The Wayne County Board of Commissioners this week agreed to accept a second wave of funding through the settlement of the opioid lawsuit. In July 2021 North Carolina became a part of a $26 billion agreement with drug manufacturers to settle lawsuits over the marketing of opioids.

The county will get $6,252,521.88 in the first wave of funding and $5,005,004.79 in the second wave.

Wayne County Staff attorney Andrew J. Neal points out the money will be allocated over a period of time, though hundreds of thousands of dollars will be available each year. State documents show anmticipated payments until 2038.

Considering just the first settlement figures, Wayne County has already taken in more than seven hundred thousand dollars from its share of the pie.
The first wave of funding represents settlement funds from Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. The second is from retailers Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Teva, and Allergan.

Neal told commissioners this week that while the first wave of money is expected to be doled out over the course of years, some of the retailers involved in the second agreement might pay up front, just to put the issue behind them.

Wayne County commissioners agreed this week to create a working group to figure out how to spend the funds.