On Saturday, Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, announced that Johnson & Johnson would have to pay a record of $230 million to New York State for its role in the opioid crisis.
The attorney general added that Johnson & Johnson is required to pay $30 million more in the payments in the first year if the New York state executive chamber signs into the law new legislation that created an opioid settlement fund and the other criteria’s are met.
Attorney General James said that countless communities of New York state had been resulted with devastation due to the opioid epidemic and also the nation, while leaving millions of people still addicted to dangerous and deadly opioids.
The Attorney General added that Johnson & Johnson had helped fuel the fire but as of today they were committed to leave the opioid business in the whole country and that opioids would no longer be manufactured or sold in the United States by the company. James added that they were also delivering up to $230 million to fund the opioid prevention, treatment and education efforts across the New York State.
However no amount of money would ever compensate for the thousands of lives lost or for those who became addicted to opioids across their state nor could provide solace to the families torn apart by the crisis but these funds would be used to prevent any future devastation. And that their trial against the remaining defendants would commence this upcoming week where they would lay bare the callous and deadly pattern of misconduct these companies perpetrated as they dealt dangerous and addictive opioids across their state.
The Attorney General said that their goal, as always, remained getting funds to those devastated by opioids as quickly as possible.
