Four years after Summit County broke ground in the state by filing a lawsuit against major pharmaceutical companies, claiming they contributed to the opioid epidemic, the effort has borne fruit.
The county will collect $1.3 million from a nationwide settlement involving four of the defendants in its lawsuit. While the county’s litigation against many other defendants continues, the agreement is a landmark moment in the local push to address a crisis that has acutely affected our community and touched, in one way or another, too many of its residents.
The money, as officials made clear, will not heal the people whose lives have been upended by addiction or the families who have lost loved ones to the disease. And it will not erase the substantial damage opioids have wrought in Summit County: According to data from the Drug Enforcement Agency, more than a million pills were distributed here between 2006 and 2012 alone.
What the $1.3 million does represent is an opportunity for our community to begin moving forward. The county will receive about $57,000 annually for 18 years, which will go toward initiatives like addiction treatment, recovery and prevention programs that will hopefully change people’s lives for the better.
The County Courthouse being in a position to reap the benefits of a settlement like this didn’t happen by accident. While many local governments across the country have taken on Big Pharma, Summit County deserves tremendous credit for helping lead the charge within Utah. It was the first county in the state to target pharmaceutical companies in the courtroom and helped spur a conversation here about how to address the opioid crisis.
Other jurisdictions followed Summit County’s example shortly thereafter, and now Utah as a whole will receive $266 million from the settlement, money that will make a massive impact throughout the state.
Unfortunately, the opioid crisis is still far from over. Just last month, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Park City Police Department and Park City School District issued a joint statement warning of a nationwide increase in overdoses due to drugs laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The statement indicated there have been recent overdoses in our community and that law enforcement officers have seized drugs containing fentanyl in schools. That triggers memories of the overdose deaths of two 13-year-old Treasure Mountain Junior High students in 2016 and underscores the seriousness of the danger opioids present.
The fight against this epidemic continues and will rage on for the foreseeable future.
But thanks to the County Courthouse’s leadership, local officials are armed with more resources than ever before, giving our community a better chance to win it.