Judge Indicates Sacklers Will Pay Another $1.2B In Opioid Settlement

AP: Judge Favors Boosting Sackler Payment In Purdue Pharma Deal 
A judge said Wednesday that he would approve a plan that locks members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma into pumping at least another $1.2 billion into a nationwide lawsuit settlement that, if ultimately confirmed, would transform the company into a public trust. The initial approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain set the stage for an emotional virtual hearing Thursday that will allow people recovering from addiction and those who have lost loved ones to the crisis to directly address some of the Sacklers. (Mulvihill, 3/10)

AP: Opioid Crisis Victims To Confront Purdue Pharma's Owners 
Their advocacy helped send Purdue Pharma into bankruptcy and is forcing the family that has controlled the company for generations to relinquish ownership and provide billions of dollars for communities to combat opioid addiction. But what victims of opioid abuse and those who have lost loved ones to America’s long battle with addiction have wanted most was a chance to confront members of the Sackler family, who they blame for touching off a crisis that has cost some 500,000 lives over the past two decades. On Thursday, some of them will finally get their chance. (Mulvihill, 3/10)

Stat: Towns And Counties Object To 'Hush Money' Tied To Purdue Opioid Settlement
Ahead of a bankruptcy court hearing to approve a $6 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma for its role in the opioid crisis, dozens of towns and counties argue the deal should be rejected because it provides “hush money” to a handful of states that negotiated the revised terms. The issued was raised after the Sackler family members who own Purdue Pharma last week agreed to increase the payout to settle a hotly contested bankruptcy plan that would compensate governments and tens of thousands of individuals affected by the crisis. An earlier version of the settlement called for the Sacklers family members to pay $4.3 billion. A two-day hearing gets under way on Wednesday afternoon. (Silverman, 3/9)

In other news about the opioid crisis —

AP: Dozen Doctors Get Prison In Health Care Fraud, Opioid Scheme
A dozen doctors are among 16 people in Michigan and Ohio sentenced to prison for a health care fraud that included the distribution of 6.6 million opioid doses and $250 million in false billings. A multi-state network of pain clinics participated in the scheme from 2007 to 2018 in which doctors refused to provide patients with opioids unless they agreed to expensive, unnecessary and sometimes painful back injections, the Justice Department said Wednesday. (3/10)

Columbus Dispatch: Former Nurses: William Husel Ordered 2 Large Fentanyl Doses
Two former intensive care nurses at Mount Carmel Health testified Wednesday that in 2017 they each administered large doses of fentanyl to the same patient about 20 minutes apart at the direction of former doctor William Husel. The second nurse testified in the murder trial of former doctor William Husel that he was unaware that his colleague had earlier given the same dosage of 1,000 micrograms to the patient. Both dosages were prescribed by Husel, who was the attending physician at the time for Ryan Hayes, 39, an overdose patient who was considered comatose during his two-day admittance to the hospital. (Narciso, 3/9)

AP: A Look Inside The 1st Official 'Safe Injection Sites' In US 
Jose Collado settled in at a clean white table in a sunlit room, sang a few bars and injected himself with heroin. After years of shooting up on streets and rooftops, he was in one of the first two facilities in the country where local officials are allowing illegal drug use in order to make it less deadly. (Peltz, 3/9)

In news about legalized drug use —

The New York Times: New Yorkers With Marijuana Convictions Will Get First Retail Licenses
New York State will soon announce plans to usher in its first outlets for retail sales of marijuana by the end of the year, giving applicants access to stockpiles of the drug grown by local farmers and offering sweeteners like new storefronts leased by the state. The only catch? To be one of the state’s first licensed retailers, you or a member of your family must have been convicted of a marijuana-related offense. (McKinley and Ashford, 3/9)

AP: South Dakota Lawmakers Pass Limit On Homegrown Medical Pot
South Dakota lawmakers on Wednesday passed a proposal place a four-cap limit on the number cannabis plants that medical marijuana patients can grow in their homes. The Republican-controlled House and Senate have debated for weeks what limits to place on the number of cannabis plants that may be grown in homes after a voter-passed law placed no limit on homegrown plants. (3/10)

Stat: Oregon Wrestles With Offering Psychedelics Outside Medical System 
Visitors to the fabric store, kitty-corner to a Whole Foods, are greeted by a sign on the glass front door. Outlined in red, it says: “NO drugs, NO money kept in this building.” Not for much longer. Come early next year, if all goes according to plan, the rolls of cloth and sewing machines will be replaced by magic mushrooms. The century-old wooden building will become one of hundreds of locations across Oregon where people can come to take psychedelic drugs legally. Starting in 2023, Oregon will be the first state with widely legalized psychedelics. Technically, the state didn’t approve psychedelic therapy, though the program is often interpreted as such. Ballot Measure 109, which passed in November 2020, gave the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) the job of overseeing magic mushroom consumption at “service centers,” in the presence of “licensed facilitators.” (Goldhill, 3/10)