The cities of Ozark and Nixa have signed on with the Missouri Attorney General's Office to get funds from a national class action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
The Nixa City Council and the Ozark Board of Aldermen both voted to join in on collecting a small part of the settlement from three opioid distributors and drug manufacturer Johnson and Johnson, just before the deadline of Jan. 2.
The maximum amount of money that Missouri can receive is $457 million, and that is if every municipality that Attorney General Eric Schmitt contacted agrees to sign on for the settlement.
"The attorney general has contacted municipalities over 10,000 in population," Callaway said.
Under the terms of the pending settlement, 15 percent of the winnings in the suit would be distributed among Missouri cities that participate. The breakdown offers 70 percent of the funding to direct treatment of opioid addiction and 15 percent to the state government, also to fight opioid addiction.
According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, opioid overdose deaths have been on a steady climb each year across Missouri. In 2018, one out of every 56 deaths in Missouri were due to opioid overdose. There were 1,132 opioid overdose deaths in Missouri in 2018.
Christian County had an opioid death rate between 5.67 and 9.76 per 100,000 people in 2018, according to the Bureau of Health Care Analysis and Data Dissemination. It is estimated that up to half of those deaths are directly attributed to heroin overdoses, while the remaining deaths are linked to non-heroin opioids generally available by prescription, including fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine.
Callaway said that the payout for cities is relatively small.
"What the citizens of Ozark and Missouri would receive are the treatment opportunities for the opioid crisis," Callaway said.
Ozark joined the settlement with 5-0 vote by the board of aldermen on Dec. 20. Nixa joined with a 6-0 city council vote on Dec. 13.
"Even though agreeing to participate in the settlement agreement bars the city from pursuing individual claims against the distributors, staff recommends approval," Nixa City Attorney Nick Woodman wrote in his analysis for the city council. "Participation in the settlement agreement helps ensure that the city and the state obtain the maximum amount of settlement funds while also giving the Attorney General’s Office tools to modify the practice of the three largest opioid distributors."
Schmitt signed both term sheets for the proposed opioid settlements with Johnson & Johnson and major distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson in August 2021.
"I announced that my office has secured the largest victim-centric settlement that the state of Missouri has ever seen: just over half a billion dollars that will go directly to opioid abatement and treatment. This money will provide desperately needed funding for treatment and recovery programs, as well as needed funding for law enforcement, drug courts, and other resources,” Schmitt said in a press release. “Now that I have signed the term sheet for both settlements, it’s critical that subdivisions sign on to our settlement. In order to get the full amount of money to aid victims of opioid addiction and abuse, my office will proactively engage stakeholders and subdivisions to ensure full sign on."
Formulas and payment structures are still being worked out by attorneys, so the exact amount of money that Missouri will receive is not final yet. The Missouri Attorney General's Office has not yet issued statistics to show how many municipalities have signed on for the settlement.
