Walmart will provide Florida first-responders with hundreds of thousands of medication kits that will counter opioid overdoses as a result of a settlement also providing $215 million for other opioid remediation efforts in the state.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office announced the settlement Oct. 20, explaining that Walmart has agreed to provide 672,000 naloxone kits to law enforcement agencies and fire departments.
“I’m grateful for Walmart stepping up and agreeing to partner with the state to provide law enforcement and first-responders with much-needed Naloxone,” Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a prepared statement. “This will greatly help in our continuing mission to end the opioid crisis and save lives.”
The agreement with the retailer is the latest in a series of legal settlements with pharmacies, opioid distributors and health care companies to hold parties responsible for their roles in the opioid crisis, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
In a statement emailed to the Florida Record, however, Walmart said the settlement did not include any admission of liability for any wrongdoing.
“This partnership is part of a settlement agreement that resolves the state’s opioid-related claims against the company and creates a framework to potentially resolve all claims by Florida cities and counties,” Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said.
The agreement to provide naloxone to first-responders will last 10 years and represents a commitment by Walmart to fight opioid abuse, according to Hargrove.
“Walmart supports increasing access to life-saving naloxone and is proud to be Florida’s partner in the fight against the opioid crisis,” he said.
In recent years, Moody has announced multimillion-dollar opioid settlements with a number of companies, including CVS Pharmacy, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Allergan, Johnson & Johnson, McKesson Corp. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. The state has secured a total of more than $3.2 billion for opioid remediation during its litigation efforts, according to the Attorney General’s Office, with much of the money going to cities and counties.