SANTA FE – New Mexico state prosecutors have reversed course to join in a tentative financial settlement over the role that OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma played in the nation’s opioid addiction crisis.
Attorney general’s office spokesman Matt Baca confirmed this week that New Mexico will participate in a settlement involving about half of states under bankruptcy proceedings for Purdue.
Baca said the attorney general’s office wants to ensure an accurate accounting of assets held by Purdue and the Sacklers that would go toward services to communities ravaged by opioids.
More than 2,600 opioids-related lawsuits have been filed against Purdue.
Prosecutors initially said New Mexico would decline to join the settlement because it was insufficient. New Mexico sued the Sacklers last week on allegations of deceptive practices that helped flood the state with opioids.
