Vermont would receive $22 million for opioid treatment and prevention programs as part of a proposed $7.4 billion settlement between more than a dozen states and the Sackler family and the company they once owned, Purdue Pharma, according to the Vermont Attorney’s General Office.
The settlement was announced Thursday by the 15 state attorneys general who accused the Sackler family and their company, which made the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin, of fueling the opioid crisis gripping the nation.
The agreement still needs bankruptcy court approval.
The deal replaces an earlier proposed settlement that would have netted Vermont at least a $36.4 million share for opioid treatment and prevention programs. However, Vermont and other states opposed that deal and eventually it was rejected through the courts, leading to the latest agreement.
Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark said Thursday the latest deal was better for Vermont since the $22 million would be paid at one time in a lump sum instead of over 18 years, as was the case in the previous settlement.
That would allow for the money to be put to use faster in helping to fund treatment and prevention programs, Clark said.
The settlement, if approved, would also make public more than 30 million documents related to Purdue and the Sacklers’ opioid business, according to the attorney general’s office.
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“The Sackler family and Purdue Pharma are responsible for fueling the opioid crisis, which has devastated Vermont communities and touched virtually every family,” Clark said in a statement Thursday.
“While this settlement is a huge victory,” Clark added, “it will never bring back the countless lives lost and relationships destroyed by this epidemic.”
If approved, the settlement would end the Sacklers’ control of Purdue and its ability to sell opioids in the United States. As part of the settlement, the Sackler family would pay up to $6.5 billion, and Purdue would pay $900 million, according to the attorney general’s office.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont to get $22 million in new Purdue Pharma opioid settlement, if approved by court.