Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Thursday that Alabama will be receiving $9,229,421 from being part of a 47-state coalition that went after the McKinsey & Company consulting firm for its role in the opioid crisis.

In total, the settlement paid by McKinsey was $573 million. Marshall’s office says it is the first multistate opioid settlement to result in substantial payment to the states to address the crisis.

“The opioid crisis has wrought tremendous suffering upon its victims throughout Alabama over the last 20 years,” remarked Marshall in a statement, adding that he felt “it is appropriate that [the companies involved in the crisis] be held to account, through settlements such as this.”

The money received by the state as part of the settlement will go towards addressing the effects of the opioid crisis.

Filings on Thursday showed that McKinsey exacerbated the opioid crisis by designing and encouraging the use of predatory marketing schemes by opioid manufacturers. The consulting firm worked primarily on behalf of Purdue Pharma.

McKinsey instructed Perdue, according to Marshall’s office, to engage in “targeting high-volume opioid prescribers, using specific messaging to get physicians to prescribe more OxyContin to more patients, and circumventing pharmacy restrictions in order to deliver high-dose prescriptions.”

A lawsuit against Purdue, Endo Pharmaceuticals and McKesson Corporation is being brought by Marshall over those companies’ role in the opioid crisis. The case is currently pending in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

“Opioid addiction, abuse, and overdose deaths have torn families apart, damaged relationships, and eroded the social fabric of communities,” lamented Marshall on Thursday. “The careless greed of companies that exploited people’s pain and exacerbated their suffering has caused incalculable harm.”

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.