SEATTLE (November 1, 2022) - City Attorney Ann Davison, on behalf of the City of Seattle, is suing McKinsey & Co. for the role the consulting firm played in creating and fueling the ongoing opioid epidemic that led to the death of 80,000 Americans last year. McKinsey’s work with Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and other drug manufacturers contributed to the public health crisis that has resulted in substantial economic injury to the City of Seattle, exacerbated our City's homelessness and mental health crises, and wrought havoc on communities across Seattle.  

The lawsuit states that McKinsey is acutely responsible for the significant increase in opioid drug abuse – including non-prescription drugs like heroin and fentanyl – due to their long-running consulting partnership with opioid drug manufacturers that misled the public and tripled the sale of prescription painkillers like OxyContin.  

"The opioid crisis in Seattle is responsible for hundreds of deaths every year, so many of which are among our City’s most vulnerable, and often overlooked populations. We can never bring back the loved ones lost to addiction and overdose, but with this lawsuit, we are taking another step towards holding the people who fueled this crisis accountable,” said City Attorney Ann Davison. “Opioid addiction is one of the most pressing issues facing our society today. In addition to the significant harm it is doing to individual lives, it is also contributing to the increase in misdemeanor crime. We cannot meaningfully address public safety in our City if we do not also address the impact that opioids like heroin and fentanyl are having in our communities.” 

The surge in the use of illicit opioids like heroin and fentanyl has led to significant loss of life in Seattle and King County. In 2021, 540 people suffered from fatal opioid overdoses in King County. Fentanyl was involved in nearly 400 of those deaths – more than any drug. 

The City of Seattle has also spent millions of dollars on efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, due in large part to the role McKinsey has played in marketing these drugs since 2007. In a single three-month period in 2017, Seattle spent $906,000 responding to 453 opioid-related calls to the Seattle Fire Department. That same year, Seattle’s Department of Parks and Recreation spent over $800,000 to clear 3,000 tons of waste from homeless encampments, nearly all of which contained hypodermic needles used to inject opioids.  

In 2017, the City of Seattle brought a lawsuit against Purdue and other opioid manufacturers challenging the deceptive manner in which they marketed prescription opioids for chronic pain. Later in 2019, the City brought a second action against wholesale opioid distributors, and the pharmacy chain Walgreens, concerning these entities’ failure to implement controls against the diversion of opioids into the black market. 

With this most recent action, the City of Seattle joins several other municipalities who have sued McKinsey in recent months citing similar damages, including Portland and Philadelphia.