(The Center Square) – Add Wisconsin to the list of states accepting a piece of the $7.4 billion opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma.
Attorney General Josh Kaul said the state is joining the attorneys general from all 50 states, as well as four US territories in accepting the settlement.
“There’s still a long way to go in the fight against the opioid epidemic,” Kaul said in a statement.
Kaul’s office said the settlement should bring more than $80 million back to Wisconsin over the next 15 years to help make state and local governments whole after years of dealing with opioids and their users.
Half of that money, Kaul’s office said, would come in the first three years of the settlement.
Kaul did not say how the money would be spent but past opioid dollars have gone toward treatment centers, anti-addiction efforts, and even Narcan machines across the state.
Kaul said adding the Purdue settlement, Wisconsin will or has already seen more than $860 million in opioid settlement dollars over the past decade.
The Purdue Pharma Settlement is not complete yet. Local governments across the country now have to agree to the settlement terms as well.
“This resolution would mean more resources for efforts to combat this,” Kaul added.
The settlement ends a wave of lawsuits that accused Purdue Pharma, and the company’s owners the Sackler family, of “fueling the largest drug crisis in the nation’s history,” according to Kaul’s office.
“Under the Sacklers’ ownership, Purdue made and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades” Kaul’s office said in a statement. “This settlement would end the Sacklers’ control of Purdue and their ability to sell opioids in the United States.”
