Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced on Monday a $44 million statewide agreement with Walmart to fund opioid abatement in Alabama’s cities and counties. This is the fifth settlement negotiated by the Attorney General to address the opioid crisis in Alabama and comes with the promptest payout for local governments.
“Many of Alabama’s cities and counties have been pummeled by an epidemic that began with prescription opioids and has intensified to illicit opioids like heroin and fentanyl,” Marshall said. “In fact, this year, fentanyl and other opioids were recorded as the number one greatest drug threat in the State of Alabama. The agreement we have reached with Walmart will accelerate another funding stream to our locals, providing immediate aid to their fight against addiction and overdose.”
According to the terms of the agreement, Walmart will pay $35.7 million dollars to Alabama’s local governments for the purpose of opioid abatement, while three million dollars will be dedicated to improving the connectivity and integration of Alabama’s local court systems.
“I am especially pleased that Walmart has agreed to fund technological improvements for our local courts,” said Marshall. “Our district and circuit courts have borne a great share of the burden of navigating this epidemic. After conversations with judges in some of the hardest-hit areas of our state, I was determined to recover funding for this effort. Fortunately, Walmart recognized the lasting value of what we are trying to build.”
The total value of the agreement is $44.2 million, less $5.5 million for attorneys’ fees. The State of Alabama was not a plaintiff in the case against Walmart. Instead, the Attorney General negotiated the statewide deal on behalf of local entities, many of which had sued Walmart as Walmart pharmacies filled many of the opioid prescriptions that were prescribed to Alabamians by unscrupulous physicians.
Many Alabamians who are addicted to these pain pills have since gone to the black market to feed their addictions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over 107,622 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021. 71,238 of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl which is being smuggled in mass across the lawless southern border.
To date, Attorney General Marshall has sued seven opioid-related defendants and has finalized settlements valued at more than $300 million for the state and its local governments to combat the scourge of opioids across Alabama.
Last week Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens agreed to pay $13.8 billion for their role nationally in the opioid crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and left many more struggling with dependency issues.
Marshall was a longtime district attorney in Marshall County. He was appointed AG by then-Gov. Robert Bentley in 2017 and elected to his own term as AG in 2018. He is running for a second term on Tuesday, where he faces Democratic nominee Tarrant Police Chief Wendell Major. The polls will open at 7:00 am and close at 7:00 pm.
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