According to a recent research, the majority of the $50 billion in settlement money from opioid lawsuits is being utilized to stop the epidemic without giving people with substance use disorders nationwide a formal say in the matter.
Some advocates say that is one factor in why portions of the money are going to efforts they don t consider to be proven ways to save lives from overdose, including equipment to scan jail inmates for contraband, drug-sniffing police dogs and systems to neutralize unneeded prescription medications.
Earlier this year, officials in Jackson County, West Virginia, approved the use of over $500,000 in settlement monies for a shooting range and first-responder training center. A quick response team that assists overdose survivors was also given $35,000.
After 23 years of using drugs, mostly heroin, Josh George has been in recovery for three years and now leads a recovery group with his wife and other family members.
“The only recovery house in the county could have benefited from some of the funds,” he claimed.
FILE – A sign cautioning against brightly colored fentanyl is displayed on a screen outside the Lummi Nation tribal headquarters, near Bellingham, Wash., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
Image courtesy of Lindsey Wasson/Associated Press
George claimed that all of these individuals were attempting to assist these people on their own cost.
Drug manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacy chains, and other businesses have reached settlements over the last eight years to end thousands of lawsuits brought by state, local, and Native American tribe governments alleging that the corporations’ actions fueled the epidemic.
Since the late 1990s, opioids have been a significant issue in the United States; the bloodiest period of this decade had an annual increase in opioid use of over 80,000. Prescription medications are no longer the main cause; instead, heroin, fentanyl, and other lab-produced compounds are being combined to other illegal drugs.
The distribution of money from the multi-billion dollar national settlements started in 2022 and will go on until at least 2038. The agreements give a lot of flexibility in how the money is used, but they mandate that the majority be utilized to combat the crisis.
On Monday, Christine Minhee of the public health group Vital Strategies and Opioid Settlement Tracker was scheduled to publish a state-by-state guide detailing the process used to choose government financing. The goal of the guide is to assist advocates in determining where to voice their opinions.
Using that information and other data, Minhee, who has tallied just under $50 billion in settlements excluding one with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that theSupreme Court rejected, found advisory groups help determine spending of about half of it. However, less than one-fifth of it is under their decision-making authority.
Less than $1 in $7 is overseen by boards that reserve at least one seat for someone who is using or has used drugs, though some places where it s not required may have such members anyway.
As a former member of the Rhode Island Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee and an epidemiology professor at the Brown University School of Public Health, Brandon Marshall noted that he has seen how procedures involving experts and individuals with prior drug use experience have quickly assigned people to groups working on harm reduction and other areas because they are familiar with the groups.
It s not just a way to ensure that the funds are used effectively, he said. Those kinds of systems are also ensuring the funds are getting out the door faster.
Public health advocatessay the money should be used in ways proven to save lives, prevent drug use and focus on racial equity and that the decisions should be transparent.
But many communities are following regular government spending practices rather thanassessing local needsor consulting with experts or people impacted by the epidemic.
Renville County, Minnesota, used $100,000 in settlement money to pay about two-thirds of the cost of a body scanner for the county jail to detect drugs on incoming inmates, even if they have swallowed bags of them.
You can t possibly tell me that whoever made those decisions thinks that s the best use of the funding, said Alicia House, executive director of the Steve Rummler Hope Network, which provides overdose prevention and education across Minnesota.
Renville County Sheriff Scott Hable said in an interview that keeping drugs out of the jail without subjecting people entering to strip searches fits with the facility s emphasis on treatment for inmates with substance use disorder.
The scanner has been used nearly 1,400 times since last year, identifying contraband in six cases. Twice, it found packets of drugs inmates swallowed before entering, he said.
The county s governing body made the spending decision. Sara Benson, the county s public health director, said the government is assembling an advisory group for future settlement use and wants to include people with lived experience.
In West Virginia, Jackson County Commission President Dick Waybright said the training center will help law enforcement, EMS and 911 employees respond to the opioid crisis.
It wouldn t just be throwing money to a program that wasn t going to last, he said in an interview. Besides, he said, no one else besides the quick response team requested funds from the first opioid settlement payment.
George s mother, Kelly DeWees, said there are many needs in an area hit hard by addiction, including transportation for people in recovery, prevention education and counseling for children of those with substance use disorder. Breath of Life, the group her son and daughter-in-law run, could use help launching a recovery home.
The group is requesting the $15,000 that currently remains in the county s fund and Waybright said he expects it to be awarded to them soon.
For others, the spending decisions are even more personal.
Tonia Ahern, a community coordinator for the National Center for Advocacy and Recovery, lost her son to an overdose when he was 29. She co-founded a group planning to produce a handbook of suggestions for New Jersey communities on how to use the funding.
If you haven t ever experienced it, you have no idea what they need, Ahern said.
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