Spending Opioid Settlement Proceeds: Choices and Challenges for Governments: a FACT SHEET by the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association

In 2014, several U.S. cities and counties filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors alleging that the companies’ aggressive marketing practices fueled a national opioid addiction epidemic that subsequently killed hundreds of thousands of people. Since then, over 3,000 state and local governments filed lawsuits of their own, seeking to recoup the billions of dollars that these entities spent—and continue to spend—on the fallout from the epidemic. The result of these legal efforts is a series of ongoing monetary settlements, greater than $56 billion to date. Payment of these settlements will last 18 years, and the decision-making authority for spending these funds differs between jurisdictions. Many have an appointed advisory board that disburses specified amounts each year for specified purposes. In this fact sheet, LAPPA details how opioid settlement proceeds are being disbursed to state and local governments, how those governments are choosing to spend those funds, and the obstacles that can prevent these funds from helping those who have been affected by the opioid epidemic.

Read the Fact Sheet.