Local action is requested to approve the Purdue Pharma/Sackler family and Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements and bring an estimated additional $168 million to North Carolina to address the opioid crisis. The deadline for local governments to approve the Purdue Settlement is September 30, 2025. The deadline for local governments to approve the Second Opioid Manufacturer Settlements is October 8, 2025. Here is some key background information and an outline of required local actions:
Background
In June 2025, Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced that 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, agreed to sign on to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. And in July 2025, Attorney General Jackson announced that he has secured $720 million nationwide in settlements with eight drug makers that manufactured opioid pills and worsened the nationwide opioid crisis. These companies are Alvogen, Amneal, Apotex, Hikma, Indivior, Mylan (now part of Viatris), Sun, and Zydus. Read the press releases here and here.
A maximum of just over $168 million may be coming to North Carolina state and local governments between 2026 and 2041 to address the opioid crisis if all relevant local governments join the settlements. This chart shows the maximum amount that each local government stands to receive from the Purdue Settlement, and this chart shows from the Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements, above and beyond the amounts they will receive from other opioid settlements and bankruptcy resolutions.
After North Carolina and other states approved the settlements in the summer of 2025, Purdue and the Secondary Opioid Manufacturers agreed to move to the next stage of the settlement process, in which local governments in North Carolina and other participating states are invited to join the settlements. To maximize the funds available to North Carolina state and local governments under the settlements, all 100 counties and 36 of our most populous municipalities (including municipalities that are directing their opioid settlement proceeds to their counties) must join the settlements by September 30, 2025 (Purdue) and October 8, 2025 (Secondary Opioid Manufacturers).
In addition to joining the settlements themselves, local governments are asked to sign onto the Third Supplemental Agreement for Additional Funds (SAAF-3), which governs the allocation, use, and reporting of funds from the Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements. Funds from the Purdue Settlement are covered by the 2021 North Carolina Memorandum of Agreement (NC MOA) that all relevant local governments have already signed onto. You can read the text of the national settlements here, the NC MOA here, and the SAAF-3 here.
Local Action Requested
To join the Purdue and Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements, and sign onto the SAAF-3, local governments follow a two-step process:
FIRST, the governing board of the local government passes a new resolution authorizing designated local officials to sign onto the Purdue and Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements and SAAF-3. To assist with this step, a draft resolution template is available here.
Note that some counties and municipalities may have previously passed resolutions as part of signing onto the previous opioid settlements that provide authorization for local government officials to sign onto the Purdue and Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements and SAAF-3. Local governments are encouraged to consult their local legal counsel on the wording of prior resolutions to determine if a new resolution is required.
SECOND, after receiving authorization from their respective governing boards, designated local officials (such as managers or attorneys) will sign onto the Purdue and Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements and SAAF-3 through an electronic sign-on process. On July 22, 2025, all 100 counties and the 36 municipalities identified above received an email from the national administrator, Rubris, inviting each local government to sign onto the Purdue Settlement. In mid-August, 2025, Rubris will send an email inviting each local government to sign onto the Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements and SAAF-3. (Rubris will use the email addresses previously provided to Rubris by each local government.)
September 30, 2025 is the deadline for local governments to join the Purdue Settlement. October 8, 2025 is the deadline for local governments to join the Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements and approve the SAAF-3.
For More Information
For local governments that have previously filed a lawsuit against opioid defendants, information about the Purdue and Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements has also been provided to your outside counsel, with whom we encourage you to consult.
Legal questions about the Purdue and Secondary Opioid Manufacturer Settlements and SAAF-3 may be directed to outside counsel or the NC Department of Justice at opioidsettlement@ncdoj.gov.
