Illinois Set to Receive $760 Million from National Opioid Settlement

The state of Illinois is poised to receive the maximum share of a $26 billion national opioid settlement with major pharmaceutical companies, including Cardinal Health, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Johnson & Johnson. Every Illinois county is expected to receive a slice of the settlement, with cooperation from local governments and a new law banning them from taking separate legal action against the pharmaceutical companies. The deal calls for drug distributors to collectively pay almost $21 billion to resolve allegations they turned a blind eye to suspiciously large opioid shipments. Drugmaker J&J will pay $5 billion to settle claims it illegally marketed opioid medicines. The settlement is designed to provide funding for critical recovery services and abatement programs in communities across the state.

Key Takeaways:

Over 90% of eligible local governments in Illinois have signed on to the $26 billion national opioid settlement, including 93 of 102 counties and 102 of 113 municipalities.
The settlement calls for drug distributors to collectively pay almost $21 billion to resolve allegations they turned a blind eye to suspiciously large opioid shipments.
Drugmaker J&J will pay $5 billion to settle claims it illegally marketed opioid medicines.
To receive its full share of settlement proceeds, every state must either achieve 100% sign-on by local governments or pass a law prohibiting them from taking separate legal action.
The Illinois Opioid Allocation Agreement will oversee the distribution of settlement proceeds to counties and municipalities throughout the state.
Half of the advisory board's voting members will be from participating local governments, with the state appointing the other half.
Funds will be allocated to local governments based on an area's population, opioid usage rates, overdose deaths, and the amount of opioids shipped to a given region.

Statistics:

Over 290 local governments have joined the settlement.
Opioid-related fatalities in Illinois have steadily risen since 2013, with 2020 seeing the largest annual increase in opioid-related deaths, up 32% from 2019.
More than 2,900 deaths (an average of eight per day) were related to opioid overdoses in 2020.
First responders were called to more than 19,400 opioid overdoses in 2020 alone.

Sources:

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office