CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Illinois will be getting more money to fight the opioid epidemic along with every other state following a settlement with Johnson & Johnson and three major pharmaceutical distributors.
According to Illinois Attorney General Kwaume Raoul, Illinois will be receiving $760 million in the fight against the opioid epidemic. That's less than 3% of the $26 billion total.
An advisory board will make sure money is split equitably based on things like population, rates of opioid usage, overdose deaths and the amount of opioids shipped into each region.
Raoul said the funds will be released to a national administrator on April 2 and that the money should start being distributed some time between then and July.
"We need to dedicate our work now to those who have been most impacted by this epidemic. We need to listen to those, and dedicate this, to those who have been in the trenches, on the battle lines of this public health crisis,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Reinhart said.
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Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said the settlement money will pave the way for communities to begin breaking the cycle of addiction and save lives.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said every community has experienced enormous health care costs, rising crime rates, escalated social issues and the loss of productivity in the workplace due to the epidemic.
"Today, that healing process finally begins," Berlin said.
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Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley said his community has been disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis and hopes the settlement money can help reverse those numbers.
"Winnebago County has the highest recorded fatality rate. Sadly, it’s 46 deaths for every 100,000 residents. And, the problem isn’t going away,” Hanley said.
Under the settlement, the Attorney General's Office said Johnson & Johnson is required to:
— Stop selling opioids.
— Not fund or provide grants to third parties for promoting opioids.
— Not lobby on activities related to opioids.
— Share clinical trial data under the Yale University Open Data Access Project.
In addition to providing funds, Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen will:
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— Establish a centralized independent clearinghouse to provide all three distributors and state regulators with aggregated data and analytics about where drugs are going and how often, eliminating deficiencies in the current systems used by distributors.
— Use data-driven systems to detect suspicious opioid orders from customer pharmacies.
— Terminate customer pharmacies’ abilities to receive shipments, and report those companies to state regulators, when they show certain signs of diversion.
— Prohibit shipping of and report suspicious opioid orders.
— Prohibit sales staff from influencing decisions related to identifying suspicious opioid orders.
— Require senior corporate officials to engage in regular oversight of anti-diversion efforts.
Raoul said anyone who needs or knows of someone who needs help with an addiction to opioids should call the Illinois Helpline for Opioids and Other Substances at 833-2FINDHELP.
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