SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah is slated to receive $57 million to combat the impact of the opioid crisis following the Utah Department of Commerce's Division of Consumer Protection agreeing to a settlement with the makers of OxyContin. The agreement is part of a $7.4 billion agreement between Utah and 54 other eligible jurisdictions.
According to the Utah Department of Commerce, Purdue Pharma, led by the Sackler family, manufactured opioid medications like OxyContin and marketed them as safe, despite knowing they were highly addictive.
The Division of Consumer Protection in 2019 filed an administrative action against the company and family alleging their participation in deceptive practices. Officials say that Purdue Pharma helped intensify the crisis in Utah by paying out nearly $200,000 in gifts and payments to Utah prescribers between 2013 and 2017.
"Utah families deserve this resolution after Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family recklessly harmed our communities and contributed to the opioid epidemic,” said Utah Attorney General Derek Brown. “I will continue to use all the tools I have available, including litigation and prosecution, to protect Utahns in the future from these deadly drugs.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the Sackler family will pay out $6.5 billion over the next 15 years, with another $900 million coming from Purdue Pharma upon its emergence from bankruptcy protections. Also, the agreement will end the Sacklers' control of the company and restrict its sale of opioids in the United States.
Purdue Pharma's future lobbying and marketing efforts will also be limited and monitored under the agreement.
“Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family caused immense harm and innumerable lives lost through their deceptive marketing and greed,” said Margaret Woolley Busse, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce. “Utah never stopped its work to hold Purdue and the Sacklers accountable for what they have done and the devastation they have caused”.
"The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact on Utah," the department wrote in a release about the settlement. According to them, between 2002 and 2015, opioid prescriptions surged by over one million, and from 2013 to 201,5 Utah ranked 7th in prescription drug poisoning deaths.
The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner reports that prescription opioids were responsible for the deaths of 1,611 people in the state from 2014 to 2019. The most recent data from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services reports 606 drug overdose deaths in 2023, with 27.9% involving at least one prescription opioid, and many of these tragically stemming from heroin and fentanyl overdoses that began with prescription opioid abuse.
