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It is a story that unfortunately never gets old: career bureaucrats who fail in their mission to address a major public policy issue try to shift the blame, escape responsibility and the scapegoat for the innocent.
In the case of the opioid epidemic, these bureaucrats are back. Despite the massive failure of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to recognize and deal with the huge growth in opioid production (which is literally their job – regulating production levels), and despite their crisis-creating failure to end prescription due to medical problems (again, literally their job), the DEA targets pharmacists and pharmacies as culprits.
He enters the Department of Justice with a pending lawsuit seeking headlines and deep pockets.
But for the first time, one of its targets is reacting. The Wall Street Journal reported in late October that Walmart had filed a preventive lawsuit against the Department of Justice and the Anti-Drug Agency before a possible opioid-related lawsuit by the DOJ.
WALMART REJECTS US GOVERNMENT CLAIMS OF FUEL OPIOID CRISIS
In a lawsuit filed last month in federal court, Walmart, which runs more than 5,000 pharmacies, argued that DOJ lawyers are planning to attack them without being able to cite any real laws or rules they are violating.
The company is seeking a statement from a federal judge that the government has no legal basis for such action.
Walmart, as it argues in its lawsuit, is caught between stone and stone when it comes to filling opioid prescriptions.
On the one hand, federal government lawyers have directed them to fill prescriptions for clients of certain doctors, arguing that Walmart pharmacists should have been part of the doctor-patient relationship and refused to fill legitimate prescriptions (without evidence of fraud or falsification) ), despite having no knowledge of the patients’ medical history, treatment or illness.
US SUES WALMART ALLEGING ROLE IN THE FUEL OPIOID CRISIS
On the other hand – as Walmart details in detail – if they refuse to fulfill legitimate prescriptions, they risk having their licenses revoked. In fact, many states have already taken action against Walmart for refusing to fulfill opioid prescriptions.
All pharmacies lose any choice they make.
Walmart is asking the court to resolve these conflicting demands by declaring that the Controlled Substances Act “does not require pharmacists to doubt a registered and licensed physician’s decision that a prescription serves a legitimate medical purpose”.
OXYCONTIN MAKER PURDUE PHARMA PLEADS GUILTY IN CRIMINAL CASE
As Walmart said in its lawsuit, “[i]in the shadow of their own deep flaws, the DOJ and the DEA are now seeking to impose retroactivity on pharmacists and pharmacies unworkable requirements that are not found in any law and go beyond what pharmacists are trained and licensed to do. ”
In their menacing action against Walmart, some DOJ career lawyers have identified hundreds of doctors whose written prescriptions, they say, should not have been provided by Walmart pharmacies.
Even so, 70% of these same doctors are still actively registered with the DEA. Therefore, government officials cannot even take action against doctors who claim to be writing suspicious prescriptions, but they threaten private companies for not stopping those same doctors.
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The DEA needs to do its job and crack down on doctors who abuse their privileges, not target pharmacies for not doing the work the DEA failed to do.
These threats are compounded by the fact that these government officials cannot point to any law or official DEA guidelines that are being violated.
According to Walmart, the complaints are based on alleged “violations” of informal letters and PowerPoint presentations. It should also be noted that, by its own rules, the DOJ is not allowed to base a case on such unofficial guidance.
The full power of federal law enforcement must not be released based on bureaucratic presentations!
Walmart is asking the court to declare that the DOJ and the DEA “must follow their own regulations and cannot base any enforceable legal positions on the alleged violation of the agency’s guidance, rather than obligations found in a duly enacted statute or rule or regulation. ”.
Clearly, the Justice Department’s likely action is not about addressing the real problem or enforcing the law, it is about shifting the blame – and finding well-rounded targets to take down.
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Walmart should be commended for invoking its bluff and taking steps to ensure that those responsible for fighting this crisis implement clear rules and regulations for pharmacists across the country.
The opioid addiction crisis calls for leadership from our government agencies and it is time to put an end to their blame games and hold them accountable for real actions.
Walmart’s return to court is a bold and important measure by the company to prevent this intimidation effort. Pharmacies and pharmacists – whether Walmart or drugstores – deserve clarity, resolution and simple justice.
Steve Forbes is president and editor-in-chief of Forbes.