Idaho announces $119 million opioid crisis settlem…


An arrangement of pills of the opioid oxycodone-acetaminophen in New York. Idaho officials on Friday agreed to a $119 million settlement with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors over their role in the opioid addiction crisis.

Patrick Sison/AP


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Patrick Sison/AP


An arrangement of pills of the opioid oxycodone-acetaminophen in New York. Idaho officials on Friday agreed to a $119 million settlement with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors over their role in the opioid addiction crisis.

Patrick Sison/AP

Idaho officials on Friday announced a $119 million settlement with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors over their role in the opioid addiction crisis.

Republican Gov. Brad Little and Republican Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said it’s the second-largest consumer settlement in state history, trailing only the 1998 national tobacco settlement of $712 million.

An Ada County judge on Wednesday approved the settlement that Little and Wasden had agreed to in August. The state’s participation made it eligible for a minimum of $64 million. It also opened the way for local government entities to take part, and all those eligible did so by the end of December, boosting the amount to $119 million.

The money will address damage wrought by opioids, which the federal government declared a public health emergency in 2017. Johnson & Johnson and the three distributors finalized a national $26 billion…