TAMPA, Fla. — CVS and Walgreens have plans to pay out nearly $5 billion each to more opioid lawsuits.
Jennifer Webb called the move a step in the right direction. Webb's sister died in 2013.
"Sometimes it seems like just yesterday, and other days, it feels like a lifetime ago," Webb said.
Jennifer Webb's pain is a pain hundreds of thousands of families are feeling; losing a loved one to opioid addiction.
"My sister died almost 10 years ago. And since then, so many additional people have lost family members to the opioid crisis. And so, it feels like it's in vain because opioid overdose is unlike other overdoses, you can reverse it, you get Narcan, you don't have to die," she said.
That's what inspired Webb to launch Live Tampa Bay. The organization connects people facing opioid addiction or people with a loved one facing addiction with resources.
"I'm really proud of the work that Live Tampa Bay does because we're that connector. A lot of the work done here is like done in silos, and we strive to break those silos down," Webb said.
Part of the work to end the opioid epidemic includes lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Florida finalized two separate multimillion-dollar opioid settlement agreements totaling more than $360 million between Johnson & Johnson, as well Endo Health Solutions, Inc.
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The money will eventually go into local communities, where task forces are currently looking into how to spend the money.
"They want to spend it on evidence based practices to reduce the number of folks with substance use disorder to increase access to life saving interventions for those who are already addicted to substances,” she said.
More than half a million people have died from opioid abuse over the last two decades. 80,000 people died in 2021 alone.
Neither CVS nor Walgreens admitted to any wrongdoing.
In a statement, CVS said:
“We are committed to working with states, municipalities and tribes, and will continue our own important initiatives to help reduce the illegitimate use of prescription opioids.”
Jennifer Webb views this as a small step towards a big nationwide issue.
"This settlement focuses on the people that we've lost. But there are a lot of people who overdose and survive it every single day. I mean, like every 90 minutes somebody has saved," she said.
