San Francisco will receive $8 to 12 million as part of a nationwide settlement with the Sackler family, which, until recently, owned the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma.
Forty-nine states, Washington, D.C., U.S. territories, tribal governments, and thousands of individuals sued the Sacklers and Purdue for aggressively marketing opioids as pain-management drugs while downplaying the considerable risk that patients would become addicted to those drugs in a relatively short period of time.
According to the city attorney’s office, San Francisco saw a nearly 500 percent increase in opioid-related overdoses between 2015 and 2020.
Once the opioid epidemic was well underway, the lawsuit argued, the Sacklers attempted to shield their personal fortunes from lawsuits by transferring hundreds of millions of dollars from Purdue Pharma to themselves.
The settlement is not the first time San Francisco has received money from entities that appear to have profited off the opioid epidemic.
In 2018, the city attorney sued Walgreens, opioid makers Allergan and Teva, and a smorgasbord of other drug manufacturers and distributors for creating a “public nuisance” by flooding the city with prescription opioids.
All of the defendants, except Walgreens, settled with the city for a total of $114 million. In 2022, a district judge ruled that Walgreens could, indeed, be held liable, and the company has so far paid about $92 million to the city out of a $230 million judgement.
The June 2025 settlement with the Sacklers splits $7.4 billion dollars between all the plaintiffs. About $6.5 billion will be paid out by the Sacklers ,and $900 million by Purdue Pharma, which filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
Oklahoma reached its own settlement with Purdue and the Sacklers in 2019 and was not included.
Up to $440 million will be directed to California, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on June 16.
The amount that each state receives will be calculated based on a formula that takes into account population, the amount of opioids shipped to the state, the number of people in each state who became addicted to opioids during that time, and the number of opioid overdose deaths.
San Francisco’s $8 to 12 million payout from the settlement was presented to the Board of Supervisors by the city attorney’s office in late July. That money, the city attorney’s office said, is just coming from the Sacklers. The city may receive more money from Purdue Pharma after Purdue’s bankruptcy plan is finalized.
The exact amount is yet to be determined, because it depends on how many other local governments choose to participate in the payout. The deadline for cities to join is Sept. 30.
The payments will come in over 15 years, though most of the money will be paid in the first three years. Like other opioid settlements, the money will go towards various efforts to address the opioid use crisis in San Francisco.
“No settlement can bring back the lives that were lost, but this agreement allows us to hold the Sacklers accountable for their role in the opioid crisis and gives San Francisco additional resources to combat the opioid epidemic,” City Attorney David Chiu wrote to Mission Local in a statement.
“We are grateful for the hard work of lawyers on our team, our outside counsel, and participating jurisdictions around the country to see this settlement to fruition.”
Use the money to go after the drug dealers killing addicts .
Hire private trained security to get out and help regain control
.
Stop the ongoing madness and harm
Opiate have impacted all
Of us
Clean this mess up here send a message
The druggies can go elsewhere or rot in jail here
How about public caning for the dealers ?
Tired of the babysitting
Dph still giving out pipes and tinfoil even to kids
My name is Peter Musso, I was prescribed oxycontin 30 mg twice a day 14 years ago. I just wanted something for the pain, the doctor and the sales rep. were there and told me I would be dependent on the medicine but it is not addictive.. I’ve been suffering over since I need legal counsel. The last prescription the doctor gave me before he retired was for naproxen 500 mg. the pain is gone, there was no need for the addictive drugs, the doctor smiled. And said that should eliminate all your pain.
Many government officials were paid off by Purdue. They were part of the problem.
Now they get to control the money for the victims???
Yeah, that’s a real slap in the face.
Well this is interesting… So I am apart of the lawsuit as well.. but I don’t live in San Francisco… But what’s interesting is all that money 114 million went to San Francisco to help with the opioid issues and I am just curious where the hell did all that money go. Because none of it went to help the people addicted to opioids.. just look at the streets…. I believe there should be a Investigation into where all those funds went and to get this other money ,to help with addicts and addiction to get the city under control with this epidemic of opioids….
As someone who suffers from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome on a daily basis, and a prescribed opioid user, these opioid laws have effected my quality of life personally. Doctors do not want to prescribe opioids. This means that people who require them to function daily, are the ones actually suffering, not the ones who abuse these drugs. As an opioid user and buisness owner, I was given my quality of life back. Unfortunately, over time, Doctors are starting to become reluctant to prescribe opioids, and are also cutting back on doses given to chronic pain patients. When WE, as chronic pain patients have exhausted all interventional pain management options, we are left with the only option of being labeled as drug addicts, pill seekers, and problem people. When chronic pain patients are denied relief, it is the main culprit as to the increase in street drug users, and overdoses. These laws that have increased the strictness of prescribing opioids, have negatively impacted my life, and other chronic pain patients.
Yet the actual people that were hurt from the opioid, who paid for yrs of rehab treatment, funerals, hospital bills,the people that dealt with the pain that withdrawals cause, who lost jobs, good careers, dealt with divorce all the pain and suffering and what do they get maybe $500 tell me how that is holding anyone accountable. The government played a role in the “opioid epidemic” also yet they get rewarded. How is that fair. That’s what Donald Trump was supposed to be taking care of right, making our legal system fair again. My mistake he wasn’t talking about the average citizen was he. Politicians take care of their corporate donors and to hell with everyone else, both republican and democrats.
Tell me why in California are the people who help this Law Suit go through that will prescribe these opiatesonly getting $900-$1100 as part of this Law Suit which doesn’t even amount up to the cost of a month s suppl of prescription of the opiates their addicted to now, and of course, the most of them will need more continuous opiates at a higher milligram if what they’re being treated for is not fixed
Prescription opioids are not the problem. Fentanyl is. As for companies that profit off drug addiction, let’s not forget the nonprofits that SF’s taxpayers are forced to subsidize without any evidence that they’re making a dent in this city’s drug tourism.
Fentanyl *IS* a prescription opioid…
How much legal staff time did it take to bring in $8-12m over 15 years?
Cool, now let’s take the rest of their money and sacklers can live a normal life like the rest of us while we deal with all the death and suffering they caused. Sounds more than fair wouldn’t you say?
“various efforts to address”. My prediction: We’ll notice no difference. Reminds of when North Carolina took tobacco settlement money that states received to subsidize their tobacco industry.