Background

The opioid epidemic continues to pose significant challenges in the United States, with over 75% of nearly 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2022 involving opioids. Recently, efforts to curb the epidemic have made strides. Beginning in the early 2000s, local and state governments filed a series of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors. The lawsuits held that manufacturers and distributors knew about the potential addictive nature of these painkillers and withheld this information from providers, leading to overprescription and overdose. The current settlement funds...