All 50 states agreed Monday to sign a settlement with Purdue Pharma, the company behind the highly addictive opioid Oxycontin, accepting $7.4 billion in payouts and prohibiting the Sackler family behind the business from ever selling opioids in the U.S. again.The deal, which also includes Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories, requires the Sackler family to distribute around $6.5 billion and Purdue to pay out roughly $900 million over the next 15 years, with funds going toward support for addiction treatment, prevention and recovery.Those programs, plaintiffs say, are necessary to address the deadly opioid crisis fueled by Purdue’s false marketing around Oxycontin, a painkiller that Purdue claimed had a low risk of addiction and aggressively pushed doctors to prescribe. Years after the drug’s inception, Purdue would admit to playing a role in the opioid epidemic, which killed more than 110,000 Americans in 2023 alone.In addition to banning the Sacklers from producing, selling or marketing opioids in the U.S., the settlement also ends the family’s ownership of Purdue.Aden McCracken Tyrone of Pennsylvania holds a sign in honor of his parents outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2023.The Washington Post via Getty ImagesThis settlement will need to be approved by a federal bankruptcy court before distributions go out, but one of the biggest payouts is set to go to California, which is receiving $440 million.“The opioid epidemic has ravaged communities in California and across the country. The companies and individuals who fueled this crisis must be held accountable. With today’s announcement, the California Department of Justice is continuing to deliver results for our communities,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin issued some harsh words for the Sackler family in a statement Monday.“The Sacklers put greed and profit over human lives, and with this settlement, they will never be allowed to sell these drugs again in the United States,” he said.“While we know that no amount of money can erase the pain for those who lost loved ones to this crisis, this settlement will help prevent future tragedies through education, prevention and other resources,” he continued.In a win for Americans who wish to pursue individual claims against Purdue, the terms of the settlement do not prohibit them from doing so in civil court.Monday’s conclusion comes after Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 following thousands of lawsuits, including the one settled Monday. In 2021, a court approved a bankruptcy plan requiring the company to pay out $6 billion to state and local governments. But the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that agreement last year, saying it wrongly shielded the Sackler family from future opioid-related lawsuits.Purdue filed a new bankruptcy plan in March detailing the terms that were reached Monday.Close