Local lawmakers: Vanderburgh County Rejoins $26B Opioid Settlement Thanks To New Law
 STATEHOUSE (March 29, 2022) – With a new law supported by State Reps. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville) and Tim O’Brien (R-Evansville), Vanderburgh County is rejoining the $26 billion national settlement with drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and three major drug distributors. Evansville could follow.
Indiana joined a multistate lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, and drug distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen over their roles in the opioid epidemic, which forced communities to spend millions to mitigate the crisis. While the lawsuit included all of Indiana’s communities, about 11% of eligible cities, counties and towns opted out in order to initiate their own lawsuit, including Vanderburgh County and Evansville. They unanimously supported new law paved the way for Vanderburgh County to rejoin the multistate settlement and receive a portion of the state’s master settlement estimated to be about $500 million.
“Additional funding will make it possible to invest in both treating addiction and cracking down on criminals,” McNamara said. “It’s great to see our county rejoin this settlement and I look forward to them using these dollars to address the effects of the drug crisis.”
Settlement funds will go toward opioid-related programming, fighting the drug crisis, supporting local law enforcement and drug task forces, and bolstering treatment and preventative care. According to O’Brien, communities that do not opt-in to the settlement stand to lose nearly $238 million that could otherwise be invested in local drug addiction and recovery programs, and public safety. Under the new law, remaining communities interested in rejoining the settlement must notify the Indiana Attorney General’s Office by July 15.
“There isn’t a community in Indiana that hasn’t been touched by the opioid epidemic,” O’Brien said. “It’s heartbreaking to see the damage it can cause to families and there’s always more we can do to provide hope to struggling Hoosiers. Additional treatment options can help change lives and keep our communities safe.”
With the defendants expected to start releasing funds to a national administrator on April 2, and money expected to start flowing to state and local governments in the second quarter of 2022, O’Brien said the new law also establishes a fair and equitable settlement structure.
The $26 billion multistate settlement stems from a lawsuit with more than 4,000 claims from state and local governments throughout the country. Now three years in the making, 52 states and territories signed onto the settlement. All four companies that are part of the settlement have denied wrongdoing.
For more information about the settlement, visit in.gov/attorneygeneral.
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