of dollars by the Cherokee Nation in dealing with the problem - but the Defendants pursued corporate revenues instead. All the Defendants in this action share responsibility for perpetuating this epidemic.

Hembree said the three distribution companies named in the suit accounted for up to 90 per cent of drug distribution revenue in the US, which in 2015 totalled a staggering $378 billion.

According to the lawsuit, filed in tribal court on Thursday, the companies failed to properly monitor opioid prescriptions and orders. The tribal government alleged that those patterns should have led to concerns that the companies were legally responsible for reporting to federal officials.

''These drug wholesalers and retailers have profited greatly by allowing the Cherokee Nation to become flooded with prescription opioids,'' the lawsuit alleges. ''They have habitually turned a blind eye to known or knowable problems in their own supply chains.''