$500M-plus from opioid deal starts heading to Washington
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson says the first payments from a $518 million settlement with the nation’s three largest opioid distributors will begin reaching the state in December
SEATTLE (AP) — The first payments from a $518 million settlement with the nation's three largest opioid distributors will begin reaching Washington communities in December, providing much-needed cash officials can use to hire first responders or direct toward prevention, treatment and other services, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Monday.
“These significant resources will help Washington fight back against the opioid epidemic that continues to rip holes through the very fabric of our communities and of families, overwhelm our public health resources, and inundate our foster care system with young, innocent victims,” Ferguson told a news conference in Seattle.
Ferguson, a Democrat, rejected a national settlement with the distributors — McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. — as well as Johnson & Johnson that nearly every other state has accepted. Under that deal, the states will receive nearly $20 billion over 18 years.
Instead, Washington spent six months in a complex trial against the companies before reaching its own settlement in May, one that's worth $46 million more than the state would have received under the national deal. Washington is also pursuing a separate lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to go to trial next year.
