The city of Baltimore won another opioid settlement Tuesday, this time from Walgreens, bringing in its second $80 million settlement of the week.
The city has now brought in $402.5 million in total from five different companies for their role in the manufacture and distribution of opioids.
The full details of the settlement with Walgreens will be announced on Oct. 3.
“As part of the settlement, Walgreens requested that we delay announcing the specific terms of the agreement for 30 days,” said City Solicitor Ebony Thompson. “In order to resolve the case against it and focus our trial on the worst actors in the opioid epidemic, we agreed to this term.”
The city is still in litigation with Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma and other entities. That case will go to trial on Sept. 16.
However, previous settlements have sent money to the city immediately or within a year.
Many of the settlements also required some funds be provided to certain community outreach programs.
The settlements are a culmination of six years of litigation after the city decided to sue the companies on its own, rather than sign onto a global settlement.
“We are proud of our efforts to bring these companies to justice over the past several years,” said Mayor Brandon Scott. “The reality is, addressing the opioid epidemic requires an enormous amount of resources and through this litigation, our outside counsel and Law Department have begun to provide that. As we approach the beginning of trial, it is time to finish the job against the remaining defendants and begin using this money to support and grow the work we’ve already been doing to tackle the opioid epidemic where it can do the most good.”
On Monday, Baltimore won $80 million from Teva Pharmaceuticals. It’s also won settlements against Cardinal Health, Allergan and CVS.
Last month, Scott signed an executive order building a governance structure around how to use the money brought in through the settlements.
The city will initially allocate $20 million to the health department and $42 million to 12 organizations focused on substance abuse and overdose prevention like Tuerk House and Helping Up Mission.
“It isn’t enough to win the funds – we need to put them to work,” Scott said. “This executive order will ensure that restitution funds are governed responsibly, transparently, and effectively in order to support our residents and communities most affected by the epidemic — not just during this administration, but for years to come.”
With the executive order, the city states that the funds will be used purely for substance abuse and overdose programs and services. That includes treatment, recovery, harm reduction and social determinants to health associated with the opioid epidemic. The order also sanctions the use of the funds for infrastructure relating to those programs and their evaluation.
The money can go to both governmental and private organizations for those purposes.
The city will create an opioid restitution advisory board to recommend the best way to spend those funds.
The city is also creating a trust fund to stash the money it wins. A city official said it will be used much like a university endowment where the funds will be invested and the interest will be used for future programs.
However, to ensure the money is used, the executive order mandates that at least 5% of the funds are spent annually on programs and services.
The city is creating two new positions, an executive director of overdose response and an opioid restitution program manager to directly oversee programs and grants.
