Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit against Kroger, accusing its pharmacies of contributing to the state's opioid addiction crisis by dispensing over 11% of all opioid pills in the state from 2006 to 2019.

The lawsuit alleges that Kroger's pharmacies helped fuel Kentucky's opioid crisis by distributing hundreds of millions of doses without adequate safeguards, leading to widespread addiction, pain, and death. Kentucky is seeking civil penalties for each alleged violation, citing Kroger's failure to report suspicious prescription activities despite having access to real-time data on prescribing patterns. The state has been actively pursuing companies involved in the opioid distribution as overdose fatalities continue to affect its communities.