At its regular meeting yesterday, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution authorizing the county to accept a settlement in its opioid litigation cases against three pharmacy chains, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, and two opioid manufacturers, Allergan and Teva.

The BOC also authorized the County to enter a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State of Georgia regarding the allocation of the settlement funds to the local governments participating in the lawsuit.

The settlements are the result of a lawsuit alleging that major drug chains and pharmaceutical companies had performed business activities that resulted in an epidemic of addiction to prescription opioids.

The resolution was approved 4-1, with District 1 Commissioner Keli Gambrill in opposition.

Gambrill also voted against an earlier settlement with Rite-Aid at a June 2022 meeting.

At that time she said, “It’s my opinion that this lawsuit is still not addressing the root cause that the nation is facing. Therefore I cannot support it.”

Cobb County’s portion of the settlement is estimated to be a total of $15,281,074.40 assuming all incentives are met.

The settlement includes annual payments over the next five to fifteen years. Most of the settlement proceeds must be used for “Approved Uses”, such as abatement and remediation of the opioid crisis.

The settlement also includes a description of the changes in how the settling defendants conduct their business to prevent similar crises in the future.

Documents detailing the lawsuits, the agreements with defendant pharmaceutical companies, and a Frequently Asked Questions sheet are available by following this link to the National Opioids Settlement website.