State and local governments divvy up opioid settlement money Image By HPN Staff Attorneys from all 50 states have signed off on a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the family that owns the company, winding down one of the largest outstanding opioid lawsuits in the nation. A federal court still needs to finalize the deal, but the settlement appears likely to go through and add to the nearly $50 billion in opioid settlements finalized in recent years, as thousands of lawsuits work their way through U.S. courts. This one would dissolve Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin. The Sackler family, which owns the company, would cover about $6.5 billion of the settlement cost with payments over 15 years. Individual plaintiffs in the case have until Sept. 30 to vote, according to the Associated Press, and can choose instead to continue their portion of the suit. A settlement will avoid trials with claims totaling more than $2 trillion, the AP reported. Why it matters As the money from these settlements flows to state and local governments, decisions are being made as to how the money will be spent. The settlements generally require spending to fight addiction and to address the impact opioids have had on communities. Some states, including Colorado, are using settlement money to offset cuts to federal health care grants. Idaho is in the middle of a round of public comment on how to spend some of its settlement money. Additionally, websites have been set up to track how the money has been spent to show accountability to the public. The Purdue agreement is a large settlement, but the largest was a 2021 $26 billion agreement with multiple opioid distributors and manufacturers. A separate settlement with McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm that advised opioid companies on how to sell more opioids, was also announced in 2021 and totaled some $570 million. Most of the Purdue settlement would go to state and local governments, but close to $900 million would go to individual victims, making this agreement different from the other major settlements, according to the Associated Press. The settlement news comes following an announcement by The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that the number of deaths from opioid overdoses had fallen from an estimated 83,140 in 2023 to 54,743 in 2024. The drop occurred three years after the CDC changed guidelines on pain management. The bigger picture More than a million Americans have died of opioid-involved overdoses since 1999, with deaths rising by 67% between 2017 and 2023, according to data from the CDC. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed by state attorneys general, local governments and individuals. Most of these cases — a congressional summary lists 2,400 of them — were pooled, and large settlements have resolved most of the lawsuits. The Purdue case looked to be settled last year, but the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that agreement, finding that it improperly protected Sackler family members, who had withdrawn billions from the company, leading it into bankruptcy. Sackler family members have repeatedly expressed regret over opioid deaths but said they didn't do anything illegal.