(The Center Square) – New Jersey is set to receive $641 million from settlements with New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson and the country’s three largest pharmaceutical distributors for their role in the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis.
Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen will pay the $641 million through 2038. It will fund state and local programs focused on prevention, treatment and other strategies to combat the opioid epidemic in the state.
According to New Jersey officials, the Garden State reported 2,896 suspected opioid deaths and more than 3.2 million opioid prescriptions between Jan. 1, 2021, and Nov. 30, 2021.
The “historic settlements will bring hundreds of millions of dollars into our state to support lifesaving drug prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery programs, and will require these drug companies to change their business practices so that this does not happen again,” Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement.
The money, part of a $26 billion national settlement, will be divided between the state, counties, and municipalities under the agreement.
In July 2021, officials announced nationwide settlement agreements with the four companies. According to reports, roughly 3,000 state and local governments sued, seeking to hold the companies accountable for thousands of drug overdose deaths.
In August 2021, New Jersey announced it would participate in the opioid settlements, and eligible counties and municipalities had until Jan. 26 to sign on. All 21 counties and 241 relevant municipalities agreed to participate in the settlement.
“Our communities continue to face firsthand the impacts of the opioids crisis,” Mike Cerra, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, said in a statement.
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