West Virginia set to receive approximately $55 million from Sackler, Purdue Pharma settlement – WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia looks to receive as much as $55 million from the announced $74 billion dollar settlement between 13 states and the Sackler Family that ran the drug company Purdue Pharma that produced Oxycontin.

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey said while the lives of West Virginians were being destroyed by the opioid addiction the Sackler Family and its company were cashing in.

“The destruction they caused not only our state, but our nation, is an evil that is hard to put into words,” McCuskey said.

The money West Virginia receives will flow through the West Virginia First Foundation.

In announcing the settlement Thursday, New York state Attorney General Letitia James said those responsible are finally going to pay up.

“The Sackler family and their company Purdue who helped spark the opioid crisis decades ago have for years avoided accountability for the immense cause that they have caused all of the victims all of the loved ones who have died all of those who are in the throes of addiction right now,” James said.

The Sacklers will personally pay up to $6.5 billion and an additional $900 million will come from Purdue the company that they started.

“This will help communities heal from the devastating losses brought by addiction,” James said. “And this will support treatment and recovery programs across New York and the nation.”

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the original settlement amount.

West Virginia originally sued Purdue Pharma in 2019 when current Gov. Patrick Morrisey was attorney general. McCuskey said the fight continues.

“West Virginia has suffered enough from the opioid epidemic, and we will continue to fight for the communities that have been shattered by this scourge,” Attorney General McCuskey said. “We have held those responsible accountable; our fight now is to see to it that that future generations will have the tools they need to prevent this crisis from ever happening again.”

The West Virginia First Foundation has begun to distribute approximately $1 billion in opioid settlement money.