By james art 
SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah announced a $45 million settlement over the role Kroger, widely known in the state as Smith’s Food and Drug, played in the opioid crisis.
The $45 million is part of a larger amount agreed between the grocery chain and 29 other states, making the total settlement $1.37 billion.
According to Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, if approved by the Utah Legislature, the funds would be “shared with counties” and “spent on initiatives related to opioid use disorder treatment, recovery, expanded necessary services, prevention and criminal justice to increase access to recovery for people suffering from addiction.”
Reyes sued Kroger in 2022 in state court. The lawsuit alleges that Kroger was the largest “pharmacy purchaser and distributor of opioids in Utah from 2006 to 2014.” In just seven years, the city of Price, population just over 8,000, stockpiled enough oxycodone and hydrocodone, to deliver 71 pills to every person in the community.
In the seven-year time period outlined by the lawsuit, Kroger distributed more than 140 million dosage units of the two drugs, representing more than 15 percent of the volume nationwide, according to the attorney general’s office.
The suit also outlines policies Kroger has in place among its staff that “reward pharmacists with bonuses and other benefits” for selling larger amounts of their prescriptions, faster — including prescriptions for controlled substances.
Reyes said his office’s litigation team worked to achieve “a number of procedural victories” and was set to depose “key national witnesses from Kroger” later in 2024. Instead, the office said its litigation efforts “are benefited all states by pressing for a larger and faster settlement agreement.”
The office said the case will not be dismissed until the settlement is finalized. Payments are expected to be made by the grocery chain from early 2025.
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