At its regular 7 p.m. meeting Tuesday, Danville’s city council will consider participating in a proposed nationwide settlement agreement of opioid-related claims. Participation would allow the city to receive some of the funds included in the $8 billion settlement to abate the opioid epidemic.
This proposed settlement would resolve the legal claims of states and local political subdivisions against Purdue Pharma/Sacklers and nine other defendants, related to the alleged misconduct of opioids.
Over a million Americans have died of overdoses involving opioids since 1999, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with deaths increasing by 67% between 2017 and 2023.
The epidemic “has cost thousands of human lives across the country,” and has also impacted Danville “by adversely impacting the delivery of emergency medical, law enforcement, criminal justice, mental health and substance abuse services” in the city, according to a resolution included in the meeting’s agenda packet.
The settlement, which has not yet been finalized, would require the Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Estate and the Sackler family, which owned the company, to pay about $8 billion to abate the opioid epidemic.
The other nine defendants, all pharmaceutical companies — Alvogen, Amneal, Apotex, Hikma, Indivior, Mylan, Sun Pharma, Zydus and Sandoz — will be paying a combined amount of $1.2 billion.
“The funds will be distributed to the participating states and localities as available and must be used for opioid abatement efforts,” according to the staff report in the agenda packet.
The amount of money that individual participating localities would receive is not yet known.
The city has been allocating “substantial taxpayer dollars, resources, staff energy and time to address the damage the opioid epidemic has caused and continues to cause” and “seeks recovery of the public funds previously expended and to be expended in the future,” the resolution says.
The city has had educational and preventative programming around opioid addiction for years, Alongside nearby Pittsylvania County, it has received grant money from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority in the past.
City staff recommends that council approve participation in the settlement to receive its share of funds that the settlement would provide, according to the staff report.
This is the only meeting in Danville this week. In Pittsylvania County, the planning commission will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday. That meeting agenda packet can be found here.
