Milwaukee County is set to receive a landmark settlement of $71 million as an agreement that will address the opioid epidemic in the county.
The settlement amount will be used for abatement, treatment, and awareness of opioid issues. It is a part of multi-district litigation filed in the Northern District of Ohio against the opioid makers. The county will receive the amount over the next 18 years.
According to the counsel of Milwaukee County Corporation, the agreement is an important development in the county's move to address the nationwide epidemic, which increased during the pandemic. Milwaukee County recorded 83 deaths in 2002 because of opioid abuse, and it is on track to record 500 deaths in 2021.
The agreement came after more than a year of careful negotiation with national class representatives, state attorneys general, defendants, local governments, Governor and State Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee.
Southeast Wisconsin is set to receive more than $140 million to address the opioid crisis, and the funds will be released either in the first or second quarter of 2022 as soon as all the litigating jurisdictions sign the settlement.
In 2017, the nation's second-biggest legal settlement to address the opioid crisis was announced, where AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson have agreed to pay $26 billion to the thousands of other towns across the U.S.
