Oklahoma lawmakers grumble openly about opioid settlement

OKLAHOMA CITY — A $270 million settlement between the state of Oklahoma and the maker of OxyContin praised last week as an innovative way to help combat opioid addiction is facing bipartisan criticism from Oklahoma lawmakers who say the state’s attorney general overstepped his authority.

Attorney General Mike Hunter spent time this week in damage control with lawmakers who say money from the first-of-its-kind settlement should have gone to the state treasury, where legislators would have determined how it was spent. They also grumbled that Hunter kept them in the dark about settlement talks.

“I have presented a number of mea culpas in the last week and today,” Hunter said after meeting behind closed doors Monday with House and Senate leaders. “On reflection, I wish there was a way I could have consulted them, but I was under court order to keep those negotiations confidential.”

The settlement with Purdue Pharma and the company’s controlling family calls for $200 million to go toward establishing a National Center for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa. Local governments will get $12.5 million, and about $60 million was for legal fees.

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