The District will receive $1.08 million over the course of five years to support its local measures to curb the opioid epidemic as part of a settlement with McKinsey & Company over its role in deteriorating the opioid crisis.
The Office of DC Attorney General Karl Racine announced on Thursday a total of $573 million settlement with the American worldwide management consulting firm and the District’s $1.08 million share.
The settlement is the first opioid case that involves multiple states (a coalition of 53 attorneys general) and results in a significant amount of payment to the states, according to Racine’s office.
The money will be distributed among all coalition members over a five-year period and will go towards each state’s opioid relief efforts.
“Between 1999 and 2018, approximately 450,000 Americans lost their lives to opioid overdose—deaths that were driven by the greed of opioid manufacturers, other industry players, and their enablers,” Racine said in a press release. “Shockingly, at least one manufacturer—Purdue Pharma—paid McKinsey & Company handsomely for expert advice on how to make more money by pushing more of their addictive drugs to more unsuspecting victims.”
“Rather than rejecting Purdue’s morally offensive request, McKinsey effectively made a deal with the devil and chose profits over lives. Sadly, today’s settlement cannot bring those who perished back to life, nor can it repair the pain and anguish families have suffered. However, it accomplishes two important objectives: it tells the truth about how McKinsey conducted its business and it secures much needed money for those still suffering from the effects of addiction.”
As per the settlement, McKinsey also agreed to make the details of its dealings with opioid manufacturers available online for the public to be able to view.
The company will fully investigate its two partners at the firm who are accused of tampering with documents related to McKinsey’s partnership with Purdue Pharma, implement a strict ethics code, and will no longer operate in areas involving opioid-based Schedule II and III drugs, including their marketing and promotion.