Wednesday, November 2: Opioid Fallout
Opioid is a word that sounds silly if you say it five times fast. They're not silly
CVS, Walgreens and Walmart have agreed to pay about $13.8 billion to resolve thousands of U.S. state, local and tribal government lawsuits accusing the pharmacy chains of mishandling opioid painkillers. The proposed settlement, which would be the first nationwide deal with retail pharmacy companies, follows nationwide opioid settlements with drugmakers and distributors totaling more than $33 billion.
CVS has agreed to pay about $5 billion over the coming 10 years, and Walgreens disclosed in a filing with the SEC that it had agreed to pay about $5.7 billion over 15 years. Of course, neither company admitted to any actual wrongdoing. Walmart has agreed to pay $3.1 billion, mostly up front, according to two people familiar with the matter.
CVS general counsel Thomas Moriarty, who plays a villainous role in all this and has an equally villainous name, said in a statement that CVS was pleased to resolve the claims and the deal was "in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders." I’d be curious to hear if this deal is in the best interests of those already addicted or dead from opioid addiction. Walgreens said in its SEC filing that it "continues to believe it has strong legal defenses" and will defend itself vigorously against any future lawsuits not covered by the settlement. So, not remorseful.
Side Items
Israeli Election Update: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s scummy former leader, extended his lead in Israel’s fifth election since 2019, but the final results are still unclear. If his right-wing bloc manages to secure an election victory, Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, will return to office even as he stands trial on corruption charges. That same political alliance can now push to significantly reshape Israeli society to reduce checks and balances on lawmakers, give politicians more control over the appointment of judges, and (most importantly) end Palestinian autonomy in any remaining parts of the already-occupied West Bank
Chaos in Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Nets have had a wild past 24 hours. First they decided to get rid of their head coach, Steve Nash, leaving an interim coach to lead the team in yesterday’s game against the Chicago Bulls. Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed rumors that the Nets already had their sights on their next coach, Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka, currently serving a one-year suspension by the team. The leaked rumors forced the Nets owner to deny that they’d already lined up the replacement, but we’ll see how much truth there is to that. In the end, the interim coach (and mostly Kevin Durant) managed to keep the game competitive, but Chicago ultimately won, dropping the Nets to 2-6
Musk Would Like Your $8: Yesterday, the white man who has collected the most dollars (so far) decided he actually needs more of them. Elon Musk decided he will soon charge $8 a month for the Twitter verification check. This is part of his continued efforts to make the social media network less reliant on ads.
"Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," Musk said in a tweet, adding that the price would be adjusted by "country proportionate to purchasing power parity." Someday soon I hope to stop writing about Elon Musk so frequently