Stanislaus County is taking in millions from multistate opioid lawsuits. Big Pharma pays
Stanislaus County will receive $28.7 million from a court settlement with an opioid drug manufacturer and distributors, and expects to get other allocations from cases related to the drug crisis.
State and local governments plagued by the opioid epidemic joined in lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies and drugstore chains, charging that they misrepresented the risks for patients and failed to prevent misuse of the addictive drugs.
Proposed settlements with Janssen Pharmaceuticals and distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen were announced in July 2021, with California expected to receive $2.05 billion.
Stanislaus will get 1.5% of that as a participant in the lawsuit against Janssen and the distributors, according to a county staff report released Friday. The $28.7 million will be paid to the county over 18 years.
The state Department of Health Care Services is overseeing the funds paid to jurisdictions, specifying that the money be used to recover costs of the epidemic and limit damage from the ongoing crisis.
The county is seeing a rising tide of opioid drug overdoses and accidental poisonings caused by street fentanyl, a drug 50 times more potent than heroin.
Accidental fentanyl poisoning resulted in 127 deaths last year in the county, while 14 other people had fatal overdoses from other opioids such as heroin.
The county’s annual mortality rate related to opioid overdoses was 19.2 per 100,000 population in 2021, a 133% increase over the 2019 rate. Stanislaus also has one of the highest rates of nonfatal overdoses in the state.
“The continued loss of life and other impacts on the health and well being of the community due to opioids underscores the need for increased efforts to expand access to substance use disorder treatment services,” says the report on the agenda of the Board of Supervisors’ meeting Tuesday.
A smaller monetary settlement with Mallinckrodt PLC will pay about $1 million to the county.
Stanislaus officials still are waiting to hear about the county’s share of a settlement from multi-state lawsuits against drug manufacturers Allergan and Teva and pharmacies CVS, Walgreens and Walmart. The proposed settlements total $18.72 billion for California and its participating entities, the county report says.
The county will take in $1,725,000 annually from the Janssen and Mallinckrodt settlements as a funding source to help support expanded substance use services. The county anticipates that some local cities may receive settlement funds from the multi-state lawsuits that also could support expansion of substance use services for county and city residents.
County staff could make funding requests to cities that receive settlement allocations, the county report says.
County BHRS has a plan to expand access to treatment services for those addicted to drugs. The opioid epidemic has heavily impacted the homeless.
Vision for treatment services
The department’s vision includes access to substance use services 24/7, regardless of the person’s insurance, with treatment slots available for all levels of care. Partnerships with treatment providers will ensure comprehensive services and sustained recovery for clients.
The plan includes a respite and stabilization center to help people recover from the effects of alcohol or drugs; a drop-in center open Monday through Friday to connect with resources and attend support groups; and a clinic for evaluations and medication access.
The county also hopes to expand teams for care coordination, outreach and engagement.
Expanded programs for young people may include residential drug treatment and services for safe withdrawal from addictive drugs. Those services don’t exist in the county.
In addition, adults in the county jail could be provided medication-assisted treatment for addiction to narcotic drugs.
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St., Modesto.
