Wenatchee City Council authorizes terms for opioid settlement against drug makers

WENATCHEE — Brad Posenjak, Wenatchee’s city finance director, appeared before the City Council on July 24 to secure authorization to sign further opioid settlement agreements. Since 2022, the Washington State Attorney General’s office has been litigating on behalf of the state against opioid manufacturers accused of worsening the opioid crisis in our state.

Earlier in July, the State announced that it could receive an additional $16 million as part of a new $720 million nationwide settlement with eight drug makers. Of the money Washington receives, half will go to the state government and half will be distributed among local governments for use in fighting the opioid crisis in their jurisdictions.

The new settlement is only part of the massive amount of money Washington state has secured since 2022, some $1.3 billion. Wenatchee has been signing the agreements of participation since the beginning of the efforts by the state, and Posenjak says he expects there will be more still.

The authorization from the City Council on Thursday for Posenjak to sign on to opioid agreements will cover the current nationwide settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family, makers of oxycodone, along with any future settlement agreements that will need to be signed.

Wenatchee itself is expected, by the end of the process, to have secured around $1.5 million for fighting opioid abuse, and has been using the money it has secured so far exclusively for that purpose, sometimes in coordination with other cities and agencies as collaborative efforts to that end. A third-party administrator oversees the disbursement of those funds to ensure transparency.

Councilmember Mayra Navarro Gomez commented during the meeting that she personally had seen those funds going to the right places. “Working in the public school system prior to this year, I was able to see Together For a Drug-Free Youth bring informational opportunities to families, and they would actually train them on common places where children will hide opioids, or there’s now sweaters that are built to hide their vapes, etcetera, so just know that these funds truly do impact our community.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media