Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022 | 4:23 p.m.
The Las Vegas City Council approved participation in a settlement between the State of Nevada, opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and three distributors.
The approval aligns with the One Nevada Agreement on Allocation of Opioid Recoveries, which allows local governments to participate in statewide allocation efforts to fight the opioid epidemic. The One Nevada Agreement was approved last July, detailing an outline for how the state distributes funds from opioid-related settlements.
The funds, reaching approximately $285.2 million in Nevada, stem from a settlement with defendant Johnson & Johnson and distributors AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. It’s part of a $26 billion, multistate settlement.
As part of the agreement, Johnson & Johnson will be required to halt their sale of opioids and refrain from providing grants to third parties to produce opioids.
In Nevada, 1,300 residents died of opioids between January 2019 and October 2021. That number does not include those who died from overdoses or in emergency room visits.
These funds will be allocated among state and local governments to alleviate the damage and risks the opioid epidemic causes in Nevada.
The city’s approval allows participation in this disbursement. City officials said it’s too premature to talk about how the money will be distributed or how much it will receive, saying only that the settlement will be delivered over 17 years.
Other opioid epidemic-tackling efforts have been taking place in Nevada. Early last year, Gov. Steve Sisolak signed Senate Bill 390 into law, generating the Fund for Resilient Nevada that supports programs through the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. The bill requires Nevada to identify the needs to the state and hone on crucial areas impacted by the epidemic.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford told the Sun he expects the first payment to arrive in April and another in July. Annual payments over 17 years will come each July.
“The sooner we receive this funding, the sooner we can use it to save lives in our state,” Ford told the Sun earlier this month.
