RICHMOND, Va. — Editor's note: The video above is from September 2019.
Virginia will receive more than $13.7 million from a multi-state settlement with consulting firm McKinsey & Company for its role in the opioid crisis.
McKinsey agreed to pay $573 million to 47 states for its part in working for opioid companies, helping those companies promote their drugs, and profiting from the opioid epidemic, according to a news release.
Attorney General Mark Herring was part of a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from the 47 states that secured the settlement. Herring's office made the announcement Thursday.
The money Virginia will receive from the settlement will go toward an opioid abatement program that Herring is currently working with House Majority Leader Charniele Herring and Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria, to get passed in the General Assembly.
Prescription opioids and illegal ones such as heroin and fentanyl combined have been linked to the deaths of more than 470,000 Americans since 2000.
State and local governments have been filing lawsuits over the past few years against companies that make and sell prescription opioids for their role in the crisis.
"The opioid epidemic continues to directly impact the lives of Virginians and their families and every community across the Commonwealth has felt its devastating effects," said Attorney General Herring in a news release.
"The role pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors played in creating and prolonging this crisis is clear – but they are not alone in their culpability. McKinsey provided Purdue Pharma with the marketing plans and materials to push millions of pills and prescriptions into our communities, and they must be held accountable for their catastrophic actions."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.