(The Center Square) – Colorado has officially joined a multibillion-dollar settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family.
The $7.4 billion settlement will bring nearly $76 million to Colorado, which will be distributed to local and state governments. It is the largest opioid settlement in the United States to date.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said this settlement is a long time coming.
“One of the very first cases I brought was against the Sackler family, working to hold them accountable and provide critical funds to address our opioid crisis,” Weiser said. “Seeing this work to completion marks the end of an important chapter and an opportunity to support Colorado’s nationally recognized opioid crisis response work. The Sacklers’ conduct was outrageous, illegal, and immoral; this settlement ends their involvement with Purdue Pharma and provides a measure of accountability for their wrongdoing.”
All 55 U.S. states and territories were a part of litigation, which sought damages from Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family for their roles in the opioid crisis across America.
Since 1996, Purdue has manufactured OxyContin, a powerful prescription opioid painkiller that quickly became one of the most widely prescribed pain medications in the United States.
“Under the Sacklers’ ownership, Purdue made and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades, fueling the largest drug crisis in the nation’s history,” said a statement from Weiser’s office.
Under the agreement, the Sackler family would lose ownership of Purdue, and a court-appointed board would manage the company’s remaining operations, with all profits going to further battle the opioid crisis.
Awaiting approval by a judge in the coming days, the settlement is not yet finalized. Impacted parties, including victims, local governments, doctors and more, would have until Sept. 30 to vote on the deal. Those that do not sign on to the agreement will still have the option to pursue their own litigation.
If approved, the funds will be distributed over the next 15 years and will be used by communities to support addiction treatment, prevention and recovery. Only a small part of the funds, $850 million, will go to victim compensation.
While Colorado’s estimated $75,670,000 from this settlement will be distributed over the next 15 years, the majority of it will come in the next three years. In total, Colorado is set to receive nearly $870 million in funds from companies that fueled the opioid epidemic.
This comes as drug overdose deaths continue to remain at record highs in the state, with 5,000 of those allegedly due to opioid use disorder cases fueled by Purdue’s “widespread, multifaceted, deceptive, and wrongful campaign to market and sell opioids.”
According to data from Colorado’s Center for Health and Environmental Data, there were 1,865 overdose deaths in Colorado in 2023. While down slightly from 2021’s record-high of 1,881 deaths, it is up from 2022’s 1,799 deaths.
All three of those years are nearly double pre-COVID 19 numbers, when the state averaged 725 deaths a year between 2000 and 2020.
The final court hearing for the Purdue settlement is scheduled for Nov. 10.
