It’s almost official. Utah is close to signing a settlement to receive $57 million in an agreement with the Sackler family and its former pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, the manufacturers of OxyContin, over their role in the country’s opioid epidemic.

In total, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories are soon to settle for $7.4 billion, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, which described the agreement as “monumental” and “a critical step towards accountability.” In Utah the money will be used for efforts to combat the effects of the crisis in communities across the state.

That’s in addition to the $540 million the state is slated to receive from other settlements, with $275 million designated for the state and $265 million for counties.

“Utah families deserve this resolution after Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family recklessly harmed our communities, and contributed to the opioid epidemic,” Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said in a statement. “I will continue to use all the tools I have available, including litigation and prosecution, to protect Utahns in the future from these deadly drugs.”

Under the Sacklers’ management, Purdue Pharma manufactured opioids like OxyContin, marketing it as a safe despite their knowledge of its highly addictive nature, the AG’s office wrote in a release. The campaign led to a surge in opioid prescriptions in the state.

The Utah Division of Consumer Protection has pursued an administrative action against the company, Richard Sackler and Kathe Sackler since 2019 with allegations that they participated in “deceptive” practices, provided nearly $200,000 in gifts and payments to prescribers in Utah between 2013 and 2017, and employed 186 sales representatives in the state who conducted in-person marketing visits to 5,000 prescribers — all practices that intensified the opioid crisis here, the release says.

The settlement establishes that the Sackler family will pay $6.5 billion in the next 15 years “coming from Purdue Pharma upon its emergence from bankruptcy protection.” Additionally, the family won’t be able to control the pharmaceutical company, the agreement says. It also restricts Purdue Pharma’s opioid sales in the country.

Between 2002 and 2015, opioid prescriptions surged by over one million, according to the AG’s office. Between 2014 and 2019, prescription opioids caused 1,611 deaths in the state.

The state has also reached settlements with major corporations including Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger, CVS, Publicis Health, McKinsey, Cardinal, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, Teva, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Mallinckrodt.

“Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family caused immense harm and innumerable lives lost through their deceptive marketing and greed,” Margaret Woolley Busse, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce said in a statement. “Utah never stopped its work to hold Purdue and the Sacklers accountable for what they have done and the devastation they have caused.”

Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.