Story originally published in The Sylva Herald, March 15 edition
Jackson County Board of Commissioners passed a motion approving an Opioid Settlement Supplemental Agreement at its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 7.
An additional $21 billion in new settlements, referred to as Wave Two Settlements because it is the second case of opioid settlements in the United States, has been recently negotiated with pharmacies CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Allergan and Teva.
A previous settlement was reached between states and distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.
“As with the Wave One Settlements, North Carolina will receive its full share of payments from the Wave Two Settlements only if all eligible governments, including your county, sign onto each settlement,” Attorney General Josh Stein said in a letter provided to the Board of Commissioners.
The deadline to sign the Wave Two Settlements is April 18.
The result of many federal lawsuits against companies that manufactured, marketed, and distributed opioids for regular use, these settlements were created to allocate funds to states and local governments to prevent further harm from the opioid crisis.
“Most of the time you get a settlement like that, the majority of that goes to the state and some of that may trickle down to your counties’ local governments. In this case, […] the agreement was that 15 percent of that would go to the state, and the remaining 85 percent would be divided […] to all the counties,” said County Attorney Heather Baker.
North Carolina will receive $600 million from this agreement, and 84.62 percent of those funds will be divided amongst the counties and municipalities. Jackson County will receive just over .5 percent of settlement funds.
“Until we see the numbers, I would not be making any, even guesstimates, of how [the Wave Two Settlements] is going to be distributed, and over what period of time,” said County Manager Don Adams.
When County Commissioner Mark Jones asked for a specific timeline, Baker stated the North Carolina state government was near the stage of final negotiations but needed the cooperation of all 100 counties before establishing a final timeline. Baker confirmed the timeline would be similar to the Wave One Settlements, but would be “a little bit less,” as the Wave One Settlements were $26 billion, and the Wave Two Settlements are $21 billion.
A document provided to the Board of Commissioners stated, opioid addiction rates have vastly increased, impacting more that 32,000 North Carolina residents having a large impact on rural areas and areas of economic distress. In the United States alone, the misuse of opioids costs $78.5 billion a year in healthcare, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.
As Jackson County signs onto the settlements and Supplemental Agreement for Additional Funds, it will demonstrate solidarity in response to the opioid crisis and will maximize the use of settlement funds to combat its harmful effects.
