By Dietrich Knauth

(Reuters) – San Francisco’s Walgreens Boots Alliance will face off against it on Monday. This is the first time that the addiction pain medications have been brought to the attention of distributors, manufacturers and pharmacies.

San Francisco police allege that Walgreens and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE) Ltd. are the drugmakers. AbbVie Inc Teva’s drug distributor Anda Inc and Allergan (NYSE) created a public nuisance by overpopulating the city with prescription painkillers and failing to stop the drugs being used for illegal purposes.

They denied all allegations and claimed they were selling prescription-based opioid drugs.

Opening arguments in front of Judge Charles Breyer, San Francisco, are set for Monday at 9:30 am PT (5:00 GMT).

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the opioid crisis has impacted San Francisco hard. It has led to more than 500,000 deaths from overdoses in America during the last two decades.

The lawsuit states that 25% of the emergency room visits to the largest city public hospital are due to opioid-related problems.

San Francisco’s lawsuit, filed in 2018, initially included claims against drugmakers Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) and Endo International (NASDAQ:) Plc and the three largest U.S. drug distributors – McKesson Corp (NYSE:), Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:) & AmerisourceBergen Corp (NYSE:) – however, the city has previously settled with these defendants.

David Chiu, the City Attorney said Wednesday at a news conference that this trial will be the first time to examine claims against each “each piece of the opioid supply-chain.”

In a wave of opioid settlements, the San Francisco case is not alone. J&J earlier this month agreed to pay $99 million to settle claims over its part in West Virginia’s opioid crisis..

Alabama reached $276 million in settlements with J&J, McKesson and Endo after that state opted out of a nationwide $26 billion settlement of opioid litigation.

The San Francisco trial comes five months after a state judge held that Los Angeles, Santa Clara, and Orange counties, as well as the city of Oakland, failed to prove that Endo, Johnson & Johnson, Teva and Allergan created a public nuisance through the sale and promotion of opioids pain medicines.