A judge is being asked to clear the way for local governments and individual victims to vote on OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids. The deal would be among the largest in a wave of opioid settlements. It calls for members of the Sackler family who own the company to give up ownership and to contribute up to $7 billion over time. Of that, about $890 million could go to people who were victims of the drug epidemic, or their survivors. Most of the rest is to be used by state and local governments to fight the crisis.… Continue Reading
