New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, second from right, speaks alongside her New England counterparts during an opioid abuse conference Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Boston. Seated from left are Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Maine Gov. Paul LePage, Hassan, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. The governors met to discuss strategies to deal with the opioid addiction problem in all their states. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, second from right, speaks alongside her New England counterparts during an opioid abuse conference Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Boston. Seated from left are Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Maine Gov. Paul LePage, Hassan, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. The governors met to discuss strategies to deal with the opioid addiction problem in all their states. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) Credit: ap photograph

Judge OKs Settlement to Dairy Farmers

Montpelier — A federal judge on Tuesday approved a $50 million settlement to be paid by a national dairy marketing cooperative to thousands of Northeast dairy farmers.

Dairy Farmers of America will pay an average of $4,000 to about 8,860 farms to settle a lawsuit that accused the marketing group of trying to drive down milk prices.

The 2009 class-action lawsuit charged Dairy Farmers of America; its marketing arm, Dairy Marketing Services; and Dallas-based Dean Foods with working together to monopolize the market for raw milk in the Northeast.

Dean Foods agreed to a separate $30 million settlement in 2011.

The deals cover farmers in Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The settlement approved Tuesday offers farmers “a modest recovery,” but the $80 million total for the two deals “is not insubstantial when viewed against the backdrop of the risks of continued litigation,” U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss wrote.

Vt. Bill Expands Medical Marijuana Law

Montpelier — Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin has signed into law a bill expanding the medical conditions that can allow a Vermont patient to be prescribed marijuana for treatment of symptoms. Added to the list are patients with chronic pain, glaucoma and those in hospice.

Marijuana had been allowed for severe pain, but not pain that was less severe but chronic. Critics of that situation complained that patients could more easily obtain prescription opiates for pain treatment than marijuana.

In signing the bill, Shumlin said opiate addiction has become a severe problem in Vermont and around the country. He said if much-less-addictive marijuana can be used instead, that can address patients’ pain without the threat of severe addiction.

New England Governors Discuss Opioids

Boston — All six New England governors say fighting the social stigma associated with addiction is key to battling the opioid crisis raging across the region, claiming thousands of lives.

The governors pointed to a series of steps needed to fight the problem, from increasing education in schools about the addictive nature of opioids to limiting first-time prescriptions for opiate painkillers and ratcheting up law enforcement efforts targeting heroin.

They said critical to all the approaches is removing the stigma around addiction and getting people into treatment.

The governors spoke Tuesday at a forum organized by the Harvard Medical School.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin faulted the pharmaceutical industry and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In 2012, he said, there were 250 million prescriptions written for OxyContin — enough for a bottle for every adult in the country.

“We’re handing out OxyContin like candy,” he said.

N.H. Law Makes It a Felony To Pay for Sex with a Minor

Concord — Starting Jan. 1, it will be a felony in New Hampshire for someone to pay or offer to pay for sex with a minor.

Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan signed the bill into law on Tuesday.

Advocates for the bill say it strengthens the state’s existing human trafficking laws by ensuring that people engaged in buying sex from traffickers are subject to strict penalties. It is part of a national initiative to combat sex trafficking by a nonprofit called Shared Hope International.

The New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence backed the bill, saying it’s important to hold customers as well as traffickers accountable.

— Wire reports