More than 400 tribes and intertribal organizations representing about 80% of tribal citizens have filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Native American tribes have reached settlements worth $590 million with drug maker Johnson & Johnson and the three major drug distributors as compensation for opioid harm, according to a court document released Tuesday.
The document filed in federal court in Cleveland details the agreements with Johnson & Johnson and distributors Amerisoruce Bergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
All federally recognized tribes will have a share of the funds even if they have not participated in the lawsuits.
Many tribes have been heavily impacted by the addiction and overdose crisis that affects the entire United States. A study cited by the agreement found that Native Americans had the highest per capita overdose rate of any population group in 2015.
More than 400 tribes and intertribal organizations representing approximately 80% of tribal citizens have filed lawsuits over opioids.
Under the deal, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson would pay $150 million over two years and distributors $440 million over seven years. Each tribe will decide whether to participate.
The new settlements do not include the $75 million settlement reached by the Cherokee Nation and the three distribution companies last year before going to trial.
The same companies are close to approving agreements worth 26,000 million dollars with state and municipal governments throughout the country. They have until the end of the month to decide if enough government entities have signed on to continue in the agreement.
The settlements with the tribes are part of more than $40 billion in settlements, penalties and fines racked up by the companies for their role in the opioid crisis.
The drugs, which include both legal ones like Oxycontin and illicit ones like heroin and fentanyl, are linked to half a million deaths in the United States in the past two decades.