Northampton County joins historic opioid settlement

Northampton County is one of the latest 10 counties to join the $26 billion historic national opioid settlement, bringing the total to 60 out of the state’s 67 counties to do so. 

Attorney General Josh Shapiro said today that Northampton County joined Cumberland, Blair, Centre, Crawford, Lycoming, Northumberland, Pike, Somerset and Sullivan Counties in joining the settlement.  

“I am encouraged to see so many counties signing on to this historic settlement that will bring millions of dollars in resources as soon as next year to combat this crisis. There is still time for the remaining local governments to join and I urge them to do so. This settlement will give communities the ability and resources to save lives now,” said Shapiro. 

The $26 billion global settlement with Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen—the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors—and Johnson & Johnson was announced in July. The national sign-on deadline for local governments was recently extended from Jan. 2 to Jan. 26, providing a grace period for local governments to hold necessary meetings in order to vote on joining the settlement. This grace period does not impact the timeline for money to start flowing to participating states and local governments. 

While it is up to local governments who have signed on to the settlement to decide where the funds will ultimately be allocated, the settlement stipulates that dollars received must be used to combat the opioid crisis.  

 The following counties have joined the settlement agreement: Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland, and York.