Washington State University’s Foley Institute continues its fall series today (Dec. 2) with “A conversation with Attorney General Bob Ferguson,” organized in cooperation with the Pullman League of Women Voters.
The Zoom event starts at 7 p.m., with the link available at lwvpullman.org, as part of an ongoing series of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service.
Ferguson, who has served as Washington state’s 18th attorney general since 2013, will talk about his office’s recent work, including the task force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People and his litigation against the nation’s major opioids distributors.
He announced the formation of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People task force earlier this year. The entity’s responsibilities include assessing the data collection and reporting practices relating to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People, reviewing prosecutorial trends, identifying resources to support victim services and making recommendations for training when working with tribes and tribal communities, according to the attorney general’s website at atg.wa.gov.
On the opioid front, Ferguson took Washington’s case against the nation’s three biggest drug distributors to trial last month, having rejected a billion-dollar settlement, according to a Nov. 15 Associated Press report.
His office sued McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. in 2019, alleging they made billions from the opioid epidemic by bringing large amounts of prescription painkillers into the state even when they knew, or should have known, the drugs were likely to come into the hands of drug dealers and people suffering from addiction, according to the Associated Press.
