McCuskey helps secure $7B from Purdue Pharma, Sackler family for fueling opioid crisis

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey announced Thursday that the Sackler family, along with Purdue Pharma, may be required to pay upwards of $7 billion for their role in the opioid crisis.

According to McCuskey, Purdue, under the Sackler’s leadership, “invented, manufactured and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades.”

If approved, the settlement will end the Sackler’s control of Purdue and the ability to sell opioids in the United States. It would also secure funding for communities across the country to support addiction treatment, prevention and recovery programs.

The money from the settlement will be distributed under the terms of the West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding, McCuskey said.

To date, officials said the amount of settlements from opioid litigation within West Virginia totals more than $1 billion.

“While West Virginian’s lives were being destroyed by opioid addiction, the Sacklers were cashing in every time someone got hooked - getting rich with no regard to the toll their drugs were taking on people, families and our communities. The destruction they caused not only our state, but our nation, is an evil that is hard to put into words,” McCuskey said. “While litigation and settlements will not bring back the lives lost from the opioid epidemic, our hope is that the money from all the settlements through the years from manufacturers, pharmacies, distributors, and others will start the rebuilding process from one of the darkest chapters in our history.”

Joining McCuskey in securing the settlement in principle are the attorneys general of New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.