What's going on?

The US government popped down to Walmart for a few essentials on Tuesday � like, say, suing the world�s biggest retailer for helping fuel America�s opioid crisis.

What does this mean?

As if a pandemic wasn�t enough to deal with, the US has had to keep a drug epidemic in check too. And now, as part of that ongoing struggle, the US government�s accused Walmart�s 5,000 in-store pharmacies of filling invalid prescriptions and failing to report suspicious orders. The retailer has been pushing against this narrative for a while: it filed its own lawsuit against the US back in October, arguing it was being used as a scapegoat for government failures.


That may be, but Walmart faces penalties of up to $68,000 for every unlawful prescription and $16,000 for every suspicious unreported order if it�s found liable. And while the total potential cost isn�t clear yet, that�s almost beside the point: investors think it�s going to be serious, which might be why the company�s stock dropped after the news broke.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Opioid economics 101.�

Over 100 Americans die from opioids every day, and the costs for the healthcare and criminal justice systems add up to almost $80 billion a year. Some economists have also pinned low labor participation on the crisis: only 62% of Americans count themselves as among the workforce, compared to the UK and eurozone�s roughly 80%. It wouldn�t just save money if the crisis were solved, then: it might boost economic growth by getting people working again.

For markets: The good, the bad, and the both.�

Investors targeting a socially responsible strategy need to be careful around drug companies in sheep�s clothing. Indivior, for example, specializes in opioid addiction treatments but was sued for making misleading claims. Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, features in plenty of socially responsible investing screens, while being responsible for many of the problematic opioids in the first place.