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Purdue settlement would raise money to clean up opioid crisis by…selling more opioids

FILE - In this July 20, 2007, file photo, Ed Bisch, left, and other demonstrators march along Main Street in Abingdon, Va., to raise awareness about the abuse of OxyContin. Some of the money in Purdue Pharma's proposed multibillion-dollar opioid settlement would come from the continued sale of opioids. "It's disgraceful," said Ed Bisch, who was among the first parents to take on Purdue. His son died of an OxyContin overdose at 18 in 2001. "If they keep on selling OxyContin, there's going to be more and more accidental addicts." (David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier via AP, File)
FILE - In this July 20, 2007, file photo, Ed Bisch, left, and other demonstrators march along Main Street in Abingdon, Va., to raise awareness about the abuse of OxyContin. Some of the money in Purdue Pharma's proposed multibillion-dollar opioid settlement would come from the continued sale of opioids. "It's disgraceful," said Ed Bisch, who was among the first parents to take on Purdue. His son died of an OxyContin overdose at 18 in 2001. "If they keep on selling OxyContin, there's going to be more and more accidental addicts." (David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier via AP, File) FILE - In this July 20, 2007, file photo, Ed Bisch, left, and other demonstrators march along Main Street in Abingdon, Va., to raise awareness about the abuse of OxyContin. Some of the money in Purdue Pharma's proposed multibillion-dollar opioid settlement would come from the continued sale of opioids. "It's disgraceful," said Ed Bisch, who was among the first parents to take on Purdue. His son died of an OxyContin overdose at 18 in 2001. "If they keep on selling OxyContin, there's going to be more and more accidental addicts." (David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier via AP, File)

By Associated Press 5 min read

The tentative multibillion-dollar settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma would raise money to help clean up the opioid mess by … selling more OxyContin.

That would amount to blood money, in the opinion of some critics. And it’s one reason two dozen states have rejected the deal.

“The settlement agreement basically requires the settlement payments to be made based on the future sales and profits of opioids. That doesn’t really feel to me like the right way to do this,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said this week.

Massachusetts is among the several states that have pledged to continue pushing back in court against the company and especially members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue. On Tuesday, North Carolina became the latest state to sue the Sacklers.

Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue, cast as a major villain in the opioid crisis in some 2,600 lawsuits brought by state, local and tribal governments, hospitals, unions and others, filed for bankruptcy Sunday in the first step toward putting the settlement into effect.