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Yost: Purdue Settlement Money Should be Spent Locally
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost says any money the state receives from a settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma should be spent at the local level.
Yost, a Republican, went “on the record” with his position at an unrelated news conference Wednesday. He said he doesn’t want Ohio’s efforts to exercise state power in the national opioid litigation to be misinterpreted.
In August, Yost sought to delay two Ohio counties’ upcoming trials against drugmakers over the impacts of the national opioid epidemic. The filing argued attempts to force drugmakers to pay should come in a single state action, to allow equal distribution of money across Ohio.
Thirteen other states agreed.
Some of the roughly 2,000 local governments suing pharmaceutical makers worry states’ efforts could take settlement dollars from their coffers.