Council joins national opioid settlement

The Sonoma City Council voted in favor of joining the National Opioid Settlement lawsuit against the three largest pharmaceutical distributors in the United States.

The city could received up to $352,997 as part of the $26 billion settlement, with at least 85% of those proceeds intended to go to services to help end opioid addiction.

“The distributors will pay a maximum of $21 billion over 18 years, while (Johnson & Johnson) will pay a maximum of $5 billion over no more than eleven years, with approximately $22.8 billion in settlement proceeds payable to state and local subdivisions,” a summary of the resolution before the city council read.

The “Distributors” include McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., Bergen Corporation and Amerisource, in addition to Johnson & Johnson’s opioid manufacturing company Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.

The settlement is the result of an Ohio lawsuit, which is a consolidation of over 4,000 cases from municipalities across the country, against the companies responsible for 85% of all opioid drug distribution in the United States, the summary report said.

Joining the settlement also precludes the city from opening litigation against the distributors and manufacturers of opioids in the future.

The vote to join the settlement comes as opioid overdoses have risen precipitously in recent years in Sonoma Valley, and the pandemic has exacerbated those trends, according to public health experts.

Overdoses more than doubled in Sonoma Valley from 2019 to 2020, according to statistics from the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office. Nationally, over 100,000 overdose were recorded in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Funds from the settlement may be dispersed as early as April next year, according to the City Council report.

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.