By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
The fight against opioid abuse across the country has reached a new milestone, as on Monday, April 7, it was announced that Utah, along with eight other states, would be receiving a $335 million settlement from pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc.
Mylan began selling opioid products in 2005, including fentanyl patches, oxycodone, hydrocodone and buprenorphine. The lawsuit claimed that Mylan had used deceptive marketing tactics to advertise these products as less abuse-prone.
“I am pleased to announce a settlement of $335 million with Mylan Inc. for their role in the deadly opioid crisis. Mylan was aware that its opioid products, including fentanyl patches, were especially prone to abuse, and did not inform consumers of that issue,” said Utah Attorney General Derek Brown of the settlement. “I am grateful for the relentless work of the attorneys in the Office of the Utah Attorney General in holding Mylan accountable, and remain committed to saving Utah lives from the opioid crisis.”
Brown, along with attorneys general from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Virginia, negotiated the settlement in principle.
According to data collected by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an average of 2.8% of Utah residents over the age of 12 had a past-year illicit drug disorder between the years 2017 and 2019, similar to the national average of 2.9%. The money won in this lawsuit will go into the existing settlement funds held by Utah. These funds are to be used to combat opioid and substance use disorders across the state.
According to the Utah State Legislature, on a statewide level, these funds have been used for programs like USARA, which was recently named Castle Country Radio’s Charity of the Month.
Utah Opioid Priorities, an organization that aims to” assist the state and local communities in utilizing funds that are expected from various opioid litigations and settlements,” finds that 33.2% of this money has been used for opioid recovery treatment. The other primary areas of spending are prevention, with 25.2%, and criminal justice, with 25.1%
SOURCE: Utah Opioid Priorities
The press release explains that the money earned from this settlement will” contribute to Utah’s already existing settlement funds. So far, the state of Utah has received $81 million and is promised around half a billion dollars more in the next 15 years.”