Washington state reaches nearly $150 million settlement with Johnson & Johnson over opioid crisis

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington state attorney general announced a $149.5 million settlement Wednesday with drug maker Johnson & Johnson, more than four years after the state sued the company over its role in the opioid addiction crisis.“They knew what the harm was. They did it anyway,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson told reporters Wednesday.The attorney general’s announcement came as opioid overdose deaths more than doubled from 2019 to 2022, with 2,048 deaths recorded in 2022, according to the most recent ...