CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Attorney General JB McCuskey, along with the 54 other attorneys general that represent all eligible states and U.S. territories, have agreed to sign onto a settlement with a big opioid company for their role in the creation and worsening of the opioid crisis that spanned across the country.
McCuskey announced Monday morning that they have agreed to sign onto a $7.4 billion dollar settlement with Purdue Pharma and the owners, the Sackler family.
According to a new release, under the Sackler family, Purdue made opioid’s and aggressively marketed them here and across the nation.
“The Sackler’s aggressively marketed their drugs to communities like ours, without a care in the world about the lives they were destroying, only focused on their bottom line,” Attorney General McCuskey said. “The settlement holds the Sackler’s and Purdue Pharma accountable for the pain they’ve caused our state and our country. Now, hopefully, we can start to recover and turn the page on the opioid crisis.”
The agreement also ends the Sackler families control over Purdue and also their ability to sell opioids in the U.S.
Most states will be receiving their settlement money over the course of 15 years; however, West Virginia will be receiving $53 million dollars in the course of nine years due to the disproportionate impact opioids has had on the state, it’s residence and communities.
The state will receive most of its settlement money within the first three years. The Sackler family will be paying $1.5 billion, Purdue will be paying roughly $900 million dollars in the first payment. These payments will be followed by $500 million after one year, an additional $500 million dollars after two years and $400 million after three years.
Now that the states have joined the settlement and that sign-on period has ended, local government will be asked to join which will be contingent on bankruptcy court proceedings. Those proceedings should be scheduled in the upcoming days.