Silver State Times

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced that the State has settled two more opioid lawsuits, bringing in tens of millions of dollars to help combat the opioid crisis; a December press release from his office said.

Nevada will get $32.2 million from a multistate settlement with Walmart and $1.5 million from a settlement with American Drug Stores that was not negotiated as part of a multistate agreement. The Mallinckrodt bankruptcy plan has also been completed, and Nevada will receive $1.8 million as a result.

“Nevada continues to recover funds to address the opioid crisis in our state, but there is still much more to be done,” Ford said in the release. “These recoveries will allow governments at all levels across the state to quickly fund programs needed to help those Nevadans affected by the opioid epidemic. My office will continue to work to hold every entity responsible for this crisis in Nevada accountable.”

The State claimed that Walmart and American Drug Stores violated the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act by failing to properly regulate prescription opioids in Nevada in their omnibus complaint. In addition to monetary compensation, both settlements also contained stipulations for injunctive relief. The State reached an agreement on the intrastate distribution of monies from opioid-related recoveries last year, along with all Nevada counties and localities that have ongoing legal actions against opioid manufacturers. This One Nevada Agreement on Allocation of Opioid Recoveries sets a framework for how money from any opioid-related settlement in Nevada will be divided between the state and different local governmental entities and used to address the risks, harms and impacts brought on by the state's opioid epidemic.

“The proceeds from these settlements will help address the emotional and economic burden that opioids have left on our residents and the community as a whole,” Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Clark County commissioner, said in the release. “Opioids have destroyed an entire generation of young people, leaving behind damage that cannot be undone. These funds will help us boost capacity of treatment programs that address addiction for this vulnerable population. Opioid addiction often leads to other drug use so this support will span across all addiction-related services to improve short- and long-term recovery for the human lives so drastically impacted.”