In the past few years, state and local governments across the U.S. have begun spending billions in opioid settlements paid by companies accused of fueling the overdose crisis.
KFF Health NewsDec 16 2024 But where is that money going, who is getting it, and is it doing any good?
KFF Health News and its partners reviewed hundreds of settlement spending reports, extracting expenditures line by line, and developed a methodology to sort the expenditures into categories like treatment or prevention. States were given an opportunity to review the data and comment on their spending.
The state of New York — which spent the most on treatment — allocated about $22 million of that for programs that make the gold standard for care as easy as possible for patients: providing same-day prescriptions for buprenorphine, a medication that decreases cravings for opioids.Greene, 57, used to live in the woods down the street from Family & Children's Counseling Services in Cortland, New York.
But some funds are also flowing to treatment approaches that defy best practices, such as denying people medications for opioid use disorder. Nationwide, more than 59 newborns a day are diagnosed with it. Yet only about $8.4 million in settlement money was committed to the issue — less than 0.5% of all funds publicly reported as spent or committed in 2022 and 2023.Related Stories"A mom using drugs and being a parent is a very uncomfortable reality to face," said Ashley Grant, a 38-year-old mother of three in Mesa, Arizona.
Jacob's Hope has now turned to local governments, which control their own settlement dollars. Its home city of Mesa said a first round of grant applications should open in the spring. Some spending strayed even further from the spirit of the settlement. In Oregon City, Oregon, more than $30,000 was spent on screening first responders for heart disease. Police Chief Shaun Davis said his staff respond to opioid-related emergencies and experience trauma that increases their risk of heart attack."This looks to me like you're trying to defray other costs" from the police budget, said Stephen Loyd, chair of Tennessee's Opioid Abatement Council.
But Caitie O'Neill, a city spokesperson, said that "the building sign makes it possible for residents to find" the center, which houses city services, "including Narcan kits, fentanyl testing strips, and substance abuse referrals."
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