Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday (Feb. 25, 2022) announced final approval of the historic national $26 billion opioid settlement agreement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen – and one manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson. Following successful state and local government subdivision sign-on periods, the companies will start releasing funds
Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday (Feb. 25, 2022) announced final approval of the historic national $26 billion opioid settlement agreement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen – and one manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson.
Following successful state and local government subdivision sign-on periods, the companies will start releasing funds to a national administrator on April 2, 2022. States and local governments will start receiving funds during the second quarter of 2022.
Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser thanked Raoul and her fellow state’s attorneys for working together to make their case. She also thanked former Kane County State’s Attorney Joseph McMahon “for beginning this fight on behalf of the people of Kane County, as well as the assistance of attorneys Pete Flowers and Mike Lenert and their attorneys and staff at Meyers and Flowers in St. Charles and the Kane County Civil Division.
“The opioid epidemic has negatively affected all of our communities,” Mosser said. “This money will help our county fund the proven programs that help break the cycle of addiction. Sheriff Ron Hain and I have focused on creating law enforcement and prosecution-led diversion programs to steer individuals toward treatment and out of the criminal justice system. This is a momentous first step, but it is a needed one in our fight to end the destruction opioids have created and to save lives.”
Raoul called the settlement agreement historic.
The historic agreement marks the culmination of three years of negotiations to resolve more than 4,000 claims of state and local governments across the country. It is the second largest multistate agreement in U.S. history, second only to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.
Illinois is one of 52 states and territories that have joined the agreement, along with thousands of local governments across the country.
In Illinois, 94 out of 102 counties have signed onto the agreement. In addition, 104 out of 113 Illinois municipalities that are eligible to receive a direct distribution from the settlements have joined. In total, more than 290 Illinois government subdivisions have joined the settlements.
The majority of Illinois’ money will go to the Illinois Remediation Fund to be used for abatement programs throughout the state. An advisory board will be established as a subcommittee of the state’s Opioid Overdose Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee to make recommendations that prioritize the equitable distribution of the money in the fund.
The board will consider factors including population, opioid usage rates, overdose deaths and the amount of opioids shipped into a region.
“I am proud to have fought with Attorney General Raoul and officials across the state to hold drug manufacturers and distributors accountable for the opioid crisis,” Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said. “This is a victory for the residents of Cook County. The settlement will give more tools to law enforcement and other first responders, will target key groups such as pregnant women and incarcerated persons, and will help us continue to address opioid dependency as the public health issue that it is.”
“I thank Attorney General Raoul for his commitment to the future wellbeing of our state” DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said. “In addition to the immediate and future financial relief offered by this settlement, manufacturers and distributors of these dangerous narcotics
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