OLYMPIA—Snohomish County and local cities are set to receive approximately $61,189,456.22 from efforts led by Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office that will be used to fight the opioid epidemic statewide, his office states.
The dollars come from settlements resulting from lawsuits against major pharmaceutical companies Attorney General Ferguson claimed were fueling the distribution of opioids, namely fentanyl, across the region.
In total Ferguson’s efforts have brought more than $1.29 billion to Washington which he said on X today will be used to fund programs that will fight the opioid epidemic—half going to the state and the other half going to cities and counties across Washington.
Allocation of opioid settlement funds for Snohomish County
Snohomish County’s $61,189,456.22 current total from Attorney General Ferguson’s efforts will be divvied up as follows:
- Snohomish County government will receive $35,743,946.61
- Arlington will receive $1,356,435.67
- Bothell will receive $1,374,052.62 (this includes both the King County and Snohomish County sides of the city)
- Edmonds will receive $1,583,366.46
- Everett will receive $9,968,513.98
- Lake Stevens will receive $717,008.72
- Lynnwood will receive $3,988,070.17
- Marysville will receive $2,042,046.01
- Mill Creek will receive $635,606.07
- Monroe will receive $917,026.93
- Mountlake Terrace will receive $1,091,627.35
- Mukilteo will receive $1,326,034.10
- The City of Snohomish will receive $445,721.53
Just this year the Legislature appropriated to state agencies more than $52.3 million recovered from previous resolutions with opioid companies to fund these programs.
Some of those investments included:
- $2,000,000 provided to the Department of Health to administer grants to local health jurisdictions for opioid and fentanyl awareness, prevention and education campaigns.
- $4,458,000 provided to the Department of Corrections for health care services
- $2,700,000 specifically for approved long-term injectable medication for treatment of opioid use disorder of incarcerated individuals.
- $2,000,000 provided to the Health Care Authority for a tribal opioid prevention campaign.
- $3,000,000 provided to establish three additional health engagement hub pilot program sites
- $1,500,000 provided to establish high-intensity community-based teams serving people with opioid use disorder.
- $400,000 provided to increase support for EMS and fire department opioid overdose prevention efforts.
Additional opioid settlements
On Tuesday, April 23, 2024, Ferguson’s office signed a pending resolution that will bring an additional $47.5 million to Washington, which has been factored into the $1.29 billion total.
Ferguson filed the lawsuit against Kroger in December 2022 in King County Superior Court against for “illegally, recklessly and negligently filling opioid orders without adequately investigating “red flags” of fraud or overprescribing”, his officer stated in a press release Tuesday.
Ferguson also filed lawsuits against two other pharmacies, Albertsons and Rite Aid, at the same time. The resolution will resolve Ferguson’s legal claims against Kroger.
The $47.5 million will be paid over 11 years. The first payment of $4.3 million will come within a few months of the resolution being finalized by the litigating states and local jurisdictions.
“My legal team took on some of the largest corporations in the world and held them accountable for their role fueling the opioid epidemic,” Ferguson said. “We’ve won more than $1.2 billion that’s going to every community in the state to combat the opioid and fentanyl epidemic by improving treatment options, educating youth and supporting first responders.”
Assistant Attorneys General Alison Cordova, Kelsey Endres, Jonathan Guss, Susan Llorens and Martha Rodríguez López; paralegals Kristina Clarke, Connor Hopkins, Kellie Locke, Robbyn Ramirez, Alicia Stensland and Tally Tappan; and investigator Tony Perkins from the Complex Litigation Division are handling the case for Washington.
Previously settlements include:
- $518 million from distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen.
- $183 million from manufacturer Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family bankruptcy.
- $149.5 million from Johnson & Johnson.
- $120.3 million from Walgreens.
- $110.6 million from CVS.
- $90.7 million from Teva Pharmaceuticals.
- $62.6 million from Walmart.
- $50 million from Allergan.
- $13.5 million from McKinsey, a consulting firm that advised Purdue Pharma.
- $7.9 million from Publicis Health
- $7.7 million from the Mallinckrodt bankruptcy
Author: Kienan Briscoe
