By Ariyana Griffin
AFRO Staff Writer
The City of Baltimore and Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced an $80 million settlement with pharmaceutical giant, Walgreens, on Sept. 10.
Baltimore officials claim that Walgreens furthered the destruction caused by the opioid epidemic in the city, and the business has agreed to resolve the city’s claims. The full terms of the agreement are set to be shared with the public on Oct. 3.
“As part of the settlement, Walgreens requested that we delay announcing the specific terms of the agreement for 30 days,” said City Solicitor Ebony M. Thompson, said in a statement. “In order to resolve the case against it and focus our trial on the worst actors in the opioid epidemic, we agreed to this term.”
According to the Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore has “ 620,000 residents, nearly 25,000 people are estimated to misuse opioids, and many of them are not connected to adequate treatment or social support services.”
This is the fifth settlement the city has accumulated in an ongoing six-year case against opioid distributors and manufacturers that have, according to Baltimore City officials, “caused the worst opioid epidemic in the nation.”
Baltimore City has reached settlements with Allergan, for $45 million, CVS for $45 million, Teva, for $80 million, and Cardinal Health, to the tune of $152.5 million. With the inclusion of the Walgreens settlement, the city has gathered $402.5 million in total.
“We are proud of our efforts to bring these companies to justice over the past several years,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott in a statement. “The reality is, addressing the opioid epidemic requires an enormous amount of resources and through this litigation, our outside counsel and Law Department have begun to provide that.”
“As we approach the beginning of trial, it is time to finish the job against the remaining defendants and begin using this money to support and grow the work we’ve already been doing to tackle the opioid epidemic where it can do the most good,” continued Mayor Scott.
Next week, the search for compensation to offset the effects of the opioid epidemic in Baltimore will continue, as city officials will see Johnson and Johnson, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen in court.
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