PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Editor's note: The above video is from Dec. 13, 2021.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced today that every county in the state of Pennsylvania have joined the historic $26 billion opioid agreement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors, according to a press release.
This settlement aims to address the roles that the nation's three major pharmaceutical distributors played in creating and fueling the nationwide opioid crisis. These companies include Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, as well as Johnson & Johnson.
This settlement means that funding will be allocated to states and local communities who have been most impacted by the opioid crisis, including Pennsylvania. It also means that Pennsylvania will receive $1.07 billion to jumpstart programs and ramp up staffing to save the lives of those struggling with opioid addiction, also according to the release. It is the largest influx of money that has ever been given to address the crisis in the state.
"Every community in Pennsylvania has been touched by the opioid crisis; it have ravaged our towns, our families, and our state," AG Shapiro said in a statement.
Shapiro also said that his work to address the opioid crisis in the Commonwealth is not done.
"This settlement is only with three distributors and Johnson & Johnson," he also said in his statement. "There are more companies and more executives who will pay for what was done in Pennsylvania."
Shapiro along with the attorneys general of North Carolina, Tennessee, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Texas led the negotiations of this multistate agreement.