This week, I announced historic $26 billion nationwide agreements with major corporations that helped fuel the deadly opioid epidemic. These agreements follow years of aggressive litigation efforts led by my office and other states against AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson—the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors—and Johnson & Johnson, who manufactured and marketed opioids.

Since day one, I have fought to hold those who played a part in the opioid epidemic accountable and these settlement agreements are a large step forward in our fight to end this crisis. No amount of money can bring back those we have lost due to opioids, but the more than $1.5 billion Florida and its subdivisions will receive under these agreements will go directly towards prevention efforts, treatment and recovery-related services for those still impacted by this deadly crisis.

The agreements also place new rules on these large corporations—fundamentally changing the opioid manufacturing and distributing industries—so that this never happens again.

While I am proud that we secured these resources, and especially proud of the hard work many of our attorneys put into this legal action and complex negotiations, our work is far from over. I will continue litigating with the remaining defendants to hold them accountable. These agreements bring the total amount of money our office is recovering for Florida to nearly $2 billion.

To learn more about the historic settlement agreements, click here.

By fighting to end the opioid epidemic that is killing 21 Floridians every day and holding corporations responsible for their actions in fueling this crisis, I am working to build a Stronger, Safer Florida.