Statewide, Iowa – 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.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says the settlement is bittersweet because OxyContin is an extremely addictive drug. State records indicate 238 Iowans died of an opioid overdose in 2023, although the names of the opioid taken are not listed…