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Retail pharmacy chains contributed to a deadly and expensive public nuisance in two Ohio counties where the opioid crisis continues to rage, an attorney for the counties said in an opening statement Monday in federal court in Cleveland. It was the first day of trial in the lawsuit filed in 2018 by Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland against retail pharmacy companies CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle. (Gillispie, 10/4)

Walmart Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. face billions of dollars in damages as they go to trial over the role their pharmacies played in the U.S. opioid epidemic. Two counties in Ohio will be among the first to try the companies in federal court over lawsuits filed by communities across the country. They say pharmacies created a public nuisance by failing to properly monitor doctor prescriptions and patient drug-use habits, forcing communities to spend taxpayer money to cope with addiction and fatal overdoses. Similar suits are pending against drug makers and distributors. (Feeley, 10/4)

Since 2008, McKinsey & Company has regularly advised the Food and Drug Administration’s drug-regulation division, according to agency records. The consulting giant has had its hand in a range of important FDA projects, from revamping drug-approval processes to implementing new tools for monitoring the pharmaceutical industry. During that same decade-plus span, as emerged in 2019, McKinsey counted among its clients many of the country’s biggest drug companies — not least those responsible for making, distributing and selling the opioids that have ravaged communities across the United States, such as Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson. ... Yet McKinsey, which is famously secretive about its clientele, never disclosed its pharmaceutical company clients to the FDA, according to the agency. (MacDougall, 10/4)

In just the past week, three people died at three different stations inside the vast Bay Area Rapid Transit system from causes believed to be drug overdoses. Efforts to resuscitate them, including by administering the opioid reversal drug Narcan, were unsuccessful, reports said. The deaths occurred in Fremont, Daly City, and Pleasant Hill, cities in three different counties — Alameda, San Mateo, and Contra Costa, respectively — that are all miles from San Francisco’s toughest streets. (Jung, 10/4)

Seattle becomes at least the ninth U.S. city to take such action in recent years, joining Denver, Washington and Ann Arbor, Michigan, among others. In 2020, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use. Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who sponsored the effort, said it was the first step in the city’s move to change its drug policies. “Our overall goal is to follow the lead of Oregon,” he said, speaking in a phone interview before the vote. (Kary, 10/4)

Justin Bieber is entering the marijuana market with prerolled joints that’s he calling “Peaches,” the name of a song from his most recent album. The Canadian singer is working with a Los Angeles-based company, Palms, on the products. Palms specializes in prerolled cannabis products, with its seven-joint packs selling for $32 at locations in Nevada and California, according to its website. (Kary, 10/4)