MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The CDC says Tennessee is fifth in the country when it comes to people per capita dying from opioids.
A new lawsuit says it's putting the blame on one company, Walgreens.
The suit alleges, "Walgreens utterly saturated the state of Tennessee with narcotics."
In 14 years, its pharmacies in Tennessee sold more than one billion painkillers, enough to supply every child and adult in the state with 175 pills.
Walgreens had an advantage over most pharmacies. It not only bought opioids from distributors, but it also would buy them directly from the drug makers. That way, it could sell lots more pills without raising suspicions.
The lawsuit also accuses Walgreens of using its Tennessee pharmacies to supply opioids to 4,500 zip codes as far away as Seattle.
Finally, the suit says it has proof that when doctors were under investigation for peddling opioids, and most pharmacies refused to fill their prescriptions, Walgreens actually ordered pharmacists to fill them.
It's unclear how much the state attorney general wants Walgreens to pay up. Walgreens isn't talking, but if it's proven the company ignored warnings about overprescribing, it will have to pay.