HARRISBURG (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - Pennsylvania Attorney General announced Monday that he and four other states have reached a deal on the opioid epidemic with five companies.
The agreement is worth $48 billion with includes $22.25 "billion in cash and $26 billion in medication-assisted treatment drug provision and distribution over 10 years."
"The opioid, heroin and fentanyl epidemic claims the lives of 12 Pennsylvanians per day, and this public health and public safety crisis was engineered by opioid manufacturers and distributors," said Attorney General Josh Shapiro. "Today's agreement holds three of those distributors and two manufacturers accountable for their roles in perpetuating this epidemic. I'm proud of the hard work of my Attorney General colleagues and grateful to these companies for coming to the table to agree to a deal that provides significant funds to cities, counties, and states to expand treatment for those who are suffering from substance use disorder and mandates concrete changes to prevent further harm."
In additona three distributors have agreed to changed their polices to curb over-distribution moving forward.
Those three companies are McKesson, Carinal and AmerisourceBergen.
The money will be distributed across the five states to help curb the opioid crisis.
Shaprio tells Wendy Bell on KDKA Radio how the money will be used.
"The Lion share of it will go into a fund that will be used specifically for treatment and services," said Shapiro. "It will be administered in ways that help meet the needs the people of our state that are really suffering, that's a way to make sure that money gets spread across the board and used to help those that are most in need."
Shapiro said in a release, the issue is far from solved.
"Our work here is not done—we have to bring other states, counties, and cities on board with this framework," said Attorney General Shapiro. "But what I know for sure is that the people of Pennsylvania need relief now. They can't wait for post-trial settlements that could take years to deliver the resources necessary to combat this crisis. I am confident that the framework agreed upon today is our best path forward to deliver relief to those suffering from this epidemic and enact corporate change to prevent this from happening again."
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