LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska will receive $2.59 million over five years as part of a multistate settlement with a firm that worked with opioid manufacturers to promote addictive painkillers, Attorney General Doug Peterson said Thursday.
Peterson said Nebraska is part of a coalition of 53 attorneys general who collectively won $573 million in a settlement with McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. The settlement will be split among 47 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
The settlement will be used to address problems caused by opioids in the participating states. It’s the first multistate opioid settlement to result in a substantial payout to states.
“Today’s filing is a significant action towards Nebraska’s effort to combat the opioid epidemic and to hold accountable those who are responsible for creating and perpetuating the crisis,” Peterson said in a statement.
Nebraska lawmakers passed the Opioid Prevention and Treatment Act in 2020, a law that requires all opioid settlement money received to go into a special fund for treatment, prevention and law enforcement purposes aimed at the epidemic.
The settlement calls for McKinsey to prepare internal documents detailing its work with Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies for public disclosure online.
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