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(The Center Square) – The City of Everett has reached a $4.2 million settlement with five pharmaceutical corporations for contributions to the local opioid crisis, amongst other efforts to reduce drugs in the area.
Everett officials say the city is facing “sharp rises in drug abuse, addiction and associated illegal conduct as a result of the ongoing opioid epidemic.”
CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Teva and Allergan settled with the city for a collective $4.2 million.
“In the City of Everett, we see the impacts of the opioid epidemic every day and it’s heartbreaking,” Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin said in a statement. “Though this settlement won’t bring back all those we have lost, it will add resources to address the lasting effects in our community.”
Everett also received a settlement of $4.1 million as part of Washington state’s suit against opioid distributors, McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation. The city also filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, but that is still ongoing.
Everett is also looking at making open drug use illegal within the city through two avenues. The first is a Washington state Senate bill that creates a new misdemeanor offense in the state, making it a crime to “knowingly possess and use a controlled substance in a public place by injection, inhalation, ingestion, or any other means” unless possessed and used with a valid prescription.
If Senate Bill 5536 is passed by the Washington Legislature in its current form, public use of controlled substances will be criminally enforceable on July 1.
The second effort proposes that the Everett City Council adopt an ordinance relating to public consumption of controlled substances that would create a new misdemeanor offense to knowingly use a controlled substance in a public place within the City of Everett. A public place is considered “an area generally visible to public view,” according to Everett Assistant City Attorney Lacey Offutt.
City officials say the effort could become effective sometime this spring, but may be preempted with the passage of the Washington Senate bill.
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This article First appeared in the center square
