Kroger Co. has agreed to pay $110 million to Kentucky to settle a lawsuit filed last year alleging it injected millions of doses of opioids into the state over more than a decade.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman (R) announced Thursday that the settlement pays Kroger for its “role in the devastating drug crisis.”
“Kroger and more than 100 pharmacies across Kentucky were responsible for approximately 444 million opioid doses entering the commonwealth over a 13-year period. That's 100 doses for every man, woman, and child in Kentucky. That's more than enough opioid doses,” Coleman said.
Coleman filed suit against Kroger in February 2024, alleging the grocery chain failed to monitor suspicious opioid orders and also filled opioid prescriptions in violation of Kentucky law.
According to the settlement announcement, half of the settlement money will be distributed to Kentucky counties and cities according to a “predetermined formula,” and the other half will go to the Kentucky Opioid Reduction Advisory Commission.
In 2022, Kentucky ranks seventh among U.S. states and Washington, D.C., for drug overdose death rates, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's research showing the state's overdose death rate was 53.2 per 100,000 people. there were.
The Hill has reached out to The Kroger Company for comment.
