City of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee May Receive up to $15.8 Mil. from Opioid Settlement

Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently shared news that Washington State received $518 million in settlement money from opioid distributors, for the burgeoning opioid epidemic that has been plaguing Washington state. Both the City of Wenatchee and the City of East Wenatchee could receive up to $15.8 million within this settlement.

McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. were among the chief pharmaceutical companies that will need to pay the settlement for their contribution to the growing cases of opioid addiction, alleging that these companies were responsible for failing to report suspicious opioid shipments.

On May 18, Mallinckrodt was added to the list of pharmaceutical companies and owes Washington $18 million towards opioid recovery services.

According to the Office of the Attorney General:
“Prescriptions and sales of opioids in Washington skyrocketed more than 500% between 1997 and 2011. In 2011, at the peak of overall sales in Washington, more than 112 million daily doses of all prescription opioids were dispensed in the state — enough for a 16-day supply for every woman, man and child in Washington.”

These companies have 17 years to pay out the settlement, which would be geared toward addiction treatment centers and strategies that would address the opioid epidemic, which is illustrated in the state’s Opioid Response plan.

Mayor Fred Kuntz of Wenatchee and Mayor Jerrilea Crawford signed the Memorandum of Understanding at the end of March. The final confirmed amount that the city will receive is currently undisclosed.