Oregon cities, others across US wracked by opioids close to getting $26B settlement
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
McMINNVILLE, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of towns across the United States that were wracked by the opioid crisis are on the precipice of receiving billions of dollars in the second-biggest legal settlement in U.S. history.
The $26 billion from three drug distributors and a pharmaceutical manufacturer would address damage wrought by the opioid epidemic, which the federal government declared a public health emergency in 2017.
States, counties and cities face a deadline in three weeks to sign onto the settlement, and most have agreed to do so.
But a few holdouts remain, including Oregon, where disagreements have emerged between state and local government officials.
The money is needed. In Yamhill County, where McMinnville is the county seat, it would expand counseling and treatment, including in jails, expand residential treatment and recovery facilities and fund other programs, said County Commissioner Casey Kulla.
In the U.S., more than 500,000 deaths over the last two decades have been linked to opioids, both prescription drugs and illegal ones.
The clock is ticking on the settlement, with a payout second only to the $200 billion-plus tobacco settlement, in 1998, with the nation’s four largest tobacco companies.
The three drug distributors -- AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson -- and drug maker Johnson & Johnson agreed in July to pay the combined $26 billion to resolve thousands of state and local government lawsuits. But if the defendants feel there’s a lack of participation by states and local jurisdictions, it could cause them to back away from the landmark agreement or eventually reduce the amount of the settlement.
In exchange for the payout, participating states, counties and cities would have to drop any lawsuits against the defendants and agree not to sue them in the future for the opioid epidemic.
At least 45 states have signed on or signaled their intent to do so, and at least 4,012 counties and cities have also confirmed participation, plaintiffs’ attorneys said Friday.
Washington state has already ruled out participating, with Attorney General Bob Ferguson calling the settlement “woefully insufficient.” He’s suing the nation’s three biggest drug distributors - the same ones in the national settlement - for $38 billion in a trial that began in November.
In Oregon, lawyers for local governments and the state recently resolved an impasse over how the settlement would be disbursed, according to The Lund Report, a health care news site.
The state of Oregon had wanted local governments to apply to it for grants. The local governments instead wanted a larger share of the funds in direct payments. There’s now disagreement on how much of the settlement should go to attorneys who sued on behalf of several counties in Oregon.
Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/health-oregon-united-states-public-health-epidemics-b9e3b1fb41587460da99e5bee17108c2
