The city of Lorain will join with other communities looking to settle one of the legal battles that erupted due to the opioid epidemic.
On Aug. 8, Lorain City Council voted 11-0 for legislation authorizing Mayor Jack Bradley to join the city to a settlement with three drug distributors.
It could lead to more than $399,000 or more coming to Lorain to help with drug addiction treatment.
The settlement is an “extremely complicated” legal deal, said city Law Director Pat Riley.
Far clearer is the damage caused in recent years by drug companies’ greed peddling prescription narcotics that led to addiction — and worse, Bradley said.
He recounted one description from an online legal meeting about the cases: “The devils have had this money long enough.”
“It’s a good statement,” said Councilman-at-Large Mitch Fallis.
“That’s what they are — devils,” Bradley said.
Riley called the opioid agreement a scourge.
After the meeting, Fallis recalled the effects on families that lost loved ones due to addiction and drug overdoses.
“This settlement is something that I think we kind of have to accept,” Bradley said. “But in reality, these drug companies are getting off cheap.”
Lorainites and people across Ohio and the nation have dealt with crimes and community effects when people became addicted to prescription drugs, then turned to heroin, fentanyl and illegal drugs.
The drug companies were making money when Lorain was paying with police actions and lost lives, Bradley said.
“This is cheap,” he said.
The settlement is “a bitter pill,” Bradley said.
In March 2020, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced OneOhio, described as a plan to jointly approach settlement negotiations and litigation with the drug manufacturers and distributors of opioids.
Commitments were received from local governments representing more than 9.8 million Ohioans, or 85 percent of the state’s population of 11.7 million.
The money will be used for certain specific programs outlined in the settlement agreement to assist people fighting addiction and to address the opioid crisis treatment centers, Bradley said.
Riley said he and Bradley have been in discussion with attorneys and other city leaders to work out details.
Even with that assistance, Riley told Council he was not yet ready to present a detailed analysis on what the settlement is all about.
The Lorain legislation from Aug. 9 deals with the drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal and McKesson.
They would pay more than $804 million to be divided among the state of Ohio, local subdivisions and a foundation to be created for opioid treatment, Riley said.
The state will get 15 percent, the local communities will get 30 percent and the remaining 55 percent will go to the state foundation for distribution according to a complicated plan, he said.
Council action was needed for the city to participate, Riley said.
The money will be paid over 18 years and distributed according to two separate concepts, he said.
There will be a base settlement amount, the 55 percent for the state foundation, and that amount won’t change, Riley said.
The remaining 45 percent will be obtained by the state and local communities, based on actions to reduce exposure of the big three drug distributors to future lawsuits.
They are incentivizing payments, Riley said, calling them “a carrot hanging at the end of a stick.”
If Ohio legislators approve laws protecting the drug distributors from future lawsuits by local subdivisions, then the drug distributors make the incentive payments, Riley said.
Based on the agreement now, it appears the city of Lorain could get $399,502 to $570,718, depending on the amount of the incentivizing money, according to Riley and the supporting documents filed with Council.
The state foundation would oversee distribution of money around Ohio, divided into 11 rural regions and eight urban regions.
Each region would construct its own governance board with input to the state foundation about spending the money, Riley said.
It appeared the region with Lorain could get $18 million to $26 million.
That could be another source of money for the city of Lorain, Riley said.
But, it was unclear exactly how much money that would be.
Lorain County could qualify for $1.88 million to $2.69 million, but Riley said he did not know yet if the city would qualify for some of that money.
