U.S. states must hurry to meet a deadline committing to a $26 billion opioid settlement with three drug distributors as well as drugmaker Johnson & Johnson. With the U.S. government reporting nearly 500,000 overdose deaths in the last two decades, there are concerns that the settlement simply won’t be enough to adequately address the current situation.
States must decide if they will join this settlement, or if they should abstain and try and recoup more funds to aid in addressing the harms done by an epidemic of opioid abuse. There are some states, like Ohio, which are working on their own, separate deals with these companies. The Associate Attorney General of New Hampshire, James Boffetti, has said that the state would likely not join the deal because “it’s just not sufficient.” Although the companies deny any wrongdoing, there are over 3,000 lawsuits that accuse them of ignoring warning signs that pain pills were being diverted to communities for illicit uses and downplaying the risks associated with opioid addiction.