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Connecticut to receive first $11 million payment in opioid settlement

$11 million payment will go to opioid treatment and intervention.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut will receive an $11 million payment, the first installment in a nationwide opioid settlement, Monday according to Attorney General William Tong.

Connecticut will receive approximately $300 million over the next 18 years, with funds directed to opioid abatement, including expanding access to opioid use disorder prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery. Opioid makers agreed to a nationwide $26 billion settlement earlier this year. 

RELATED: Litchfield County Opiate Task Force tackling spike in overdoses

On the FOX61 Morning News, Tong said the agreement specified, "Most of the money needs to go to treatments, prevention and addiction science. There was some concern in previous settlements that the money didn't go directly to the public health issues that they were focused on. A good amount of that will go to directly to municipalities.   

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In all, more than 3,000 lawsuits had been filed by state and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and other entities in state and federal courts over the toll of opioids. Most allege the industry created a public nuisance in a crisis that has been linked to the deaths of 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.

Collectively, businesses already have faced settlements, judgements and civil and criminal penalties totaling more than $47 billion. The main entities targeted are the companies that manufactured and sold the pills; the businesses that distributed them; and the pharmacies that dispensed them.

RELATED: CDC releases 'truly staggering' overdose death toll for 2021

Doug Stewart is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.

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