Arkansas will receive $44.5 million of a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family for their role in the United States’ opioid epidemic.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced the settlement share Wednesday, and said the state would begin receiving the money next year. The annual payments will continue until 2040.
“I am pleased to see Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family held accountable for their actions that perpetuated the opioid crisis across the country, including here in Arkansas,” Griffin said in a press release. “These funds will further opioid abatement in Arkansas and will help provide treatment, research, and prevention.”
A third of the award will go to the state. The remaining funds will be evenly split between Arkansas municipalities and counties, and managed by the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership.
Purdue Pharma is the producer of OxyContin, a painkiller that public health experts and government officials say was the catalyst for the broader opioid epidemic that began in the 1990s. The Sackler family is the owner of Purdue, but would be forced to give up their ownership under the settlement agreement.
The settlement is the latest in a years-long saga that started in 2019 when Purdue, facing thousands of lawsuits over OxyContin’s role in the epidemic, filed for bankruptcy protections. The agreement resolves these lawsuits, but does not shield the Sacklers from opioid lawsuits in the future.
A previous settlement that included such protections was scuttled last year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the family couldn’t be protected by a settlement in bankruptcy court since the family itself hadn’t filed for bankruptcy.
Arkansas has the second-highest opioid dispensing rate in the nation, according to an Arkansas Department of Human Services report published in 2024. Arkansas’ rate was 72.2 per 100 people in 2022, according to the report. The national average was 46.8 per 100 people.
“Rates of opioid misuse in Arkansas were consistently in the top ten highest rates in the country among all age groups,” the report said. “4.1% of adults reported misusing opioids in the past year Arkansas ranked 15th for individuals who reported being diagnosed with opioid use disorder in the past year.”
Particular disparities were noted in counties with greater income inequality, where “overdose death rates for Black individuals more than double those in counties with less income inequality,” according to the report.
For more on this story visit the Arkansas Advocate for further details.
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