PHOENIX, Ariz. (KGUN) — Opioids legally prescribed are at the heart of a $26 billion settlement. State Attorneys General settled with drug companies for addiction and deaths from over prescription of the powerful painkillers. Now we know Arizona’s share of the settlement.
Opioids, and aggressive methods to market them made billions of dollars for drug companies but left a high human cost in addiction, death and ruined lives.
To avoid a long, punishing, lawsuit, drug companies agreed to 26 Billion dollar settlement.
The office of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich says the state will receive $540 million.
The money will spread out over 18 years with state government getting $237 million and local governments receiving over $302 million.
That will come to $56.2 million for Pima County, $11.5 million for Cochise County and $1.29 Million for Santa Cruz County.
The money will be for treatment and prevention but Joseph Sciarrotta, Chief of the Attorney General’s Civil Division says local governments can decide precisely how to use the funds.
“Because you know, each community has different needs and has had different impacts. And we didn't want to have an overly bureaucratic top down approach. We wanted to make sure those that are closest to the problem could be able to deal with it.”
The settlement avoided an expensive lawsuit.
Sciarrotta says, “We thought that we could easily prove if we had to go to court that manufacturers and distributors misled the public and helped create this problem, like I said, by over manufacturing and over distributing.”
And part of the settlement calls for training for doctors so they will be less likely to prescribe painkillers more powerful and addictive than a patient really needs.
——-
Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
