Iowa receives $38 million from opioid settlement

Iowa’s share of a legal settlement with the maker of the opioid drug OxyContin is nearly $38 million. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and 54 attorneys general from states and U.S. territories signed onto the settlement with Purdue Pharma and the family that owns the company. Half of Iowa’s nearly $38 million share of the settlement will go to local governments in Iowa. The other half will go into a state fund set up to distribute money from settlements with companies that made, marketed and sold opioids. Ten other companies that made or sold opioids have already agreed to settlements and have paid the State of Iowa over $56 million. After three years of negotiations, the legislature agreed this spring on a plan to distribute the money from the State’s Opioid Settlement Fund.