ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence reports2023
Retail chain pharmacy opioid dispensing practices from 1997 to 2020: A content analysis of internal industry documents.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Understanding pharmaceutical industry coalitions: a case study of Mallinckrodt.Humanities & social sciences communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Redesigning Pharmacy to Improve Public Health Outcomes: Expanding Retail Spaces for Digital Therapeutics to Replace Consumer Products That Increase Mortality and Morbidity Risks.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Context: Lawsuits have determined that community pharmacy chains played a crucial role in the opioid epidemic. However, little research has assessed community pharmacy practices. This study sought to understand the contribution of pharmacies to the opioid epidemic through improper opioid prescription dispensing. Methods: We conducted an observational, retrospective content analysis that assessed the opioid dispensing practices of a retail community pharmacy chain, Walgreens, using pharmaceutical industry documents released in litigation between 1997 and 2020. The documents were retrieved from the Opioids Industry Document Archive (OIDA) at the University of California, San Francisco and reviewed to identify themes and identify organizational practices. Findings: We identified four primary factors that may have contributed to improper opioid dispensing practices: store-level procedures, management pressure, distribution center activities, and pharmaceutical company sponsorship. Stores dispensed opioid prescriptions without resolving red flags, management pressured pharmacists to fill more opioid prescriptions, distribution centers failed to investigate high volume orders, and pharmaceutical companies sponsored pharmacist continuing education advocating for opioid pain management. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that Walgreens may have contributed to the early prescription opioid epidemic through improper opioid dispensing and also identify key practices that could be reformed to reduce the risk of future inappropriate dispensing of addictive and potentially harmful medications.
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