Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced on Tuesday the receipt of more than $100 million in opioid settlement payments from drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies who agreed to the financial compensation for their role in the opioid crisis.
The press release by Miyares’ office explained the latest round of payments totaled about $108.4 million of the $1.1 billion secured by Virginia in opioid settlements.
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Ohio-based Kroger agreed in principle to settle lawsuits that by paying $1.37 billion to state and local governments for its role in fueling the opioid epidemic.
Kroger owns Fred Meyer and QFC stores, which have dispensed opioids nationwide.
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The Detroit city council approved a $12.69M opioid settlement on Tuesday against four companies they say contributed to the opioid epidemic.
Detroit was one of about 4,000 local governments that sued opioid manufacturers and distributors. The funds will flow to local governments and the state.
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The state of Georgia has signed on to a $3.1 billion national agreement with Walmart amid allegations that the retailer didn’t properly monitor opioids dispensing at its pharmacies; Georgia is expected to get $28 million in the deal, according to an announcement from Attorney General Chris Carr.
“The opioid epidemic has destroyed lives, families, and communities all across our state and nation,” Carr said in the release.
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Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a “One Pill Can Kill” awareness campaign over the risks of fentanyl and counterfeit drugs to try to launch conversations among families ahead of the holidays.
The opioid epidemic has had a devastating effect on our Commonwealth. There isn’t a corner of our state that hasn’t been touched by its pain and destruction. Tragically, overdose deaths are now not limited to addiction, but to counterfeit pills laced with a highly potent, deadly substance – fentanyl,” Miyares said in a press release Tuesday. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many young people overdose and die after experimenting with these powerful drugs. As a father, this new threat terrifies me. That’s why I launched ‘One Pill Can Kill,’ a public awareness initiative aimed at generating conversations around the dangers of counterfeit drugs and fentanyl.”
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Virginia is expected to receive $60 million as part of a tentative $3.1 billion settlement agreement with Walmart after allegations of insufficient oversight of opioid dispensing at the chain’s pharmacies.
“Companies who facilitated the dispensing of opioids contributed to the opioid epidemic that has devastated millions of lives. This significant settlement will help us fight back against the epidemic and provide abatement and rehabilitation resources to suffering Virginians,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release.
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The opioid epidemic in Virginia cost almost $3.5 billion in 2020, according to a new cost calculator from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and the Virginia Commonwealth University. On average, over four Virginians died of an opioid overdose each day in 2020, according to a VDH announcement of the cost calculator.
“This burden is carried by Virginia’s workers, employers, and governments, and includes both future losses and current direct spending that could have been avoided,” the calculator’s site explains. “Virginia families and businesses take on a large amount of these costs, mostly due to lost future worker productivity. Federal, state, and local governments also see increased healthcare and government costs and lost future tax revenues. The cost burden of the opioid epidemic is split among several sectors.”
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Virginia has received $67.4 million, the first payment in a Johnson and Johnson settlement requiring its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals to stop selling opioids in the U.S.; the Commonwealth will receive about $99.3 million total from the company over nine years.
“I’m thrilled that the money from these record-breaking settlements is on its way. My consumer protection section worked tirelessly to ensure that Virginians received the most funding possible and received it as quickly as possible. This helps the Commonwealth and individual localities fight back against the opioid epidemic and reduce, prevent, and treat addiction,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release.
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Yesterday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced a new pilot program to assist Floridians with substance abuse which establishes a recovery network “to disrupt the opioid epidemic.” DeSantis was joined by multiple Florida health officials as the programs will be under the purview of a joint-agency effort with the Florida Department of Health, Department of Children and Families, and the Agency for Health Care Administration.
The program is not an exclusively emergency response program, but also contains numerous aspects of recovery and goes by the acronym CORE (Coordinated Opioid Recovery).
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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) announced Thursday that the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) had awarded $4,500,000 in grant funding to three counties across Arizona to help treat those with opioid addiction or mental health issues in the criminal justice system.
“Our primary goal with these grants is to increase inmate screening and treatment for underlying substance abuse and mental health conditions,” Brnovich said in a press release. “Effectively addressing opioid disorders will ultimately reduce recidivism rates among treated offenders.”
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Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed HB 95 which cracks down on the penalties for the sale and distribution of opioids in Florida, which includes fentanyl. The signing comes as DeSantis has worked with the Florida Legislature to pass numerous pieces of legislation to fight the influx of illegal immigrants, and often times, illegal drug traffickers into Florida.
In the announcement, DeSantis swiped at the President Joe Biden (D) administration for their lack of action regarding the influx of illegal immigrants on the southern border.
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Racine County, Wisconsin has begun distributing fentanyl tests to the public in the county’s “continued efforts to battle the opioid epidemic and prevent overdose deaths.”
Officials have discovered a disturbing trend with street narcotics in the community, with Racine County’s Outpatient Clinic Manager Pauline Ortloff expressing in a statement, “Many narcotics are laced with deadly fentanyl, and users have no idea that what they are ingesting may be lethal. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be 80-100 times stronger than morphine. The purpose of fentanyl test strips is to allow the user to test the substance before using it to determine if fentanyl is present.”
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An undercover law enforcement operation between the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and other local partner agencies led to the arrest of 24 individuals.
In addition to the arrest, authorities seized a wide-ranging variety of potentially lethal narcotics, including methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and prescription pills.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed Executive Order 22-07 on Thursday, launching a new interagency subcabinet and advisory council to combat the opioid and addiction epidemic in Minnesota, according to a press release by Walz’s office.
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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong on Thursday announced an historic settlement that will force members of the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma to pay out $6 billion for their role in the opioid epidemic.
The drug company, which distributed OxyContin, must be “dissolved or sold by 2024 and [ban] the Sacklers from the opioid business in the United States.”
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Virginia expects about $530 million in a settlement over the opioid crisis with Johnson & Johnson along with pharmaceutical distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, according to a press release from the Office of the Attorney General. The companies announced Friday that there is enough participation by states, territories, and localities who were suing the drug companies to move forward with a national settlement, first announced in July 2021.
In his release, Attorney General Jason Miyares said, “The opioid crisis has devastated many Virginia communities, families, and lives. The Office of the Attorney General is dedicated to this fight and is proud to have played a role in this historic settlement, which every city and county in Virginia joined. Because of this, the Commonwealth expects to receive approximately $530 million dollars to fight back against the opioid epidemic and support efforts to reduce, prevent and treat opioid addiction.”
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In response to a “surge” in opioid overdoses in Ohio in 2020, Attorney General Dave Yost Friday announced the state’s first “Drug Dropoff Day.”
“You know, a lot of opioid addictions actually start out of the family medicine cabinet,” Yost said in a video posted to his Twitter account.
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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined 46 other attorneys general in a $573 million settlement with McKinsey & Co., regarding the company’s role in aggressively helping opioid companies promote their drugs.
Michigan will receive more than $19.5 million from the first opioid multistate settlement resulting in a substantial payment.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has joined a coalition of attorneys general across the country in asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to release a progress report on the opioid epidemic.
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The architect of a Detroit-based drug ring described by many former customers as the “McDonald’s for drugs” was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison last Friday.
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