EDITORIAL: RI's Opioid Settlement -- $114 Million Goes to Government, None to Families of Victims

EDITORIAL: RI's Opioid Settlement -- $114 Million Goes to Government, None to Families of Victims

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and other state officials held a press conference on Tuesday announcing a settlement with some of the companies tied to the opioid crisis — a crisis that killed thousands of Rhode Islanders.

Under the agreement, the state of Rhode Island will be paid $114.5 million over the next 18 years. The dollars the state will receive will be divided into two pots.

The vast majority — 80% — will go to support state “abatement programs." And, 20% will be distributed to Rhode Island cities and towns “to be used solely for opioid abatement.”

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However, families, including the children who lost a parent -- who are in some cases now parentless -- will receive nothing in this agreement.

For grandparents now raising their dead children’s children, there is nothing. Not a penny.

Neronha, who negotiated an agreement separate from the rest of the states, said in a statement to GoLocal, "Unlike class-action lawsuits that are brought on behalf of individuals, these cases were brought by states and municipalities to redress public harms and compensate them for the public expenditures that they have incurred and will continue to incur well into the future as a result of the opioid epidemic. The claims are brought on behalf of the people of the state as a whole, not on behalf of individual plaintiffs, and the relief is structured accordingly."

"No amount of money will bring loved ones back, but these settlements will fund the critical prevention, treatment, and recovery services that will prevent more lives from being lost to the epidemic and will help all Rhode Islanders get through this crisis," added Neronha.

These tens of millions should -- and need -- to be provided for relief to the victims and to their damaged families.

They are the victims and they are being victimized again.