A token goodwill gesture by Purdue Pharma, the disgraced opioid manufacturer, has degenerated into a turf battle among lawyers.

When Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019, it made $200 million available to help victims of its signature product and to address impacts from the nation’s worsening opioid crisis.

But none of the money from the fund has been distributed, as lawyers who represent various parties that are suing the company have been unable to come to terms on how best to use it. The disagreement primarily involves thousands of local governments and people who have been harmed by opioid abuse.

Advocates who want the money for local drug treatment programs have clashed with state attorneys general who say such an approach would be so widespread as to practically nullify the revenue’s effectiveness.

The relief money is separate from the eventual distribution of $10 billion or more in revenue from criminal and civil penalties that are anticipated from Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy resolution.

Nevertheless, the standoff over the $200 million typifies a widespread public perception that lawyers often make bad situations worse.

U.S. opioid deaths since 2000 are nearing the half million mark and the crisis shows no signs of easing. Just in Pennsylvania more than 46,800 deaths were attributed to opioid overdoses in 2018 alone.

}Regardless of the money’s eventual use, it doesn’t begin to address the restitution required for the human and economic suffering that Purdue Pharma has inflicted on this country.

— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre (TNS)