Jan 17 (Reuters) - Walgreens has sued the U.S.

Drug Enforcement Administration alleging that it has unlawfully

adopted new policies designed to ensure pharmacies do not

dispense addictive opioid painkillers and other controlled

substances for medically illegitimate purposes.

The pharmacy chain operator filed a lawsuit in federal court

in Tyler, Texas, on Thursday, following what it had described as

recently as last week as active negotiations with the U.S.

Department of Justice for a potential settlement to resolve

claims its pharmacies improperly dispensed opioids.

"We will not stand by and allow the government to put our

pharmacists in a no-win situation, trying to comply with 'rules'

that simply do not exist," Walgreens said in a statement.

The DEA did not respond to a request for comment.

Walgreens is among the drug manufacturers, distributors,

pharmacy operators and others who have collectively in recent

years agreed to pay about $50 billion to resolve lawsuits and

investigations by states and local governments accusing them of

helping fuel a deadly opioid addiction epidemic in the U.S.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says

nearly 727,000 opioid overdose deaths occurred from 1999 to

2022.

Thursday's lawsuit takes aim at what Walgreens called new,

"arbitrary" rules the DEA imposed without going through the

required rulemaking process regarding how pharmacies dispense

controlled substances.

Walgreens said the DEA had wrongly adopted a rule requiring

pharmacists to resolve any "red flags" indicating prescriptions

are not for legitimate medical uses before dispensing controlled

substances and document how they resolve those issues.

The Deerfield, Illinois-company, a unit of Walgreens Boots

Alliance ( WBA ), said the DEA had also without any regulatory authority

taken the position that pharmacies must refuse to fill

prescriptions issued by prescribers they identified as

"suspicious."

The company said those two requirements were adopted not

through any formal rules or regulations that were subject to

notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures but were announced via

press releases and lawsuits in enforcement actions against other

pharmacy operators.

Among the lawsuits it cited was one the Justice Department

announced last month against rival CVS that accused the

pharmacy chain of filling illegal opioid prescriptions and

contributing to a nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction and

overdose.

Walgreens in 2022 agreed to pay up to $5.52 billion over 15

years to resolve thousands of lawsuits by state and local

governments accusing the company of fueling the U.S. opioid

epidemic.

Last month, Ohio's top court overturned a $650.9 million

judgment two local counties secured against Walgreens, CVS and

Walmart ( WMT ) in the first case to go to trial nationally over

allegations the pharmacies contributed to the epidemic.

The case is Walgreen Co v. U.S. Drug Enforcement

Administration, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of

Texas, No. 25-cv-00019.

For Walgreen: William Peterson of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

Read more:

US accuses CVS of filling, billing government for illegal

opioid prescriptions

Pharmacies prevail in appeal of $650-million opioid award in

Ohio

CVS, Walmart ( WMT ), Walgreens agree to pay $13.8 bln to settle

U.S. opioid claims

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston)