A $26 billion settlement of opioid legal claims announced by attorneys general in 14 states could provide Louisiana with $325 million, raising hopes that more Louisianans struggling with opioid addiction will be able to get treatment.
The settlement was reached with three major pharmaceutical distributors – AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson – and Johnson & Johnson, which manufactured and marketed opioids, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said earlier this month. The funds would be provided over an 18-year period, and the companies would also provide detailed data on drug distributions in the future.
Julia Buckner, a professor at Louisiana State University who has been working to expand behavioral health services for opioid patients, noted that under the settlement’s provisions, most of the funds would be spent on prevention and treatment.
“This is certainly good news,” Buckner told the Louisiana Record in an email. “Louisiana suffers from high rates of behavioral health and substance abuse disorders, but the state lacks enough treatment facilities to help our residents overcome these problems.”
Louisiana is among the states with the highest rates of drug overdoses, and opioid use is currently the primary cause of overdose deaths, she said. In addition, overdose death rates in the state were up 11% in 2018-19, reflecting the most recent data available, according to Buckner.
And Louisiana ranks among the states with the highest prevalence of mental illness and the lowest access to medical care, with East Baton Rouge Parish among the underserved areas, she said.
“The use of money from these settlements could go a long way toward getting Louisiana residents the care they need to help stop the opioid crisis in our state,” Buckner said.
In a joint statement, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson said they were committed to helping individuals, families and communities deal with the effects of the opioid epidemic, which has killed tens of thousands of Americans.
“While the companies strongly dispute the allegations made in these lawsuits, they believe the proposed settlement agreement and settlement process it establishes … are important steps toward achieving broad resolution of governmental opioid claims and delivering meaningful relief to communities across the United States,” the companies’ statement says.