Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – New Mexico agreed Tuesday to a nationwide settlement of up to $21billion to resolve claims that three major U.S. drug distributors contributed to the deadly opioid epidemic.

The eight-member state that was excluded from the historic agreement with McKesson Corp (NYSE :), AmerisourceBergen Corp (NYSE 🙂 and Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:).

Hector Balderas the New Mexico Attorney General stated in a statement that the money the state will get from the deal “allows us to move ahead and begin to rebuild our communities devastated by this crisis.”

New Mexico’s actual amount of settlement money will vary depending on whether its local governments participate.

The state did not agree to join a related $5 billion proposed settlement with the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:).

Distributors did not respond immediately to our requests for comment.

A total of 3,300 suits have been filed by mostly local and state governments to hold different companies responsible for an opioid abuse crisis, which the U.S. government claims led to over 500,000 overdose deaths in two decades.

Drugmakers are accused of downplaying addictive effects of pain-killers, and distribution and pharmacy companies of failing to recognize signs that drugs could be diverted for illegal purposes. Companies deny wrongdoing.

In July, a group of state attorneys general made the announcement about the planned nationwide settlement. In September, distributors announced that 42 states, five territory and Washington, D.C. had signed it.

Participating counties and cities can join the program through January 2. Washington took distributors to court recently, seeking millions of dollars more than what it could recover in settlement.