RALEIGH, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A coalition of 55 attorneys general has agreed to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, marking the largest-ever agreement involving individuals held responsible for the opioid crisis.

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, whose office helped lead the negotiations, announced Monday that the state is expected to receive nearly $150 million over 15 years as part of the deal. The Sackler family has agreed to move forward with the settlement, which must still receive approval through ongoing bankruptcy court proceedings.

The estimated payout for Buncombe County is $3.1 million, while the city of Asheville is expected to get almost $300,000.

“Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family are responsible for creating the opioid epidemic that continues to take the lives of North Carolinians every single day,” Jackson said in a statement.

The attorney general said the settlement will bring billions to communities across the country to help people recover and stay in recovery while ensuring the Sacklers are out of the pharma business for good.

The agreement ends the Sackler family’s control of Purdue Pharma and prohibits them from marketing or selling opioids in the United States. Purdue and the Sacklers will make their first payments — totaling roughly $2.4 billion — within the first year, with additional payments over the next three years. Most of the funds will be distributed in the first three years of the 15-year payout schedule.

The funds will be used by state and local governments to bolster opioid treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts. North Carolina counties are expected to play a key role in deploying the funds to the communities hit hardest by the epidemic.

“Counties are on the front lines of the opioid overdose epidemic — and leading the way toward recovery,” Tare “T” Davis, president of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, said in the news release. “We urge all eligible local governments to sign on to the latest settlement agreements so North Carolina receives every dollar it’s owed.”

The state Department of Justice has now secured nearly $1.6 billion in opioid-related settlements, with $1.3 billion designated for local governments. The Community Opioid Resources Engine (CORE-NC) allows the public to track spending and planned uses for settlement funds in each locality.

The local government sign-on process for this latest Purdue settlement will proceed once the bankruptcy court gives its final approval. A hearing on the matter is expected in the coming days.

Attorneys general from every U.S. state and territory eligible to participate have signed on to the agreement.

Stats from NCopioidsettlement.org:

  • In NC, more than 36,000 people lost their lives to overdose from 2000-2022.
  • From 2000-20, more than 28,000 North Carolina residents died from drug overdoses.
  • In Buncombe County, a projected 123 people died from an overdose in 2024.
  • Buncombe County is receiving $30,325,482 in opioid settlement funds from 2022 through 2038.
  • Buncombe County has approved strategies for these funds that go toward evidence-based addiction treatment, recovery support services, naloxone distribution and more.