UPFRONT: State to use funds from Purdue Pharma settlement for treatment, prevention and recovery

MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) - The Wisconsin Attorney General says the state could see $65 million from a multi-billion dollar settlement with the maker of OxyContin, the drug blamed for thousands of opioid related deaths.

As previously reported, the settlement was disclosed last week in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court..

Wisconsin, as well as 44 other states, sued Purdue Pharma and the family that owned it, saying they downplayed the risks of OxyContin.

Josh Kaul, the Wisconsin Attorney General, led the legal action within the state, and says the state saw an increase in opioid overdoses during the pandemic, and the money from the settlement will be used to fight the problem.

“those funds are going to go to communities throughout the state to help fight the epidemic through things such as treatment, treatment and prevention, and recovery efforts,” said Kaul. “We can start to see money coming to the state pretty soon. The payments will be made over the course of a number of years. But, these resources are going to be coming pretty soon if we can get this case resolved, and I would add we have also joined multi-state investigations into opioid distributors, so it is our hope that we’re going to have a lot of additional resources coming to the state beyond these that will help us fight this epidemic.”

A judge now has to agree on the settlement, and Kaul says he is very confident it will happen.

UPFRONT airs every Sunday at 10 a.m. on WBAY-TV.

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