Opioid Settlement
Nationwide settlements have been reached to resolve opioid litigation brought by states and local governments. These settlements will provide substantial funds to state and local governments to combat the opioid epidemic.
“From the first day of my administration, I made combatting the drug epidemic a top priority, and that includes holding accountable those who created and fueled this crisis. I want to thank the Attorney General and his office for their work on this settlement that will help fund prevention, education and treatment efforts. No amount of money can undo the devastating toll inflicted by the opioid epidemic, but this is another step toward helping Hoosier families recover from this national crisis.”
The Office of Drug Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement in partnership with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration – Division of Mental Health and Addiction and the Indiana Department of Health is developing a framework for how the State of Indiana plans to use the state portion of funds from the national opioid settlement with distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen and manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its parent company Johnson & Johnson.
The State is using the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s five guiding principles to ensure dollars are used most effectively:
- Spend the money to save lives.
- Use evidence to guide spending.
- Invest in youth prevention.
- Focus on racial equity.
- Develop a fair and transparent process for deciding where to spend the funds.
Source: Next Level Recovery
National League of Cities: How Settlement Dollars Advance City and County Opioid Abatement
The opioid crisis continues to be a significant public health concern, with opioid-involved overdose deaths nearly quadrupling between 2010 and 2021, including from synthetic opioids like fentanyl. However, there has been progress in addressing the issue, with multiple financial settlements totaling over $26 billion dollars awarded to states, counties and municipalities as redress for the harms caused by pharmaceutical companies in creating this epidemic.
Building on the strong history of collaboration including the National City-County Task Force on Opioids, the National League of Cities (NLC) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) examined the distribution of settlement dollars across cities, counties and states. This brief highlights the ways that cities and counties are working in partnership to address the ongoing crisis using these funds, including pooling resources to support more comprehensive approaches to improve individual and community outcomes.
Download the brief to learn how many municipalities, counties, and states are eligible to receive settlement funds and to explore best practices from partnerships among cities and counties.
State Board of Accounts
State Board of Accounts has issued a memorandum for funds that states:
In preparation for the distribution of the Opioid Settlement Funds, we have established two funds to account for the settlement transactions and provide transparency for reporting on the use of funds.
Fund 2256 Opioid Settlement Unrestricted
Fund 2257 Opioid Settlement Restricted
In addition, SBOA has released a List of Opioid Remidiation Uses.