opioid epidemic

Indiana is set to receive $507 million in opioid settlement money over an 18-year period as part of a national lawsuit.

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids.

The city, like the rest of the state, has been ravaged by fentanyl in recent years.

The $507 million settlement is part of a roughly $26 billion payout across 46 states.

The settlement amount had been in flux for months, but a new state law evenly splits the money from the drug companies between the state and local governments.

Indiana’s estimated $507 million share is part of a roughly $26 billion nationwide payout that three opioid distributors and a drugmaker are expected to make to settle lawsuits filed over the nation’s opioid epidemic.

The increase in overdose deaths is the highest level ever recorded, according to data released Wednesday by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The program trains people how to administer the opioid antidote Naloxone and connects them to possible overdose events in their area.

Public health and public safety leaders gathered in Carmel to find ways to collaborate to address the opioid epidemic in Hoosier communities.