On October 3, 2024, Baltimore City Mayor Brandon M. Scott and the City of Baltimore announced the terms of the settlement reached in September 2024 with Walgreens to resolve the City’s claims against the company for its role in fueling the opioid epidemic in Baltimore.
Per the agreement, Walgreens will pay $45 million by the end of this calendar year and the remainder by December 31, 2025. The City will be using the entirety of the settlement for opioid remediation, with $2 million for the Maryland Peer Advisory Council, $1 million for We Our Us, $1 million for On Our Own of Maryland, $1 million for the Maryland Coalition of Families, $15 million for the city to establish comprehensive outreach services that operate 24/7, $5 million for 988 education and outreach, and $10 million for Baltimore Comprehensive Overdose Response to End the Epidemic (BCORE). The remainder of the money received by the City will be managed in accordance with Mayor Scott’s August 2024 executive order.
The City’s settlement with Walgreens is one of six that it has obtained stemming from its ongoing lawsuit against opioid distributors and manufacturers that caused the worst opioid epidemic in the nation. It followed settlements with Allergan and CVS for $45 million each, Teva for $80 million, and Cardinal Health for $152.5 million, bringing the total of announced recoveries from opioid defendants to $402.5 million. The City also settled with manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, under terms to be announced at a later date. The trial against the remaining defendants- distributors McKesson and AmerisourceBergen- began in September 2024 and is ongoing in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
The case is Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Purdue Pharma L.P., et al., 24-C-18-000515 in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City.
Data from the National Vital Statistics System, Mortality
- In 2018, there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths in the United States, a 4.1% decline from 2017 (70,237 deaths).
- The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in 2018 (20.7 per 100,000) was 4.6% lower than in 2017 (21.7).
- For 14 states and the District of Columbia, the drug overdose death rate was lower in 2018 than in 2017.
- The rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (drugs such as fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and tramadol) increased by 10%, from 9.0 in 2017 to 9.9 in 2018.
- From 2012 through 2018, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine more than tripled (from 1.4 to 4.5) and the rate for deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential (drugs such as methamphetamine) increased nearly 5-fold (from 0.8 to 3.9).
Deaths from drug overdose continue to contribute to mortality in the United States. The statistics above are from the data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) to update trends in drug overdose deaths for all drugs and for specific drugs and drug types, and to identify changes in rates by state from 2017 to 2018.
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