Kentucky to secure $73M in opioid settlement funds from Purdue Pharma, AG says
Kentucky stands to obtain millions of dollars in settlement funds from Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family for their role in the opioid epidemic, Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Monday.
Purdue Pharma has agreed to pay $73 million to Kentucky for its part in the opioid epidemic.
This is a result of a national lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that created OxyContin. It’s the second-largest sum of settlement money secured under Coleman.
The latest settlement pushes the total amount secured by Kentucky in opioid lawsuit settlement money over a billion, at $1,067,844,521.12.
Attorneys general from all 50 states and five U.S. territories agreed to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. This settlement is the nation’s largest to date involving individuals responsible for the opioid crisis.
The Sacklers created a dynasty from owning Purdue Pharma, which has been credited as one of the primary forces in America’s modern opioid epidemic.
The Sacklers led Purdue Pharma to market opioids for decades under the guise that their primary product, OxyContin, was non-addictive. The company targeted states, such as Kentucky, with high rates of pain management prescriptions, to release their pills with fervor.
Kentucky was hit particularly hard by the opioid epidemic that began in the 2010s as doctors generously prescribed addictive pain medications.
States across the U.S., including Kentucky, have spent recent years looking to recoup the financial strain of the epidemic.
In 2015, Kentucky settled with the company for $24 million, which ended a majority of claims against the company and Sackler family.
The Office of the Attorney General in 2022 established the Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission and tasked its members with doling out this massive sum of money to any cause or organization that “supports intervention, treatment, and recovery services” for people living with addiction, according to state statute.
“For too long, Kentucky families have been suffering the deadly consequences of those behind the drug crisis,” Coleman said in a press release. “These resources won’t bring back lost loved ones, but they may be able to prevent future tragedies.”
Kentucky’s roughly $1 billion share of total settlement money from companies behind “the worst man-made crisis in the Commonwealth’s history,” Coleman said.
“With more than $1 billion, Kentucky is investing in prevention, treatment and recovery programs that will save lives and turn the page on this crisis.”
In January, Coleman’s office also secured $110 million from Kroger, a grocery store chain, for its role in the opioid crisis.
Coleman filed suit against Kroger in February 2024, which alleged that between 2006 and 2019, more than 100 Kentucky Kroger pharmacies were responsible for more than 11% of all opioid pills dispensed in the state.
