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National opioid settlement funds overview:
- Who: States and local political subdivisions are working together to end the opioid epidemic following national opioid settlements.
- Why: States are in the process of developing strategies to allocate and/or use the funds made available to them by the national opioid settlements.
- Where: Opioid settlements have been made with states nationwide.
National opioid settlements have been made as part of an effort by states and local political subdivisions to resolve the nationwide opioid crisis.
The settlements have put to bed claims brought against McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen — the nation’s three largest pharmaceutical distributors.
Claims against drug manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson were also resolved as part of the national opioid settlement.
The settlements provide “substantial funds” to both states and subdivisions as a way to help abate the nationwide opioid epidemic and create change in the way drug manufacturers and distributors conduct business.
Pharmaceutical distributors must pay up to $21 billion over the next 18 years while J&J is required to pay as much as $5 billion over “no more than nine years,” according to the official national opioid settlement website.
Around $22.8 billion of the settlement funds will go toward state and local subdivisions while at least 85% of all the funds going to the states will be required to be used to reduce the opioid epidemic.
Drug distributors were required to make an initial deposit of settlement funds into escrow by no later than the end of September of last year while more payments were made by J&J and distributors this summer.
Opioid settlement funds distributed differently state by state
The decision on how settlement funds will be used varies by state to state with some opting to distribute the cash to participating state and local governments working to end the opioid epidemic.
Arizona, for example, adopted what it is calling the One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement to “establish binding terms” for the distribution of the settlement funds with participants.
“The State and the Participating Local Governments share a common desire to abate and alleviate the impacts of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Participants’ misconduct throughout the State of Arizona,” states a document explaining the states’ fund distribution agreement.
Additional states with allocation agreements include Virginia, Idaho, Illinois and New Mexico, among others.
State, local governments adopt memorandum of understanding
Other states, such as Arkansas, chose to enter into a memorandum of understanding between their state, counties and cities in an effort to “establish a proposed framework for funding programs at a state-wide, regional and local levels.”
Arkansas’ memorandum of understanding explains how both state and city officials “share a common desire” to put an end to the opioid crisis.
Additional states that have adopted a memorandum of understanding on how to distribute settlement funds include Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas and Maine, among others.
States pass legislation in wake of national opioid settlements
States have also proposed legislation in the wake of the national opioid settlements meant to help end the opioid epidemic.
Georgia, for example, passed a bill designed to help the state combat the opioid epidemic by granting more funding for prevention and treatment, along with additional resources being made available to law enforcement agencies.
The legislation will also help ensure that the state receives funds promised to them in an opioid related settlement.
“It is imperative that the state receive the full amount of any opioid settlement, and in order to do so, the state must be able to release claims for all state and local public bodies and instrumentalities in the state,” Georgia says in a court document.
Additional states that have passed new legislation in the wake of the national opioid settlements are Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana, among others.
Opioid distributors agree to terms in class action settlements
In May, Native American tribes agreed to a settlement worth almost $590 million with J&J and other major opioid distributors they accused of exacerbating an opioid epidemic in their communities.
Last September, meanwhile, a U.S. bankruptcy judge said he planned to approve a bankruptcy plan made by Purdue Pharma in the face of a number of class action lawsuits accusing it of bearing responsibility for the opioid epidemic.
By approving Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan, the judge protected the pharmaceutical company from facing ongoing and future opioid-related class action lawsuits.
In October 2020, Purdue Pharma previously agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges stemming from its marketing and distribution of the painkiller Oxycontin as part of a settlement agreement worth more than $8 billion.
Have you been affected by the nationwide opioid epidemic? Let us know in the comments!
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90 thoughts onNational opioid settlement funds to be used for remediation efforts
Same here add me as well
Yes please add me
I have been on pain killers for years. Can you please add me
I have been on the pain medication since 1986 due to knee surgery which til this day I still have on going health issues and later had to get surgery again and it’s been a struggle with pain and no relief,please add me thanks
Shame & corrupt! That money will never be used for what it’s supposed to be for, not in Illinois anyway!! That money should be paid to the individuals whose lives have been destroyed & to families who have lost loved ones due to opiate addiction stemming from physicians who recklessly prescribed it!
I was in my early 20s when a doctor started prescribing me 100s of pain pills a mth. 120 roxy 30s 120 Roxy 15s 120 percocet 10s plus adderall 30s and xanax 1mg 4 times a day. I had no idea I would or could become addicted to something a doctor prescribed me. I grew up in a family where drinking and smoking was as bad as it got. Never street drugs or pills.. I hardly took tylenol for a headache… I rarely had one. Then all of a sudden I need all these pills. I became addicted to them. I had no idea I was going through withdrawal from them one time when it snowed so bad I couldn’t get to the doctor to get my prescriptions. I had been out almost 2 days and felt like I had the worst flu I had ever had in my life. My neighbor happened to stop by and check on us bc we hadn’t been able to get out of our driveway and I told her about what was going on with me and I hadn’t been able to sleep and felt like a snake shedding its skin to top it all off. She ask then if I was on medication and I told her. She said you are going thru withdrawal bad and hard. She gave me a few of her pills til I could get mine and boom I was fine. These pills caused my family more problems and heartbreak than I knew I was causing bc my mom would do anything to help me out and make sure I was not miserable and others got mad at her for it bc doctors wouldn’t help me come off of them until I had a seizure coming off the xanax he just up and stopped me from taking. My husband and kids had to deal with me going in and out of it bc I never felt normal again. Now I’m more normal than I have been in a while, but the prescription meds led to other opioids that I said I’d never do until I couldn’t get my medication anymore and I dealt with that for years. The doctor never apologized for the hell he put me thru even though I had to admit myself in the local hospital and chemically detox from the xanax. He lost his license to prescribe those for 6 whole months…wow.. to top it all off he was only a cardiologist a heart dr. Who was getting kick backs for writing meds. Hes still a local dr and writing prescriptions to anyone who walks thru his door… smh. I still have those demons in my head and I’m 39. I wish I would have never said a word about hurting anywhere on my body or my nerves… it ruined my life…
Thanks for telling the truth ! If it weren’t for us victims there would not be a lawsuit
What an example of a Class Action RACKET! Shame on government, they penalize the companies who were allowed to distribute these drugs under the laws at the time. I was addicted to opiates for roughly 3 years and its disgusting to see companies paying out millions to the federal government and state trickle down. I am very interested in what sort of sealed agreement was made as not one individual or families effected seem to be part of these penalty payments. Of course you will get the bullsh!t facetime of programs and facilities promised to be funded for future addicts, but we all know it is just that, BS Accounting.
Add me
I have been affected by the opioid epidemic… I have several life long severe health issues and have pain 24/7 and because of those who got addicted I cannot get adequate pain relief for when it’s unbearable. Only Tylenol and gabapentin (which is not working). I’m not blaming those who got addicted because it isn’t your fault. I’m blaming the pharmaceutical industry for not taking action sooner so no one has to suffer whether it be the ones who got addicted or those who now cannot get adequate pain relief. I’ve been on Vicodin, Percocet, roxycodone, morphine, dilaudid, fentanyl years ago and I never got addicted to any of them. Idk why though… but doctors just seem to have quit being caring and compassionate nowadays and enjoy seeing people suffer. I can’t even get anxiety medication for my severe panic attacks I have daily.
Add me I prescribed oxycontin in 2002 for a broken collar bone (I was 17,5 months later I broke the other side of my collar bone . The Dr started me on oxycontin 20s the. Progressed to 40s .by my senior year I was prescribed 2 80s a day at 18. When I complained of anxiety abd went to Dr. He noticed thst I had been on pxycontin for over 2 years and cut my off cold turkey. I legit lost my mind bot knowing what was wrong with me at that time. (It was wd a friend told me I was ib wd and sure enough a did a couple percent and felt normal . My life was screwed from that day onward.
Add me my dr has been uping the quality of my pills for years after he told me they were not addictive got me addicted now I can’t go 2 days without withdrawal my whole family is affected by this