A new investigative report from the Tampa Bay Times and KFF Health News shows how Publix Super Markets Inc. became a major player in Florida’s opioid distribution game. The report documents how even as the “volume of prescription opioids dispensed in Florida fell 56% from 2011 to 2019 as the pharmaceutical industry was hit by lawsuits for its role in the national opioid crisis,” Publix’s opioid orders and drug sales were increasing exponentially.
The deposition of a Teva Pharmaceuticals executive in a federal lawsuit against Publix and other companies exposed what he called “serious red flags” in regards to Publix’s opioid orders. One flag was that grocery chain’s sales climbed at a rate far exceeding the pharmaceutical company’s expansion into the market. Publix became the second-largest dispenser of opioid medications in 2019, with the largest being CVS. The second flag was Publix’s disproportionately high rate of dispensing “30-milligram instant release oxycodone pills.” The executive’s deposition “compared that with the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where cancer patients were mostly being prescribed 5 mg instant-release pills.”
In 2018, then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi made big headlines for suing major producers and distributors of opioids. In early 2022, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody publicized billions of dollars in settlements “[r]esolving all opioid litigation brought by states and local political subdivisions against the three largest pharmaceutical distributors.” These settlements included a lot of big names operating in and around Florida, including top OxyContin dispenser Walgreens. But once again, there was one glaring omission from the list: Publix.
Moody negotiated a settlement with Walmart for over $200 million in 2022. Meanwhile, Publix sold almost twice as many drugs as Walmart in Florida between 2006-2012, and more by the time the settlement was reached. Moody’s spokesperson ignored an inquiry from KFF about Publix’s absence from any lawsuit brought by the Florida attorney general, and instead reiterated the talking points of the 2022 press release about the billions of dollars in settlements reached with the other opioid manufacturers and distributors.
What could account for these omissions? Since 1993, Publix has given more than $13.8 million to Florida political organizations and candidates. In comparison, Walmart, Walgreens, Actavis, and CVS have all given six-figure amounts, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Publix seems to have been even more targeted in its donations in recent years.
The grocery chain made $10.6 million in political donations in Florida from 2016 to 2022 when the state was preparing and pursuing its litigation, state election data shows. Most of the donations were for Republican committees and candidates, including $125,000 donated to the Friends of Ashley Moody political action committee.
In Florida, Walgreens made $637,000 in political donations, including $8,000 to Moody, over the same period. CVS made $208,500 in donations, none of which went to Moody.
According to Popular Info, Julie Jenkins Fancelli is the heiress to the Publix fortune. Fancelli is not involved in Publix’s operations, but she seems to spread the money she gets from it around with a similar flair.
Fancelli donated $565,000 to Trump's 2020 reelection campaign. Fancelli also donated $50,000 to Moms for Liberty, an organization with close ties to Moody, in 2022.
The Washington Post reported in 2022 that the 73-year-old Fancelli spent $3 million on “stop the steal” efforts:
The Washington Post previously reported that the Publix heiress was the largest publicly known donor to the rally — and had wired $650,000 to numerous groups behind the “Stop the Steal” organizing. But the interview transcript, which cites wire transfers as well as text messages and other communications involving Fancelli, shows her role was greater than previously known. When a Trump aide learned that Fancelli had offered a budget of $3 million, he wrote in a text message, “rich people are so odd.”
While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting his terrible handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his dubious successes with opioid-related deaths, Florida remains ranked as one of the five most-expensive states when it comes to health care costs.
Conservatives’ opioid policies and actions seem to have had little effect on the problem, and Moody and DeSantis are leaning into the GOP’s manufactured anti-immigration rhetoric that blames the opioid issues in our country on Mexico and China. It’s a convenient scapegoat for Florida, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to have some of the highest drug overdose mortality rates in the country per 100,000 population.
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EMILY's List has been devoted to electing pro-choice Democratic women for 40 years, a mission that's grown only more critical since the fall of Roe. Joining us on "The Downballot" this week is Christina Reynolds, one of EMILY's top officials, to tell us about how her organization recruits, supports, and advises women candidates at all levels of the ballot nationwide. Reynolds explains the unique challenges women face, from a lack of fundraising networks to judgments about their qualifications that never seem to stick to men. She tells us how Dobbs has—and hasn't—changed campaigning for EMILY's endorsees and spotlights a wide range of key races the group is involved in this year.