Walmart settles with DOJ over alleged unlawful opioid dispensing

Published August 28, 2026 6:39pm ET | Updated August 28, 2026 6:39pm ET



Walmart settled a lawsuit with the Justice Department on Friday after the retail giant faced sweeping accusations that it fueled a nationwide opioid epidemic for years by unlawfully dispensing prescriptions from its ‌pharmacies.

A joint stipulation dismissing the case was filed on Thursday in federal ‌court ⁠in Wilmington, Delaware. The development comes after the DOJ in 2020 sued Walmart, alleging it had been in violation of the Controlled ​Substances Act since 2013 by filling thousands of invalid or suspicious prescriptions, inflaming the opioid crisis that killed upward of 1 million U.S. citizens.

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