Wichita City Council members and Sedgwick County Commissioners have approved, with separate actions, settlements in the first round of lawsuits filed against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Cases filed by cities, counties and states across the U.S. have been consolidated into a $21 billion dollar settlement with Johnson & Johnson and a number of distributors.  The state of Kansas will get about $95 million, and the state legislature has created two funds to accept settlement money.     Under legislation approved earlier this year, 75 percent of the money will go to a Kansas Fights Addiction Fund and 25 percent will go to a Municipalities Fight Addiction Fund.

With the settlement, the City of Wichita will receive about $4.3 million over 18 years, and Sedgwick County will get $3.8 million over that time.   Cities can apply for grants from the state’s 75 percent share of the settlement.   The funding will have to be used to recover costs related to the opioid crisis, as well as treatment and addiction programs to address the impact of the crisis.

Under the terms of the settlement, Wichita and Sedgwick County will have to assign future claims against opioid manufacturers and distributors to the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.  The Attorney General will then negotiate future settlements.

City and county leaders are unhappy with the arrangement but felt there was no other choice but to accept the settlement.   Wichita Vice Mayor Brandon Johnson said it’s wrong to limit the city’s ability to take future legal action.   Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell said the county’s portion of the settlement, which amounts to about $200,000 a year, does not begin to address the challenges the county has had in the past and will have in the future with opioid addiction.

[ photo credit – Reuters ]