We were pleased to read last week,
Colorado is part of the pending $48 billion agreement with Cardinal Health, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Johnson & Johnson and Teva over their role in the opioid epidemic.
In May, state Attorney General Phil Weiser visited with the Herald’s editorial board and was fired up about separate litigation, now stalled, in which Colorado is one of the states seeking damages from Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. Weiser said that could give the state tens of millions of dollars to help fight drug addiction. Some of it could go to inpatient treatment centers, he said.
We told him we could desperately use it in the Southwest. In La Plata County, we have no inpatient treatment for substance abuse. So late last week, we asked how our prospects were looking now.
The settlement is a “promising development,” the AG’s office told us in a prepared statement. Weiser, it said, “is committed to ensuring that settlement dollars go toward funding addiction and treatment services throughout the state of Colorado.”
Good. This is our marker. We’re still waiting, and wishing Weiser and Colorado luck with combating addiction.
