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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 18 February 2022
No new settlement yet of opioid claims against Purdue Pharma

By GEOFF MULVIHILL not provide legal protec-
Associated Press tions to parties not in bank-
OxyContin maker Purdue ruptcy if others objected.
Pharma and a group of That ruling prompted a new
states have not been able round of mediation with
to agree on a multibillion- hundreds of hours of meet-
dollar settlement of lawsuits ings in person, by phone
over the drug’s role in the and Zoom, to try to reach
opioid crisis after more than a deal between the com-
a month of mediation. pany and the holdout at-
A mediator could call for torneys general represent-
still more talks between ing California, Connecti-
the parties, Purdue lawyer cut, Delaware, the District
Marshall Huebner said at a of Columbia, Maryland,
hearing Thursday, indicat- Oregon, Rhode Island,
ing there could be a call for Vermont and Washington
further mediation. state.
At the hearing, conducted In reports filed Jan. 31 and
by video conference from Feb. 8, the mediator, U.S.
his White Plains, New York, Bankruptcy Judge Shel-
courtroom, U.S. Bankruptcy ley Chapman, said a deal
Judge Robert Drain ex- including more money
tended until March 3 legal from Sackler family mem-
protections for the compa- Cars pass Purdue Pharma headquarters, Sept. 12, 2019, in Stamford, Conn. bers was close. Drain gave
ny and its owners that had Associated Press the parties a deadline of
been set to expire Thursday Americans over the past all the claims against the to fight the opioid crisis, Wednesday to reach an
to allow more time for a two decades. company. sent $750 million to individ- agreement.
deal. While OxyContin is among Members of the Sackler ual victims or their survivors, They didn’t get there, at
“This case is too significant the best-known prescrip- family would give up own- and made public millions of least not as of late morning
to too many people and tion opioids, state, local ership of the company, company documents. Thursday.
governmental entities and and Native American gov- which would become But the attorneys general Huebner, the Purdue law-
other parties of interest to ernments have been su- a new entity with profits for eight states and the Dis- yer, told Drain that he ex-
be making knee-jerk reac- ing — and in many cases, dedicated to fighting the trict of Columbia refused pected Chapman to file a
tions in light of a process settling with — many other drug crisis. Family members to sign on, contending the new report by Friday. Other
that is still unfolding,” Drain companies that make or would also contribute $4.5 deal didn’t do enough to parties have not comment-
said. distribute drugs over the toll billion in cash and chari- hold the Sacklers account- ed.
Stamford, Connecticut- of opioids. table assets. In exchange, able. And after the bank- In the meantime, a group
based Purdue and mem- With lawsuits over Purdue’s family members would also ruptcy judge approved of seven Democratic U.S.
bers of the Sackler fam- role mounting, the com- be shielded from civil law- the deal, those holdouts senators this week sent a
ily who own it have been pany filed for bankruptcy suits over the toll of opioids. prevailed on appeal, per- letter to the U.S. Depart-
cast as villains in the opioid protection in 2019. Last Most attorneys general suading another judge last ment of Justice to call for
overdose and addiction year, lawyers for local gov- agreed to the deal, which December to reject the criminal charges against
crisis that has claimed the ernments and most states would have required that settlement by ruling that Sackler family members to
lives of more than 500,000 agreed to a deal to settle most of the money be used bankruptcy courts could be considered.q

U.S. Coast Guard offloads $1 billion

worth of narcotics

The haul of illegal narcotics crew and tout the Coast eral law enforcement and
brought home by the U.S. Guard’s role interdicting partner nations also under-
Coast Guard cutter James drugs before they reach scores how little the flow of
was one of the biggest in American streets. cocaine coming from Latin
recent memory, a reflec- “We are hitting the drug America has eased since
tion of increasingly sophis- traffickers where it hits them President Richard Nixon de-
ticated U.S. arsenal that most: their pocketbooks,” clared war on drugs a half
includes powerful drones said Dr. Rahul Gupta, head century ago.
and special infrared cam- of the White House’s Office Coca cultivation in Co-
eras that can detect heat of National Drug Control lombia in 2020 soared
from small cocaine-laden Policy. to 245000 hectares (945
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard stand alongside bundles of
seized cocaine and marijuana worth more than one billion vessels. Gupta said the Biden ad- square miles), enough to
dollars, aboard Coast Guard Cutter James at Port Everglades, But it also highlights a re- ministration is seeking to produce 1,010 metric tons
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. cent surge in narcotics increase the U.S. govern- of cocaine, according to
Associated Press coming from Colombia, ment’s budget to build the White House’s latest re-
a close U.S. ally and the up the nation’s addiction port on harvesting trends
By JOSHUA GOODMAN of cocaine and marijuana world’s top producer of co- treatment infrastructure in the Andean region. As
Associated Press reportedly worth over $1 caine. and reduce the supply of recently as 2014, potential
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida billion that was seized at The Biden administration’s synthetic opioids like fen- production was less than
(AP) — A U.S. Coast Guard sea during a months-long top anti-narcotics officials tanyl and other drugs. half that amount. Produc-
vessel on Thursday offload- deployment off the coast traveled to South Florida to But the record busts of late tion in Peru and Bolivia has
ed more than 30 metric tons of South America. welcome back the vessel’s by the Coast Guard, fed- also steadily risen.q