In the past few years, some major companies have agreed to multi-billion dollar settlements

for their roles in the opioid crisis.

The number of states have now agreed to a $26 billion settlement with three large drug

distributors and Johnson and Johnson.

The oxycontin maker, Purdue Farmer, reaches a new deal with several states to settle lawsuits

for its alleged role in the opioid crisis.

CVS and Walgreens announced Wednesday they are settling lawsuits over their roles in the

opioid crisis.

The drug maker, Mellon Crat, is the latest to announce a major legal settlement involving

opioid.

In these settlements, state governments, municipalities, and victims agreed to not pursue future lawsuits.

The makers and distributors of opioids agreed to pay billions of dollars.

Those funds are supposed to help keep methadone clinics open to buy Narcan for a distribution

across their states so that emergency responders, when they get a call of an overdose, have

the materials on hand to save lives.

That's what the money is for.

That's our colleague, Alexander Saeed.

And he says, these funds are needed now more than ever.

Something I think we may not remember may not be fully aware of is that opioid deaths

in America are continuing to rise at a healthy clip.

As of 2020 and 2021, the annual deaths are totaling something like 80,000, 90,000.

So they've almost doubled since 2017 alone.

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