(The Center Square) – Payments eclipsing $1 million will go to 40 counties as part of North Carolina’s $145.4 million share of the $7.4 billion settlement with the company and family behind OxyContin.
All 50 states, the District of Columbia and four American territories are part of the settlement against Purdue Pharma led by the Sackler families. The families can no longer own, make, sell or market opioids in the United States, the settlement says.
Dalton Barrett, Community Paramedic Program officer for Edgecombe County Emergency Services, said in a statement from the attorney general’s office, “In Edgecombe County, we’ve seen the pain and devastation that opioid addiction brings to our communities on the street level. We’ve also seen the resilience and hope that come from timely intervention and compassionate care. Our EMS and post overdose teams are not just responding to crisis; we’re helping people find a path forward.
“Every dollar from this settlement represents a chance to save a life, support a recovery, and strengthen the systems that hold our communities together. We’re proud to be part of the solution, and grateful that these funds will help us keep showing up for the people who need us most.”
More than $515,000 is on the way to the rural county east of Interstate 95 and the capital city of Raleigh.
“The Sackler family owned Purdue Pharma, and Purdue Pharma lied to a bunch of doctors about the opioid they had invented, telling them that it wasn’t addictive,” said first-term Democratic state Attorney General Jeff Jackson, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. “This led to the prescription pill crisis, which has now morphed into the fentanyl crisis, which is taking lives every single day.”
Attorneys general from Connecticut, California, Texas, Colorado, Delaware, New York, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia negotiated the deal first announced in January. A hearing Wednesday before Judge Sean Lane with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court will confirm Purdue Pharma’s schedule in the settlement.
In addition to the government entities getting more than $1 million, the state government will collect $21.8 million. The largest estimated shares of the settlement are in the more populous areas: Mecklenburg County, $7.7 million; Wake County, $6.9 million; Guilford County, $4.1 million; Gaston County, $4.1 million; Forsyth County, $3.7 million; New Hanover County, $3.7 million; Cumberland County, $3.2 million; and Buncombe County, $3.1 million.
Seven cities and their estimated payments on the list included Greensboro, $652,077; Durham, $470,340; Fayetteville, $383,004; Asheville, $291,566; High Point, $255,232; Hickory, $117,306; and Henderson, $39,878.
