AUDIO – WHEN? –

Feb. 25, 2022 – “This settlement represents real accountability,” said North Carolina state Attorney General Josh Stein, who helped negotiate the deal.

Stein noted that most of the funds are earmarked for health care and drug treatment programs designed to ease the opioid crisis.

“There will be people alive next year because of the programs and services we will be able to fund because of these settlement proceeds,” he said.

None of the companies acknowledged any wrongdoing for their role manufacturing and distributing large quantities of pain medications at a time when opioid addiction and overdoses were surging. In a joint statement, the drug wholesalers said they had determined that enough governments had signed onto the deal to move forward with a “comprehensive agreement to settle the vast majority of the opioid lawsuits.”

In all, 46 states and roughly 90% of eligible local governments have signed on to the deal, according to the companies’ assessment.

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