Alabama will receive $276 million from three companies involved in the production and distribution of prescription opioids that once fueled the overdose crisis.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the settlements on Tuesday.

Alabama will reportedly receive $25 million this year from a company that produced  generic opiod medications, Endo Pharmaceutical.  Meanwhile Johnson & Johnson will pay the state some $70.3 million this year and McKesson – which distributed opioids, will pay a total of $141 million over nine years.    

The state also collected another $40 million in attorney’s fees.

Wednesday afternoon, WEIS Radio News spoke with Cherokee County Probate Judge Tim Burgess about the settlement, and he said, yes – Cherokee County would receive a portion of those funds however it’s still too early to tell just how much.  He stressed that it must be kept in mind, that those funds must be targeted toward specific areas.

Burgess said additional information would be released by the County Commission as soon as it becomes available.

In August, 2021 AG Marshall had announced that the state of Alabama was opting out of the $26 billion national opioid settlement involving some of the same companies – in order to pursue separate legal action.  Marshall on Tuesday said the amounts from Endo and McKesson are higher than payments the state would have received through the national opioid settlement; the state still hasn’t settled their claims against three other companies.

Marshall stated those settlement funds are supposed to be used to repair some of the damage caused by the opioid epidemic in Alabama.  The state has long led the nation in the number of opioids prescribed per person, though the figure HAS fallen sharply during the last 10 years.

That money will be deposited in the general fund and lawmakers will determine how it is spent.  Marshall said that members of the Alabama Opioid Overdose & Addiction Council have put together a plan to help guide those decisions.

(AL.COM/www.al.com)