EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine on Friday informed County Board members the county will receive an estimated $3.7 million as its share of a settlement in a lawsuit against opioid distributors.
The total amount will be received over a period of years, through 2038. The first two installments to the county, totaling $243,323, were processed last week.
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“Pursuant to the settlement agreements, Madison County is obligated to use the settlement funds to support opioid remediation programs in the community,” Haine wrote. Haine said the terms of the settlement allow the funds to be used for a range of programs that includes training for first-responders, youth education, treatment and support services, support to those involved in the criminal justice system and research. The county will be required to provide documentation to the Illinois Attorney General that funds are used to support opioid remediation programs.
“My office stands ready to assist the County Board in working out a proper method to allocate these funds within Madison County, to ensure that these initial opioid-related settlement funds and those that may be possibly coming in the future are efficiently and effectively allocated in a way best suited to alleviating the harms caused by the opioid epidemic,” Haine wrote.
The settlement was reached on behalf of local governments across the country in litigation against three distributors of opioids – AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson – and one manufacturer of opioids, Janssen.
