Utah to receive $45 million from Kroger for its role in opioid crisis. Here’s how it will be spent
Nov 4, 2024, 2:15 PM | Updated: Nov 5, 2024, 6:03 am
FILE — Smith's Food and Grocery pictured in Utah. (Deseret News)
(Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah announced a $45 million settlement agreement for the role Kroger, known widely in the state as Smith’s Food and Drug, played in the opioid crisis.
The $45 million is part of a larger sum agreed upon between the grocery chain and 29 other states, making the total settlement $1.37 billion.
According to Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, if the Utah Legislature approves, the funds will be “shared with counties,” and “spent toward initiatives surrounding opioid use disorder treatment, recovery expanded needed services, prevention and criminal justice to increase access to recover for individuals suffering from addiction.”
Reyes filed suit against Kroger in 2022 in state court. The lawsuit alleged Kroger was the largest “pharmacy buyer and dispenser of opioids in Utah from 2006 to 2014.” In the city of Price alone, which houses just over 8,000 people, enough oxycodone and hydrocodone were stocked over seven years to supply 71 pills to each person in the community.
In the seven-year timeframe the suit outlined, Kroger distributed more than 140 million dosage units of the two drugs, accounting for more than 15% of the statewide volume, according to the attorney general’s office.
Further, the suit outlined policies Kroger implemented among its staff that “awarded pharmacists with bonuses and other perks” for selling larger quantities of their prescriptions, quicker — including prescriptions for controlled substances.
Reyes said his office’s litigation team worked to achieve a “number of procedural victories,” and was set to depose “key national witnesses from Kroger” later in 2024. Instead, the office said its litigation efforts “benefited all states in bringing pressure for a larger and more rapid settlement agreement.”
The office said the lawsuit will not be dismissed until the settlement is finalized. Payments are expected to be made from the grocery chain starting in early 2025.
New crisis receiving center in Price serving rural communities
Editor’s Note: This article initially misstated in one spot the amount Utah was to receive as $14 million. It has since been corrected to reflect the accurate number of $45 million.
