OHIO (Washington Insider Magazine) – According to a judicial filing made public Tuesday, Native American tribes have negotiated $590 million in settlements with manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and the country’s three major drug distribution corporations about the toll of opioids.
The settlements with Johnson & Johnson and distribution companies, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen are detailed in a filing in the United States District Court in Cleveland. Some aspects have yet to be ironed out.
Even if tribes did not sue over opioids, all federally recognized tribes in the United States will be allowed to share in the settlements. According to NBC NEWS, settlements could be reached between other companies in the business and tribes, most of which have been heavily hit by the overdose issue.
In contrast to tobacco industry accords in the 1990s that excluded Native American groups, W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington state, said it was a significant issue for tribes to achieve their own settlement.
Allen doesn’t hope much from the settlement for his 550-member tribe, but it will aid in their attempts to create a rehabilitation center that will combat opioid abuse, he said.
Over 400 tribes and intertribal organizations have filed a lawsuit over opioids, representing roughly 80% of tribal citizens.
Johnson & Johnson, located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which made Duragesic and Nucynta but no longer sells opioids, said in a statement on Tuesday that the agreement is not an acknowledgment of guilt or wrongdoing.
The deal, according to AmerisourceBergen, based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, will expedite relief for communities and allow the company to focus on the drug supply chain.
Johnson & Johnson will pay $150 million over 2 years under the terms of the agreement. Over the course of seven years, McKesson, Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen will contribute a total of $440 million.
Each one of the 574 officially recognized tribes could choose whether or not to join, but they would have to use the funds to combat the opioid crisis.
According to Tara Sutton, a lawyer whose firm represents 28 tribes, the agreement will take effect after 95 percent of the tribes have cases against the firm’s consent to the settlement.
Settlements are also being negotiated between tribes as well as other opioid-related businesses, according to Sutton.
Prescription medicines like OxyContin, as well as illicit substances like heroin and illegally manufactured fentanyl, have been connected to more than 500,000 deaths in the country over the last two decades.
