More details are emerging from the proposed $26 billion legal settlement with major drug distributors, as states review the deal to end a portion of the nationwide opioid lawsuits. Under the agreement, most of the money will go toward treatment and prevention programs in communities ravaged by the opioid epidemic and the deaths of more than 230,000 Americans from prescription opioid overdoses. The amount each state receives will be determined by population, overdose deaths, volume of pills sold, and diagnoses of substance use disorders, and each state will decide how to distribute the payout.
The distributors—McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen—shipped more than three-quarters of the nation’s opioids to pharmacies, which are also being sued along with drug manufacturers for their contribution to the opioid crisis. The three firms will pay about $21 billion over 18 years, with an additional $5 billion from Johnson & Johnson. There was no information about guarantees the money would be used solely for treatment and prevention, to deter states from siphoning off funds for other purposes.
Meanwhile, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York says he wants to add a marijuana legalization proposal to his January budget, because the state is “desperate for funding.” In an interview, Cuomo said New York is now under pressure since neighboring New Jersey legalized adult-use pot this week. Cuomo has tried this before but failed to persuade legislators to pass a bill, with the debate now centering not on public health but who will control a new cannabis regulator and how any revenue would be distributed.
And finally, voters in New Zealand have narrowly rejected a marijuana legalization measure that would have made the country the third—after Canada and Uruguay—to legalize the drug.