City of Wenatchee Preparing for Possible Opioid Settlement

The City of Wenatchee is making sure it's in position to receive any settlement funds from a lawsuit between several local governments in Washington and the "Big 3" opioid distributors.

The "Big 3" distributors are McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen. Johnson & Johnson is also part of the litigation.

City Attorney Steve Smith said that by signing the One Washington Memorandum of Understanding, the city would receive 3-tenths of 1% of the settlement, which on a $50 million payment would be about $150,000.

"The reason they want us to sign on is because, in order to get the settlement, the drug companies and distributors want a global settlement." said Smith, "They want to know that all claims are resolved."

If the city does not sign on to the memorandum of understanding, it instead would have to depend entirely on the county for any kind of disbursement.

The allocation is based by county. To determine the amount that should be given to any given county and possibly some of the jurisdictions within, a formula is used to look at opioids shipped to the area, opioid deaths and the number of people suffering from opioid use disorder within the county.

The money must be used for specific purposes related to the opioid crisis. For the City of Wenatchee, that could mean more mental health services, addiction programs and treatment, or revitalizing drug court.