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Apr. 4—Gilbert is in line to receive more drug money that could be as much as $2.4 million from a second nationwide opioid settlement.
Council is expected Tuesday, April 4, to approve a resolution signing onto the settlements with five opioid manufacturers and distributors, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan Pharmaceutical,,Walmart, Walgreens and CVS.
The town's share is 1.7% and so far received approximately $281,434 from the first settlement, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Synder.
"Zero funds have been spent thus far," Snyder said. "We are still evaluating how those funds will be spent. A future council communication will list potential expenditure options for council to consider."
According to town staff, the $2.4 million for the second round is an estimate because the final amounts for each of the settlements are dependent on the number of states, counties, cities, and towns that ultimately participate. The settlement would be payable over the years.
Gilbert in November 2021 joined the One Arizona Fund for distribution and expenditure of the all opioid settlement monies.
Arizona, all 15 counties and 90 of its 91 municipoalities also are part of the agreement, which allocates 44% of all settlement monies to the state and 56% to local governments with the amount based on three factors — amount of opioid shipped to a county, the number of opioid deaths in the county and the number of people addicted to the drug.
The first settlement of $26 billion was in 2021against the three largest pharmaceutical distributors—McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen and against manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson to settle claims in over 3,000 opioid crisis-related suits nationwide.
Under that settlement the distributors are paying up to $21 billion over 18 years and J&J is paying up to an additional $5 billion over no more than nine years.
The latest settlement in late 2022 is reportedly around $20.1 billion.
Arizona is receiving $542 million over 18 years in the first settlement and is expected to get $434.2 million over 15 years in the second.
Under the One Arizona Fund agreement, the monies are restricted for the following expenses:
Treatment of opioid addiction
Support of people in treatment or recovery
Opioid education programs
Programs addressing the needs of criminal justice related to opioid use
Programs supporting the needs of women with opioid addictions and babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome;
Programs to prevent over-prescribing and over-dispensing