Ep. 253 - The Right Way to Spend Billions in Settlement Money

This Summer there’s been a great deal of news on the opioid lawsuit in Oklahoma and the MDL here in Cleveland.

We’ve heard how communities and native tribes thought the country have suffered at the hands of the pharmaceutical industry, and now with the ruling against J&J in the Oklahoma trial for $572M and Purdue Pharma offering to settle for $12 Billion giving up their company, it appears it’s time to pay the piper.

How that money will be spent is still unclear. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have met with many different voices in the opioid epidemic community. Thanks to their insight we thought we’d weigh-in on the debate for the best use of the settlement money.

We didn’t just stake out claim on opinion, however. We made sure to do the research and calculations necessary for the best result. Of course, we couldn’t accomplish this on our own so we reached out to some of our featured guests for help.

Together, with addiction treatment specialist Dr. Stephen Loyd, of Mountain Home Veterans Administration Medical Center, recovery expert Tom Stuber, President and CEO of Lorain County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, along with feedback from Center on Addiction Director of Health Law and Policy, Lindsey Vuolo, we collaborated on an op-ed published in USA Today, this September.

Join us, as we cover our op-ed, the inspiration behind it, the creative process behind it, and our take on the best use for the 12 billion won in the Oklahoma settlement.