Posted on 07/27/2021 11:12:23 PM PDT by RomanSoldier19
A coalition of state attorneys general on Wednesday announced a proposed $26 billion settlement with pharmaceutical companies associated with facilitating the opioid crisis.
Under the settlement, the "big three" opioid distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen Drug would pay up to $21 billion over the next 18 years.
Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, would pay as much as $5 billion over the next nine years depending on how many state and local governments agree to suspend their opioid lawsuits.
The agreement would resolve as many as 4,000 opioid-related claims.
RELATED Drug overdose deaths up nearly 30% in U.S. during pandemic-scarred 2020 A total of 14 states including New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas were involved in reaching the agreement.
Each state's finding has been determined using a formula that calculates the number of opioid overdose death in a state, the number of residents with substance use disorders, the number of opioids prescribed and the population of the state.
West Virginia Attorney General Pattrick Morrisey opposed the formula, telling NPR the deal focuses too much of the settlement money on population rather than the severity of the crisis in a state.
RELATED 15 states reach deal with Purdue Pharma toward $4.5B opioid settlement "West Virginia is a resounding no on these agreements and will continue to litigate and negotiate outside the framework of today's announcement," Morrisey said.
The Plaintiffs Executive Committee, a coalition of attorneys representing the state and local governments, endorsed the settlement.
"Our country's opioid epidemic is a nationwide public health crisis that requires a nationwide solution," the group said.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
This a cashcow for the states. Not for any victims. And the money will be spent on evil doings.
Just another government shakedown of the private sector.
Not in love with big pharma but yeah this is shakedown for sure.
Despite these enormous settlements, we shouldn’t rush to judgement in thinking big Pharma has an unethical influence over the politicians and practitioners looking out for us...
It’s business as usual at the expense of those paying premiums and taxes.
this will mean big raises for the teachers.....nothing will go back to the tax payer that has footed the bill for caring for the homeless, the drugged, the infected, etc.....
Nope. In the relative scheme of things $26B over 18 years is couch cushion money.
As I was out walking my neighborhood I disnt see any loose drugs lurking, waiting to jump down my throat. Or wandering pit bull syringes rushing and attacking my arms.. There is no opioid crisis in my life because my life hasnt be spent around enablers and the likes of people who want to spend their lives in the gutter. Its not an opioid crisis, its a moral crisis.
how much is a death worth?
in his settlement
please be specific
Extortion rackets....
Shoring up blue state unfounded liabilities for govt workers on the back of my med costs
I already get pain and steroid meds for RA and Spondylosis
Percs are 98 a month
Used to be 35....
Now it will be more and I use Watson or teva
And the drug addicts?
They have moved on to fentanyl, most of which is produced in China, and smuggled across the USA border by Mexican gangs.
How many billionaire LAWYERS will come out of this?
While the masses get 1.98 each.
Absolutely...The doctors are the ones passing this stuff out like candy...and not watching over their patients.
Don’t forget the pharmacists and politicians. A wholebunchalotta people jumped on that gravy train.
All of these Drug Companies should require every Pharmacist, Hospital, Clinic and Doctor in these States that receive thier products to Sign a Contract stating that they will NEVER Prescribe, Dispense or Recommend ANY Opiate Product to ANY Public Employee in the State. To protect the citizens of course from these highly addictive drugs, let them all go through Root Canals and Surgeries with aspirin
Dunno where you get your information about handing it out like candy, but none of the drs I know pass the stuff out like candy. A couple of years ago I had a chunk of my intestines removed and all I got was a 3 day supply and then diclofenic (NSAID) after that. A relative who is a physician had to browbeat another attending to get opioids prescribed for a terminal cancer patient (an old lady who was in a lot of pain and died a week later - not like she was in danger of getting addicted)
There are “pain clinics” where I suspect most of the abuse originates, but remember no one put a gun to addicts’ heads and said take these pills or I’ll shoot you.
Yes, the crisis is from the illegal stuff coming over our borders. Now doctors are afraid to give opiods to people who are suffering and really need them. Everything the government does is wrong.
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