The opioid distributors agreed to pay up. But we need more than cash to end this epidemic
Fourteen million dollars is a lot of money. And over 17 years, that’s how much Pierce County will directly receive from a recently announced state-negotiated settlement with opioid distributors. The money is the end result of a lawsuit filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson back in 2019, one that sought to hold three pharmaceutical bad actors — McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. — accountable for their role in fueling the ongoing opioid epidemic.
As The News Tribune’s Shea Johnson reported, the money, minus fees and other costs, will go toward the local battle against the abuse of opioids. Combined with settlement money from the case likely to flow directly to Pierce County cities, the local payout will likely be in the ballpark of $24 million, according to the AG’s office. That will almost certainly mean more treatment, more options and more resources for the people of Pierce County whose lives have been hijacked by addiction — all of which are sorely needed. That’s why the lawsuit was filed, and why it was justified. And there’s more money likely on the way, with other legal payouts expected.
But you know what? The money — down to the very last penny — pales in comparison to the damage these drug pushers have done. On a day when the payout is being celebrated as a victory for justice and for all the good it can do in Pierce County, that shouldn’t be forgotten.
The truth is the opioid industry is getting off easy. There was little doubt they would. For years, across the country, the pharmaceutical giants fed lies to medical providers and the general public, assuring us all their products were safe. They weren’t, and they knew it. Meanwhile, the distributors knowingly flooded the country with dangerous pills. And much of the nightmare we’ve endured since — the epidemic, the overdoses, the deaths, the families and dreams shattered — is a result of these original sins.
There’s no way they can repay us for what they’ve done. No way.
But we should also look in the mirror.
Back in 2018 I attended what was described at the time as an “opioid summit,” held downtown at the University of Washington Tacoma Campus. The who’s who drew a host of political heavyweights, including U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer and County Executive Bruce Dammeier. Caleb Banta-Green, a well-known opioid researcher and expert, was also on hand, helping to explain and put into words a crisis that had long been ravaging local lives.
One would have hoped that things would be better by now. One would have hoped that, given four years’ time, we would have found a way to stem the tide — even if everyone in the room knew the fight would be long and there would be no easy answers. Instead, it often feels like the exact opposite has happened, even if local officials have tried to cobble resources together in response and local service providers continue to do the Lord’s work.
The truth is, addiction-related services are still too hard to come by. A pandemic hit. Fentanyl changed the game. In Washington, the state Supreme Court’s Blake decision (and the legislature’s reaction to it) essentially legalized the personal possession of drugs, and at the same time we’ve invested far too little in the sort of treatment and rehabilitation that actually helps people recover. Regardless of your feelings about the effectiveness of drug laws in preventing and deterring addiction (and I have my own), there’s little doubt we’ve created the worst of all worlds through half-measures and empty lip service.
Fourteen million dollars will help, sure. So will the money that’s yet to come. But we’ve got a long way to go — and a lot of that’s on us.
“I’ll put it this way: it is not going to repair the damage done by itself. It’s not going to. This is not life-changing money for the entire county, but it will be life-changing for some people,” said Pierce County Council member Derek Young, who helped launch the county’s opioid task force in 2017.
“I don’t want people to feel like it is anywhere near equivalent to the damage done or the scale of what we would need to do to solve the problem,” he continued. “The whole country kind of needs to get its act together if we’re going to have a chance of reversing course.”
That’s true.
Let’s start right here at home.
This story was originally published September 15, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
