Texas will receive $1.5 billion from a nationwide settlement with opioid producers and distributors. The settlement, worth a total of $26 billion, was first announced last month and includes Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
States were given 30 days to sign on to the deal.
"Unfortunately, the opioid crisis is not over," says Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. "Last year was one of our worst."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, a record 93,000 people died from opioid overdoses across the country last year. Paul Singer, deputy attorney general, says overdose deaths in Texas increased 32%.
"Which is kind of shocking considering the efforts that have been put in place over the past several years to both educate everyone about this crisis and the dangers of opioid abuse, and also all the abatement strategies that have been put in place," Singer says.
The money can be used for treatment and counseling programs.
"We have to re-frame what substance use disorders look like," says Suzanne Jarvis with the Houston Recovery Center. "We have to frame it as a chronic health condition. If you have cancer, you go in, and you get a five year plan. You get all the assessments. You get all the labs. You get all the treatment. You get all the follow-ups, and they follow you for five years."
The settlement will also create a "clearinghouse" to serve as a third party organization that will track the sale of opioids.
"They can't share information with each other about where they're shipping pills, so pharmacies are able to purchase from one distributor, switch to another, and it won't raise any concern or red flags," Singer says. "This clearinghouse is going to function as a way to pool all that information, identify problems quickly and early and then force the companies to actually take action as soon as they identify a problem."
Singer is urging cities and counties to join the state's settlement instead of pursuing their own cases. He says the total amount the state receives will depend on how many local entities join.
"Any of these companies that have to go trial and face the weight of these thousands and thousands of cases throughout the country can very easily be put into bankruptcy," he says. "When they go into bankruptcy, everybody loses. We're not going to have the kind of funding available to us that we need, and the citizens end up losing because we're not going to be able to get the treatment out that we need to see take place."
Singer says money from the settlement should start arriving early next year.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD
